The Smartest People in the World

He may have been an announcer on WMBD but be definitely was the host of “The Smartest People in the World” a morning segment that ran 1977 to 1981.

It's nice to find little radio artifacts. I know precious little about this show. 1470 WMBD-AM. itself has a history site here. But very little is written about Bill Rogers. In fact, in one section they call him a host and in another an announcer. Most of what I know of his and his program come from a cookbook. The Bill Rogers show ran from 10:00 am to noon Monday through Friday. It was an "adult music" program which in the late 70s probably means bland pop. The "smartest people in the world" were his callers. Bill took call-ins as was very common on WMBD. But his program was targeted at housewives so in that era the topics were directed to household tips, recopies, gardening, etc.

He worked at stations in Charleston, Taylorville, Galesburg and as far off as Hayward California. the book appears to have been printed in 1982 or so. About the time he moved from morning show host to program director. It was assembled by Wendy Schwenk, cover art by Mary Register. My copy mysteriously has a blank cover.. so Marys work is unknown. Bill is no longer with WMBD, he appears to have left for a position at 1390 WFIW-AM in Fairfield, Illinois.