| Merv Smith | |
| Birth Name: | Mervyn Charles Smith |
| Birth Date: | 11 March 1933 |
| Birth Place: | Piopio, New Zealand |
| Death Place: | Auckland, New Zealand |
| Occupation: | Broadcaster |
| Known For: | 1ZB breakfast host |
Mervyn Charles Smith (11 March 1933 – 24 September 2018) was a New Zealand radio broadcaster and railway aficionado.
Smith was born in Piopio on 11 March 1933, the son of George Adlow Smith and Adelaide Edith "Nuki" Smith (née Bunting).[1] [2] [3]
Described as one of the pillars of New Zealand broadcasting,[4] Smith was breakfast show host on Auckland Radio New Zealand station 1ZB from 1961 until a format change in 1986, when he moved to Radio i. He held the country's top ratings for almost the entirety of his career.[4] Smith was also a regular voice artist, narrating nearly 200 books for the blind, and featuring on commercials on both radio and television.[4]
After retirement, Smith pursued his lifelong passion of railways and railway modelling, opening a model and hobby shop in Auckland. Smith had previously written of his interest in model railways in his 1977 book Little Trains of Thought (Whitcoulls Publishers, Christchurch; co-written with Ches Livingstone), which detailed his creation of a model HOn30-scale layout based on a fictional New Zealand West Coast narrow-gauge line.[5] Smith also built the "North Island Main Trunk" layout in Sn3.5 scale at the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland.[6]
Smith was admitted to Auckland Hospital on 21 September 2018, and died there three days later.[4]
In 1976, Smith received the Benny Award from the Variety Artists Club of New Zealand, the highest honour for a New Zealand entertainer. In the 1985 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for community service.