Kentucky Educational Television will pay tribute to the late Al Smith, the longtime host of KET’s “Comment on Kentucky” public affairs show, during a special program at 7:30 p.m. CT Friday, Nov. 12.
Renee Show, of KET, has several guests for the tribute. They include Al Cross, who began his journalism career at Smith’s Russellville newspaper in the 1970s, John David Dyche, a Louisville attorney, Jamie Lucke, the retired editorial writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader, and Mark Herbert, a former reporter for WHAS in Louisville. Cross is director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, which Smith helped establish.
Smith died in March at the age of 94. Before he became widely known as the host of “Comment on Kentucky,” Smith was a newspaper publisher in Russellville, where he established a reputation as a highly involved journalist whose newspaper covered the town like a big city paper. His wife, Martha Helen, is originally from Hopkinsville.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
