FRANKFORT --

After 33 years as host and producer of the public-affairs TV show Comment on Kentucky on Kentucky Educational Television, Al Smith is leaving the show, effective Nov. 16.
Smith, 80, said yesterday that he wants to spend more time writing his memoirs on journalism and politics and supporting the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky.

He also said he "may do more TV, the form to be determined."
When Smith recently announced on Comment his decision to step down, he said, "Although I'm not tired or looking for a golf course near a beach, I've decided to deal with being 80 by quitting while I think I'm ahead.
"I love this show; it has been an incredible opportunity to practice journalism in freedom, the way it's protected in the U.

S. Constitution."
He thanked his fellow panelists and supporters over the years, and said, "I think our legacy is a program that is strong and vibrant, and an audience of citizens who care about this state, and who vote on the basis of convictions that we may have helped to inform.

"
Shae Hopkins, KET's deputy executive director for programming and production, said the show will continue without Smith, "but you can't replace an Al Smith."
Hopkins said she expects "a lot of good candidates" to seek the job as host of the show that generally airs live at 8 p.m.

Fridays and features a discussion with Kentucky journalists and others about issues facing the state.
She said the Lexington-based KET "will do a lot more this fall" about Smith's departure from the show.
Smith has been a moderator longer than any other public affairs program host in the Public Broadcasting System, according to KET's Web site.

"The phrase 'one-of-a-kind' shouldn't be tossed around casually, but it applies to Al Smith," KET executive director Malcolm Wall said in a statement. "Al and Comment on Kentucky represent the essence of what public television was created to deliver to the American public."
Smith was head of a chain of rural weekly newspapers based in Russellville when he was selected to host the program.

He named the series and has produced it ever since, apart from his stint as head of the Appalachian Regional Commission for presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan from 1979 to 1982.
Comment on Kentucky is the longest-running public affairs series on Kentucky television. It is a KET production, produced by Smith and Renee Shaw.

Reach Jack Brammer in the Herald-Leader Frankfort bureau at (859) 231-1302 or (502) 227-4390.