Rolland Smith

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Rolland Smith on WWOR in 2006

Rolland G. Smith was most recently the anchor of the weekend edition of WWOR-TV's "My 9 News at 10" alongside Cathleen Trigg. On the July 23, 2006 edition of the broadcast, he announced that it would be his last night in the anchor's chair. Following his announcement, a 3-minute retrospective of Smith's career was shown.

Previously, he was an anchorman for WCBS-TV in New York City, and some time after that he anchored the Rundown newscast (as well as a weekly interview show titled Conversations) at WRNN-TV while the station it was still located in Kingston, NY. He is also an accomplished poet, with several books and CD's of his writings in print.

[edit] "Fighting the frizzies, at 11"

This obscure-in-origin catch phrase among both Star Wars and South Park fans traces its origins to Rolland Smith. The legendary "so bad, its good" 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special is commercially unavailable except for the bootleg copies of home VHS and Betamax recordings of the show's one time airing. Among the most widely circulated recordings is one made from the broadcast on WCBS-TV, though recordings of the broadcast from many other CBS affiliates as well as overseas broadcasters abound.

During the WCBS broadcast, a young mustachioed Smith appears during a number of commercial breaks in a "teaser" for the upcoming 11 p.m. newscast, where he simply says "Fighting the frizzies, at 11", probably in reference to a story on hair care. [1] The creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker - both huge fans of the Star Wars special - incorporated scenes of Parker - dressed up as Rolland Smith - delivering this line deadpan in a South Park holiday episode.