Matt Smith (broadcaster)

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Matt Smith (born 1967 in Liverpool) is a British broadcaster, and currently one of ITV Sport's main presenters.

Early life

Smith is a Modern Languages and Political Studies graduate from Sheffield City Polytechnic, where he studied from 1985-89.[1] During that time, he spent a year in Italy as part of his studies.[1] He was then offered an internship with the Associated Press in Rome,[1] before moving on to the Financial Times as a television producer.[1]

Broadcasting career

Radio

After leaving the Financial Times, Smith joined the Business Unit at BBC News, and presented business reports on John Inverdale's programme on Radio 5 Live. He got his first sport-presenting role on Chris Evans' Radio 1 Breakfast Show.[1]

Smith has presented BBC Radio Four's final [2] children's programme, Go 4 It.

Until May 2008, he presented Weekend Breakfast on Radio 5 Live with Rachel Burden,[3] along with occasional cover on the Drive 4pm-7pm weekday show.

Television

At the BBC, Smith worked initially on Midlands Today, Breakfast, and BBC News 24,[1] before moving onto Football Fever, World Snooker,[1] and international events including the Sydney Olympics[1] and Euro 2000, before joining ITV in the summer of 2001.

Smith was one of the presenters on the ITV Sport Channel.[1] He hosts coverage of UEFA Cup live matches and UEFA Champions League highlights. In the past, he has presented The Championship highlights programme every Sunday on ITV1, and UEFA Champions League Live matches on ITV4 until ITV lost the respective contracts. He has also occasionally presented ITV Granada's weekly football show, Soccer Night.

During the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, Smith hosted a panel-based show featuring debate and World Cup highlights every evening during the tournament.[1] At Euro 2004, he was the senior reporter based with the England team.[1]

Smith has also hosted On The Ball and Speed Sunday, and has reported at ITV's boxing coverage. He is also the main presenter of ITV's Darts coverage since the sport returned to the channel in 2007 after a long absence, presenting the Grand Slam of Darts and the European Darts Championship.

Following the departure of both Gabby Logan and Jim Rosenthal from the ITV network, Smith has gone from being ITV's fourth-choice sports presenter, to second. He now regularly appears on ITV4.

Smith is a fan of Liverpool.[4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 How to be ... Matt Smith The Guardian, 28 February 2005
  2. ↑ Radio 4 ditches last remaining children's series The Guardian, Tuesday 17 March 2009 10.03 GMT
  3. ↑ Matt Smith joins Five Live for Weekend Breakfast BBC Press Office, 29 April 2006
  4. ↑ "Meet The BBC team". Retrieved 4 February 2013. 

External links

Authority control
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