(Rochester, NY) Former WXXI Host Bob Smith passed away this morning at the age of 63 after a long illness. Bob was the original host of WXXI’s midday talk show, 1370 Connection, for over 25 years. Every day, he created two hours of civic engagement and civil discourse, on topics that ranged from politics to the economy, from education to the environment, from music and dance to arts and culture. Bob interviewed countless newsmakers and opinion leaders, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rudolph Giuliani, Mario Cuomo, Diane Rehm, Susan Stamberg, Dave Brubeck, and B.B. King. Bob started his career in broadcast news before his 20th birthday, when he landed his first full-time radio job at Buffalo station, WBEN, after graduating from Cornell University in 1978. He held a Ph.D. in American political and legal history from Cornell and taught undergraduate American political and diplomatic history courses to Cornell undergraduate students. He joined WXXI in March of 1988 and retired in 2013
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