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Barry White just about did him in. Back in the early '70s, T. Richard Smith was working the midnight to 6 a.m. stretch at KCEE radio — then Tucson's own answer to elevator music.

One morning, oh, about 2 or 3 a.m., Smith subbed out the sobbing violins in favor of White's deep-throated croonings.

"I read the AP wire and put Barry on right after the news," says Smith, now 54. "I thought no one would be listening."

Wrong. "The general manager was listening. He called and asked what I was doing."

Back to the sobbing violins — though not for long. By the mid-'70s, Smith was hosting his own show, "Impak," on KTKT.

"The show ran from 10 to midnight. It was rhythm and blues, soul and funk," says Smith.

Needless to say, Barry White was more than welcome. So was James Brown, groups like the Bar-Kays, and even a few white guys.

"I heard Average White Band. I found out they were all white. Oh yeah, I played them," says Smith, who also sneaked in a little Elvis here and there.

He hosted the program for about a decade, not counting the year or so he took off in the late '70s to attend a Bible college in Birmingham, Ala.

"Around 1975, I went to religion, just like Little Richard," says Smith.

For a while he kept his radio job while learning the ministry at a local church.

"People would ask me, 'How can you lead us from the pulpit and then play that devil's music?'

"I said, 'I don't look at it as the devil's music. I'm doing it to make my car payment.' " And maybe because he loved being a disc jockey so much.

A native Tucsonan, Smith sold newspapers as a kid and spent a lot of time with his aunt and uncle, who were just a few years older than he was.

"They would play the original rock 'n' roll — Little Richard, Bo Diddley, LaVern Baker, Jackie Wilson. I just had this thing about music."

Often, he would make his way to the old KTKT studios, pressing his face up against the window like the proverbial kid in the candy store.

"One day this man asked me what I was doing there," says Smith. "I told him what I wanted to do when I grew up. He said, 'Don't you know there are no colored disc jockeys in America?' "

Of course the man was wrong, both nationally and locally. Back in the late '40s, Tucson had James Brownlow, the town's first black DJ, spinning the platters on "Harlem Jamboree" on KCNA radio.

Smith's break into radio came after an internship with the Tucson Urban League that took him to KCEE. Later came KTUC and finally KTKT.

While in Birmingham, Smith also did a radio show. After hearing that his college was losing its accreditation, he came back to Tucson — and "Impak."

"This time I was known as Big Daddy DAPP," says Smith, who also filled in for other DJs at the station.

By then, disco had slithered its way onto the turntable. "I hated it," says Smith.

But not long after, he got a 12-inch record from the Sugar Hill Gang. "This was early rap," says Smith. He and "Impak" rapped and rolled until 1984, when a new manager came on board and Smith took his leave.

Other radio gigs would follow here and there, as well as DJ dance gigs, which he still does. He also continues to preach, as well as preside over the occasional funeral.

Radio, however, remains his first calling. "I've got a rhythm-and-soul review show from the 1950s to the early '80s," says Smith, who is looking for someone to give him some airtime. "It could be late night, Saturday or Sunday," he says.

Barry White, of course, is a given.

Smith can be contacted at 574-4390.