Interview: Gordon Smart on broadcasting, live hosting, and navigating entertainment media
Gordon Smart’s career has been shaped at the intersection of journalism, broadcasting, and live entertainment.
A familiar presence across television, radio, and high-profile events, he is best known for his work as a host who understands how to lead conversations without ever overpowering them.
Whether on screen, on stage, or behind the microphone, his approach is rooted in clarity, balance, and an instinctive understanding of audience engagement.
From interviewing leading figures in film, music, and popular culture to hosting live discussions and public events, Gordon’s experience closely aligns with the world of entertainment media.
His ability to blend humour with authority, and warmth with professionalism, has seen him become a respected voice among entertainment speakers trusted to guide meaningful conversations in front of live audiences.
Film News Blitz presents this exclusive interview with the Champions Speakers Agency, Gordon Smart reflects on the journey that led him into journalism, the moments that defined his career, and the hosting philosophy that continues to shape his work across broadcasting and entertainment.
Question 1. What first sparked your interest in journalism, and how did those early experiences shape the career path that followed?
Gordon Smart: “I started off as a journalist because I created the school newspaper when I was a teenager with a group of friends and, without realising, we broke a tabloid front page about our art teacher, Mr Kerry, being a founding member of Wet Wet Wet.
“We sold 300 copies at 30 pence a copy, and I suddenly realised there might be something to this as a career after that.
“I found a local journalist who heard about what we were doing and I ended up working for DC Thomson’s in Dundee and Evening Telegraph and Courier, which was the start of my journalism career, and it just went on from there.”
READ MORE: Interview: Inside the TV journey of Thomas Forrester, one of the UK’s leading celebrity auctioneers
Question 2. Looking back across your career, which headline best captures a defining moment for you professionally, and why does it stand out?
Gordon Smart: “There are a few headlines that I’m very proud of. That's when I worked for The Sun newspaper. We had a list of 100 of the greatest of all time, and I had one entry.
“It was when Taylor Swift started dating Tom Hiddleston, who was in The Night Manager at the time, so he played a spy. Taylor, at the time, had quite a complicated and interesting love life, so the headline that I had come up with was “Tinker Taylor snogs the spy”.
“We had a picture of them kissing on the beach, which was a full-page front-page splash, probably 2015 or 2016, and that made it into the top 100 of all time.
“That was when I was deputy editor at the time, but in Scotland we won an award for Front Page of the Year, and that was “Eck to the Future”, which was the short Scottish name for Alex Salmond.
“It was all about setting the date for the referendum when Scotland would actually decide on the future, whether we would be independent or not. That was something that won an award, and it was mocked up like Back to the Future with Alex as Marty McFly.”
Question 3. As a broadcaster and host, how would you describe the style and approach you bring to live events and on-air discussions?
Gordon Smart: “Well, I’d like to describe myself as the drinking woman’s Jamie Dornan.
“A reasonable dollop of humour, a bit of Scottish charm. I’d like to hope that I can do the serious as well as the humorous.
“I think I can find the balance after doing a lot of radio on Five Live and Radio X. I think there’s a reasonable balance between current affairs, politics, entertainment, and I think I can bring quite a soft touch to that.
“There needs to be a little bit of humour, very necessary, but I’m certainly not afraid to do the sensitive stuff when required. It’s a fine balance, a sensible balance.”
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Interview: TV’s toughest star Titch Cormack on military grit & making it on screen
Question 4. From your experience across newsrooms, broadcasting, and entertainment media, what lessons can businesses take from the way journalists work and think?
Gordon Smart: “Well, I think you’ve got to be incredibly versatile as a journalist, so you have to be able to turn your hand to everything.
“I always approached my job where I thought I should be able to do a shift in every department of the paper, whether that was sport, politics, news, entertainment, current affairs, or features.
“I think you should be versatile as a journalist and have an understanding of everything. I always joke that actually I have an eight-paragraph understanding of almost every subject in the world.
“Go beyond that and you might find me struggling, but I can give you a good eight paragraphs.
“I think there is something to learn from that in any other business, because you have to be well aware of what’s going on around you in the world and to shape and focus what you’re doing in your business.
“You have to have that well-rounded approach, and it’s something I encourage journalists that I work with, producers I work with, and a lot of the journalists that I’m finding myself coming into contact with, particularly younger guys.
“This week, for example, I met a 19-year-old who’d never heard of the band Blur, which blew my mind.
“That makes sense, it’s fairly superficial and entertainment-related, but if you don’t have an understanding of all those incredible songs that were written, and the culture of Britpop, you don’t really understand the fabric of Britain and what led us through New Labour, because it was all so interlinked and interwoven at the time.
“So I think it’s important to have a really good eight-paragraph understanding of everything in the world if you want to drive a successful business, and I think that’s what I bring to the party.”
Question 5. What do you hope people take away from your public engagements?
Gordon Smart: “I think the best thing you can have from an event is people going away saying, “You did very well, didn’t you?”
“It’s like being a good referee, isn’t it? You don’t really want to be the centre of attention, and the subject of the conversation afterwards are good jobs where things have gone smoothly and you’ve guided it through without any kind of incident. I think that’s the dream result.
“Jimmy Carter always says the best jokes are the ones where you laugh and then analyse. It’s the opposite of what I want to do.
“I want everybody to enjoy it at the time and go home and not realise that you’ve made things seamless.”
This exclusive interview with Gordon Smart was conducted by Megan Lupton of The Motivational Speakers Agency.
READ NEXT: Interview: Why Martin Roberts faced his biggest fear on stage
