Grand Strand Loses Legendary Beach Music DJ
By Christina Knauss
The Grand Strand lost one of its signature radio voices when Billy Smith, known as the local voice of beach music, died Monday afternoon at age 67.
Smith was a native son of the Pee Dee area, being born and raised in Marion. He also started his radio career there in 1958, then worked at several stations around the region before moving to the Grand Strand. He lived in North Myrtle Beach.
Smith was inducted into the South Carolina R&B/Beach Music Hall of Fame in 2001.
Over his 30-year career in the area, Smith worked at a number of area stations, including a popular stint as the host of the morning show at 94.9 The Surf, where he had been since 2002. His stops along the way included WNMB, Power 98 (now Mix 97.7), and Cool 94.9.
Fans from around the Carolinas and visitors from around the country remembered Smith for his distinctive voice, fun-loving attitude and obvious love for the music he played.
Mixin' Dixon, a long-time fixture on Strand radio, recalled his years working with Smith. He remembered him as a person who had a genuinely good time with life, whether at work or out on the town, and said many people in the Myrtle Beach area literally grew up listening to Smith.
Dixon said as a disc jockey, Smith helped to nurture new talent and also enabled regional Myrtle Beach bands to get themselves heard in other markets.
"You could call Billy a deejay's deejay," he said. "Radio was magic back then ... it could give everybody everything. Those were the days when a band could come in the studio with their record, and he would put it on, listen to it and get the band exposure right then. Now radio programming is done by somebody a thousand miles away. Billy helped people who came down here on vacation take a little bit of the beach home with them."
In 1981, Smith was awarded Beach Music DJ of the Year at the annual Beach Music Awards, and received FM DJ of the Year honors in 2005 at the Carolina Beach Music Awards.
Dixon said Smith also always had a genuine love and respect for radio, his chosen medium of expression.
"He was a person who never quit being a radio listener and being a true fan of radio itself," he said. "He loved the music, connected with the listeners and truly loved the people he worked with. Billy was a real genuine guy who appreciated life."
Visitation was to be 6-8 p.m. Thursday at McMillan-Small Funeral Home on 67th Avenue North in Myrtle Beach. Private services will be held at a later date.
The Smith family asks that in lieu of flowers, memorials should be made to the Humane Society of North Myrtle Beach, P.O. Box 3369, North Myrtle Beach, 29582.
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