Lloyd Smith’s role as a town crier began in Windsor in 1978 when he was with the CFAB radio station – a role he says began “accidentally” and not by his choice.

Smith was the manager and the on-air voice of CFAB when Windsor’s Sam Slick days were being organized. As a radio celebrity, he was a natural choice to play the role of Sam Slick. Then, in 1978, the provincial government attempted to re-introduce town crying by organizing an international competition.

“They’d hired a British crier to set it up,” Smith recalls. “At the last minute, town officials advised me that I was enrolled in the competition representing Windsor.”
Despite his total lack of experience – he had to ask what a town crier does – Smith went to the competition and figured he didn’t do badly at all. “Out of 13 criers I placed 12^th,” he says, “so I wasn’t on the bottom.”