Kinross native Gordon Smart is relishing his latest radio challenge – but three years ago he feared his broadcasting career was over.
The former newspaper editor has joined BBC Radio 5 Live and on Sunday night launched his new show from Pacific Quay in Glasgow.
But in an interview with The Courier, Gordon revealed he contemplated changing careers after losing his voice, with surgeons discovering he had a haemorrhagic polyp on his vocal cord.
The dad-of-two says: “It was really scary. I was struggling with hoarse voice and it got to the point I actually got pulled off air one night during a show on Radio X.
“I went to see a surgeon and he said that I had what looked like a polyp on my voice but he couldn’t be certain.
“So he referred me to see another guy in Edinburgh, a brilliant surgeon called Richard Adamson, an ear nose and throat surgeon. Amazing guy.
“He said: ‘We need to take this off because we don’t really like it’.”
‘It was terrifying’
But the operation was cancelled at the eleventh hour as coronavirus fears escalated – and seven months passed until the surgery took place.
Gordon, 43, says: “It was a really tough time because I couldn’t earn any money. Most of my living comes from being able to speak so it was terrifying.
“But the good news is that the care I had from the NHS in Scotland was unbelievable and the surgeon saved my voice and I learned to speak again, so here we are.
“You really don’t realise how disabling it can be losing your voice until it happens.
“I did a piece for the BBC earlier this year and it was interesting interviewing teachers – mainly PE teachers – who project their voice all day and call centre workers.
“You don’t realise the number of people suffering from problems with their voice.”
He adds: “I did think about, if I got my voice back, going into teaching or counselling. I wanted to be a doctor as a teenager but at this stage I didn’t think I’d be able to afford five years at university.
“Those were the things I ended up thinking about but you actually end up realising, I’m a journalist, I’m experienced.
“I just had to be laser focused and I’m delighted things are going in the right direction.”
Life on the showbiz beat
The Gordon Smart Show – on 5 Live every Sunday from 8-10pm – promises listeners an insider’s take on the biggest issues in news, entertainment and sports.
It’s a quieter life than the one he lived during his days in London as editor of The Sun’s Bizarre column, rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s most famous stars and breaking some of the biggest stories in showbiz.
Gordon – married to Kate, the daughter of Dunfermline legend and Provost of Fife Jim Leishman – says: “I can’t believe it’s almost ten years now since I’ve packed it in because it went by in the blink of an eye. You’re just so busy, it’s relentless.
“Then to make matters even more complicated, we had two children as well so I was juggling having a family, staying out late, being a journalist, doing a lot of telly and doing a lot of radio.
“I got to do great stuff. I feel like it really tested me but it set me up for what I’m doing now.”
He adds: “My wife and kids live in Kinross and I’ve got a flat in London and I kind of live between the two.
“Now I find myself working in Manchester and Glasgow so we’re like ships passing in the night at times.
“But it works, weirdly, because my kids are so busy and my wife’s so busy with them that actually the time we have together is really special.
“We just had a holiday together for the first time since 2019 so you’ve just got to make sure the time you have together is without distraction, and make sure you don’t miss the football matches and the dance shows.”
Partying with Fifer in Hollywood
One of his most surreal showbiz trips came in 2008 when Coldplay – who include Kirkcaldy’s Guy Berryman – took him on their US tour.
Gordon says: “I went to interview them in Salt Lake City, Utah, and it went really well.
“I used to play football with Coldplay on Wednesday nights in London. After the interview, Chris Martin said: ‘Why don’t you stay out a bit longer and come on tour with us?’
“So I went on tour with them in America for two weeks and being on the road with them was fantastic.
“They did the American Music Awards [in LA] and I sat in the dressing room with them, getting this front row seat.
“Beyoncé came in for a chat and so did Justin Timberlake. I sat there and soaked it all up.
“Then I went out with Guy and Arlene Moon – their manager who is Scottish, brilliant at her job – to the famous Chateau Marmont.
“We partied with Kate Bosworth who was in Superman Returns, she’s really good mates with Arlene.
“It was an incredible night.”
Fifteen years on, there is a budding young entertainer in the Smart household.
Gordon and Kate’s daughter Laurie is a talented singer and dancer who is following in her mum’s footsteps.
Just two weeks ago the 10-year-old performed at Dunfermline’s Carnegie Hall in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Gordon, who fronts the Restless Natives podcast with TV star friend Martin Compston, says: “She’s definitely inherited the performing gene.
“My wife Kate is a really talented singer and danger.
“I’d love Laurie to do that for a living but Kate’s a bit apprehensive because it’s a brutal game.
“My wife went to performing arts school and the girls were eating cardboard to suppress their hunger and you were weighed on a Monday morning when you got to college.
“There are a lot of pitfalls but we’re pretty well-placed with our experience in life to guide her through it if that’s what she decides to do.
“She’s a wee star – she’s great and determined.”
‘My name is above the door’
After almost being forced to give up his broadcasting career, the Scot has thrown himself into his latest challenge and it dovetails nicely with his work on BBC show Morning Live in Manchester.
It comes seven months after a stint hosting ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
The former Kinross High School pupil says: “It [being freelance] was a bit of an epiphany in lockdown – you realise you no longer have all the support and comfort blanket of working for a big company.
“It’s vulnerable and it’s volatile. If the phone doesn’t ring for you, you’ve got to go and hustle and make it happen. That can feel quite relentless.”
He adds: “To be able to broadcast from Scotland feels like a great thing and I love working at Pacific Quay in Glasgow.
“I’m really looking forward to doing the show there. And also for the first time ever my name is above the door.”
The Gordon Smart Show is on BBC Radio 5 Live every Sunday from 8-10pm.
