After moving to Modesto in 1942, he found his way into the radio broadcasting business with several stations in the central California valley starting with KTRB-AM at age 12 and remaining there for 16 years.
[2] His life was immortalized in song with the catchy tune "The Ballad of Chester Smith", which he wrote and performed.
He hosted a music variety show that aired for thirteen weeks and featured local artists, a gospel quartet and a relatively unknown singer by the name of Merle Haggard.
On August 26, 1966, Smith started his own television station KLOC-TV in Modesto with his first wife Naomi.
[1] In 2002, Smith teamed up with legendary country star Merle Haggard to collaborate on a special CD project called California Blend.
[9][13][14] On August 8, 2008, Chester Smith died of heart failure after a routine trip to Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, California.