Bob Smith

Bob Smith was best known as host of “Hot Air” – his jazz-focused show on CBC Radio. The program, premiered in 1947 and became the longest running show on the network. Bob interviewed virtually all the jazz stars that came through Vancouver, and people would wait for his familiar sign-off: “God bless jazz fans everywhere.” He also spread the jazz gospel in his Vancouver Sun column. In the early 1950s he formed the Vancouver New Jazz Society with his wife Deedee. Bob died in 1989 from Parkinson’s Disease.