Smith began his broadcasting career at
Denver, Colorado, radio stations
KHOW and
KIMN and
Cincinnati, Ohio, radio station
WLW (1975) From 1981 to 1982, he worked for Denver's public television station,
KRMA-TV. From 1982 to 1985, he served as a reporter and anchor for
KMGH-TV, the then-CBS affiliate in Denver (the station is now affiliated with ABC). In 1986, Smith joined CBS News as a reporter and was named a correspondent in 1987. For thirteen years, Smith was a contributor to
The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather,
48 Hours, and CBS News documentaries. The majority of his time at CBS was spent anchoring the CBS morning show. From November 30, 1987, to June 14, 1996, he served as a co-anchor of
CBS This Morning. After leaving the show, Smith was featured on the CBS Evening news in a weekly report called "Travels with Harry," which looked at unique people and places around the country. Starting in 1999, he hosted the
A&E Network television series
Biography and
The History Channel's
Modern Marvels. On October 28, 2002, Smith returned to the CBS morning show, by that point renamed
The Early Show. He hosted the program for eight years before CBS announced that Smith and co-anchors
Maggie Rodriguez and
Dave Price would leave the show at the end of 2010. His last day on the show was December 31, 2010. By that point, Smith had spent a total of seventeen years on a CBS morning show. Upon leaving the program, Smith became a Senior Correspondent for CBS News and substitute anchor for the
CBS Evening News,
Face the Nation, and
CBS News Sunday Morning. In addition to his television assignments, Smith delivered a daily
Harry Smith Reporting editorial for the
CBS Radio Network. On July 8, 2011, CBS News notified its employees that Smith would depart the network after 25 years. Since the canceling of
Rock Center with Brian Williams, Smith has continued to report regularly on various NBC News platforms and substitute anchor on
NBC Nightly News. He contributes a weekly story on Sunday mornings on the weekend edition of NBC's
Today in a segment called "Sundays with Harry". In the fall of 2015, Smith began regularly serving as co-host on the weekend edition of NBC's
Today alongside his former colleague from
The Early Show,
Erica Hill. Smith was part of a rotating group of co-hosts that filled the co-anchor chair after it was vacated by
Lester Holt when he was named weekday anchor of
NBC Nightly News. Smith retired from NBC News in March 2024. In an on-air conversation with anchor
Lester Holt following the broadcast of his final segment, Smith thanked viewers and NBC saying: "I have nothing but gratitude... Every time I would always come on this show, I was always welcomed so generously. I've had just this unbelievable array of phenomenal experiences since coming to NBC, and so I'm really full of nothing but gratitude. Every time I've come on, everyone would drop their phones, pay attention to the story and then respond." In retirement, Smith returned to his alma mater, Central College, to teach. == Personal life ==