Wilma Smith is an American television news anchor for Fox

Fox Broadcasting Company

Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

-TV affiliate station WJW-TV, Channel 8, in Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

.

Early life and career

Born Wilma Pokorny, Smith was born and raised in Garfield Heights, a southeast side Cleveland suburb. She is a 1964 Graduate of Garfield Heights High School

Garfield Heights High School

Garfield Heights High School is a public high school located in Garfield Heights, Ohio, about 10 miles southeast of downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It is part of the Garfield Heights City School District. The school currently contains approximately 1500 students. The mascot is the Bulldog and the school...

. She serves as co-anchor for the 6:00 p.m. newscast with Lou Maglio on Cleveland Fox affiliate WJW-TV 8.

Smith is a graduate of Bowling Green State University

Bowling Green State University

Bowling Green State University, often referred to as Bowling Green or BGSU, is a public, coeducational research university located in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The institution was granted a charter in 1910 by the State of Ohio as part of the Lowry Bill, which also established Kent State...

 with an undergraduate double major in speech and English. Smith also holds a Master's Degree in Broadcast Journalism.

WEWS-TV (1977-1994)

After starting her TV career at a station in Richmond, Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

, Smith became co-host of the Afternoon Exchange--an early evening news/interview program for the local ABC-TV affiliate WEWS-TV

WEWS-TV

WEWS-TV, virtual channel 5 , is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio. WEWS has been owned by the E. W. Scripps Company since its inception, and is an affiliate of the ABC television network...

 5 from 1977-1982. She later co-hosted the news program Live On Five from 1982 until her departure in December 1993, as well as co-anchoring the 11 p.m. news at WEWS with Ted Henry for 10 years afterwards (1983–1993).

WJW-TV (1994-present)

Smith (after waiting out a no compete contractual clause) moved to WJW in 1994, right around the time the station switched from a CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 affiliate to a Fox affiliate. From 1995-2005, she co-anchored the 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts with longtime anchorman Tim Taylor. In 2005, Smith and Taylor cut back to only doing the 6 p.m. news. In December 2005, Taylor retired and was replaced by Lou Maglio.

Career awards, and other honors

Among the many awards and citations Smith has achieved, Smith is the recipient of 10 local Emmy Awards for excellence in her television work. She was voted "Cleveland's Most Watchable Woman" by local viewers and "Best Anchorperson in Cleveland" in a poll of more than one million voters.

Additionally, has also been voted "Anchor of Excellence" by the National Association of Career Women, "Newscaster of the Year," a "Cleveland Pacesetter" and "Best Anchorperson" by Cleveland Magazine

Cleveland Magazine

Cleveland Magazine is the largest monthly magazine focused on Northeastern Ohio, with a circulation of 45,000. It was founded in 1972. The inaugural April 1972 issue featured a young Dennis Kucinich, a frequent profile subject of the magazine...

, and she is a member of the Ohio Television/Radio Hall of Fame. Wilma appeared on the cover of Cleveland Magazine five times.

Personal life

Smith still resides in Geauga County with her husband Tom Smith and her two dogs. She talks about her one dog, Clifford getting attacked by a coyote in Dick Goddard

Dick Goddard

Richard D. "Dick" Goddard is an American television meteorologist, author, cartoonist, and animal activist. For over four decades, he has served as the evening meteorologist at WJW , the Fox Broadcasting Company-affiliated television station in Cleveland, Ohio...

's 2005 Weather Almanac.