[8] While still on the team, Smith wrote a column for the university newspaper, The News Argus, arguing Gaines should retire due to health issues.

On August 23, 2007, the Inquirer announced that Smith would no longer be writing columns and would instead be demoted back to the position of general assignment reporter.

In February 2010, Smith returned to The Philadelphia Inquirer after winning an arbitrator's ruling that he was to be reinstated but having to agree to remove all of his political views from his website and from cable news shows.

[11] On April 11, 2005, Smith became the host of a weekday noon to 2 p.m. radio show on WEPN in New York City with his "right-hand man B.T.

On his radio program, Smith correctly predicted that LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh would all sign with the Miami Heat during 2010 free agency.

[15][16] Smith started each show with a signature pre-intro cold open "rant" on a topic that would be discussed in the first segment.

The show came to an end in the summer of 2013, when Smith left ESPN for Sirius XM Radio, where he joined Chris Russo's Mad Dog Sports Channel.

The move was announced just one day after Smith made some controversial comments on ESPN2's First Take program regarding the Ray Rice situation.

[17] On January 17, 2017, Smith moved from Sirius XM's Mad Dog Sports channel back to ESPN.

His daily two-hour program is heard on WEPN in New York, KSPN in Los Angeles, Sirius XM's ESPN channel, and via syndication.

[25] In a March 9, 2015, episode of First Take, while discussing the topic of Philadelphia Eagles' head coach Chip Kelly trading away running back LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso, Smith said: "Chip Kelly has made decisions over the last couple of years that, dare I say, leave a few brothers feeling uncomfortable."

[29] On June 11, 2015, Smith received criticism for a comment he made about female soccer players during the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.

[30] On November 5, 2016, Smith joined Top Rank's broadcasting team for the Manny Pacquiao vs. Jessie Vargas boxing pay-per-view event.

[33] Smith made his acting debut on the ABC soap opera General Hospital in a cameo appearance as a television reporter on February 2, 2007.

Beginning in 2014, he has appeared in a series of Oberto all-natural beef jerky commercials as "The Little Voice in Your Stomach", each time appearing alongside sports figures, such as star athletes Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman and pro snowboarder Louie Vito, and notable basketball sportscaster Dick "Dickie V" Vitale.

[40] He describes himself as a "proud capitalist", stating "I believe in making money, and ain't no damn way I'm giving that up" in a 2025 episode of his podcast.

[43] In February 2025, he stated on his podcast, The Stephen A. Smith Show, that he would entertain the idea of launching a presidential campaign.

During an appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher, Smith announced he voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election and that her poor performance in the race made him "feel like [a] damn fool".

"[51] In a later interview with Chris Cuomo on NewsNation, Smith called Trump's proposition to place the Gaza Strip under American administration, redevelop the land, and relocate its Palestinian population "ridiculous", saying "We shouldn't be hearing about real estate opportunities out of the mouth of the president of the United States.

[53] He also frequently refers to former Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers as a "bad man"[54] (with the "A" stretched out for several seconds).

In recent years, and especially after ESPN acquired broadcasting rights for the NHL in the United States as of the 2021-2022 season, Smith would talk about hockey more often on both First Take and his new show Stephen A.’s World, such as when he roasted the Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl after they got swept by the Winnipeg Jets in the opening round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs[60] and equated the Toronto Maple Leafs’ playoff failures to that of the Dallas Cowboys’.

Smith is known for his outspoken stance on athletes, in particular NFL players, and the recreational usage of marijuana (which, despite being legal in some US states, is prohibited by league policy and punishable by fine or suspension).

Such NFL players include Stedman Bailey,[62] Adrian Peterson,[63] Josh Gordon,[64] Joseph Randle,[65] Randy Gregory,[66] Aldon Smith,[67] LeGarrette Blount,[68] Le'veon Bell, and Martavis Bryant.

line at the request of the audience attending a live First Take taping in Oakland, implying that committing a blunder of J. R. Smith's magnitude would only be possible if the player was high at the time.