Utah radio host spends 2 weeks with troops in Iraq

Disc jockeys are usually all about fun and games.

But Utah radio host Jon Smith spent two weeks last month embedded with U.S. troops in western Baghdad.

Smith, a co-host of "The Smith and Bushman Morning Show" on KSNN-FM ("Sunny 106.1") in St. George, left for Iraq Oct. 15 and returned several weeks later. He and Bushman were both DJs on Salt Lake's KENZ ("The End").

Known for off-the-wall humor, Smith said the experience was incredible.

"I was much more embedded than I planned on being," he said, noting that he got shot at. "It was an eye-opening experience, and not like what you see on TV."

He said it was difficult to get the Iraq visit scheduled and required a lot of telephone calls and persistence. But once he got there, he said, "the Army was very accommodating ... and gave me unfiltered access."

He spent most of his time at a small outpost protected by a 9-foot-tall concrete wall, with the 4/10 Calvary 4th Infantry.

Smith did some live broadcasts on his station by satellite phone and on sister news station KDXU, as well as for KSUB in Cedar City and for sister radio stations in Montana, Nevada and Colorado.

It was a serious situation there, but he said, "we tried to bring in some light-hearted stuff" to the broadcasts.

Smith and the radio station also got listeners involved. Listeners submitted the names and locations of their loved ones in Iraq and Smith tried to visit and talk to as many as he could. Some of the military personnel were able to provide early holiday messages to their family.

"We very able to get a lot of soldiers on the air."

He was also able to hand deliver letters from the students of both Dixie High and Panquitch High to the soldiers there.

Smith said the downside was he got ill eating some of the local food.

He said he now understands from the soldiers' point of view that this isn't a war now, it's a "reconstruction."

• RADIO HAPPENINGS — At least two radio stations, KSFI and KOSY, are already airing all-Christmas music.

— KBYU (FM-89.1) will present "An Evening of Violin Encores," featuring violinist Monte Belknap and pianist Jeffrey Shumway on Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m., at Baldassin Performance Pianos , 444 W. 300 South (near the Gateway) in Salt Lake City.