E. Berry Smith
E. Berry Smith was born in Daytona Beach, Florida. in 1926 and raised in Indianapolis. He was interested in broadcasting from a young age and enjoyed listening to the radio. He enlisted in the Army where he served during World War II and then graduated from Butler University in 1949. where he had the highest grade point average in the business school.
His first job was in sales at WIRE, Indianapolis, in 1949, where he stayed for five years. He worked at Franklin Securities for two years from 1954 to 1956 before moving on to CBS Network Sales.
He was general manager of WFIE-TV, Evansville, and then worked in management positions in Green Bay, Wisconsin, at WFTV-TV, and Louisville, Kentucky, at WLKY-TV. In 1964, he went back to Evansville to work as president and general manager of WTVW-TV for 17 years until the station was sold.
"There was a good working relationship in the station," Smith said. "We just had people, I think, that respected each other."
Smith said he had ground rules on how certain stories were handled under his direction. He believed editorials must be well researched because of the responsibility it places on the general manager. Sensitive stories, such as deaths, needed to be handled delicately. Former President Kennedy's assassination was an example of this broadcast lesson for Smith.
"I do think the broadcast media has had an impact on our national identity," Smith said. "I could use the assassination of the president as an example. I think there it [broadcast media] certainly had — I felt at least — a healing effect."
Next, he moved to South Bend's WSBT-TV as president and general manager. WSBT had television stations as well as AM and FM radio. In 1989, he was senior vice president of the parent firm of WSBT's Schurz Communications, Inc., until he retired in 2000.
"Berry was an exceptional leader," said Franklin D. Schurz, chairman of Schurz Communications Inc. "He was respected not only by local people at the stations here, but by other broadcasters."
Smith owned of multiple radio and TV stations and the South Bend Tribune newspaper. He was known for turning stations into profitable businesses.
Smith was a member of the Indiana Broadcast Hall of Fame and president of the Indiana Broadcasters Association and Southwest Indiana Broadcasters Association. He was married to Mary Terese Hoffmann, who died in 1989. Smith died at age 82 in 2008 in Southfield Village nursing home.
"The great bulk of local broadcasters have a great sense of their responsibility," Smith said. "They want to be good citizens."
Luzane Draughon
Information from Indiana Broadcast Pioneers, WTHR, IndyStar and "In the Public Interest"