Life takes a new turn this weekend for Elroy Smith, a groundbreaking Bermudian DJ with a lengthy career in the United States.

A former ZFB broadcaster who set a new standard for Bermuda’s airwaves at Hott 107.5, Mr Smith is headed for San Francisco to join the US radio giant Entercom.

“I was just minding my own business about a month ago, doing my own thing here in South Carolina, when I got a call from the president of their radio division,” Mr Smith told The Royal Gazette.

“He said they were looking for someone to run their San Francisco properties. I never even had my eye on the West Coast.”

Mr Smith first rose to industry prominence at Chicago’s WGCI, which took the top metropolitan slot when he took over as programme director in 1992.

Working lately out of Philadelphia, he was recognised last year by Jet magazine for his stature in American broadcasting.

Mr Smith declared himself “speechless” to be starting next week as operations manager for the West Coast stations KBLX and KRBQ.

He said his early failures in school in Bermuda, where he attended Robert Crawford school as well as Warwick Secondary, had a powerful influence on his life and career.

His message to anyone contemplating dropping out of school is: “Don’t do it.”

Despite a promising start when he won a 1970s DJ competition at ZFB, which was scouting for a new radio personality, Mr Smith was stopped short when programme director Sturgis Griffith handed him advertising copy to read on the air.

“No joke; I fumbled over the commercials,” he recalled. “I had an opportunity, but it didn’t happen when I wanted because I had a reading deficiency. I say to anyone who plans on going to school to take it seriously.” The consequences of his own poor record were “horrific”.

Undaunted, he acquired an associates degree at Graham Junior College in Boston, reading avidly at nights to catch up.

After another stint at ZBM, Mr Smith got his bachelor’s degree at Emerson College, and took on full-time work in Boston.

Mr Smith recounted his tenure at Hott as “one of my best experiences, to be able to come back and give something to my country”.

He added that he looked forward to bringing his wife Vonda, sons Colin and Carson, and daughter Kendall to visit the island in the next couple of years.