A graduate of the radio-television program at A-State, Mark Smith earned his degree in broadcasting in 1986 and received a Master of Public Administration in 2015. He actually started in radio in 1982, just out of high school, with a part-time summer job at KBXM, a small AM station in Kennett, Mo. After his freshman year at Arkansas State, he landed another summer job at KBOA/KTMO in Kennett and continued to work weekends there while attending college.