Radio host Eric Smith's love affair with Shropshire

But 27 years later, BBC Radio Shropshire presenter Eric Smith is still here – and admits he wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Eric, 63, has spent the past 18 years waking up the county as host of the station's breakfast show, the last four years being with co-host Clare Ashford.

Eric, who is married to Linda and has three sons, David, Mark and Dan, said he likes to spend his spare time walking his dog and relaxing with friends.

"I would say my number one hobby is catching up on sleep," he said. "But I love walking up Lyth Hill with my little dog. It is beautiful there – I would recommend anybody who has not been up there to do so. It gives me the exercise my family tell me I need to get more of and lets me unwind. I also enjoy a good meal out with friends."

Radio isn't the only thing that keeps Eric busy. For the last 13 years he has been involved with the Shrewsbury pantomime which was originally held at the old Music Hall, but is now staged at Theatre Severn.

"It is really quite something," he said. "It started off when they asked me to present some awards at the end of the show and the following year my part grew.

"Now most years I play the hard-up father of a beautiful girl who wants to be with her prince. I am usually against their relationship at the start, but then realise he has a few quid and everybody is happy at the end."

And today, as the radio station continues to celebrate its 30th year, he says his enthusiasm for the job is as strong as ever. Eric said he is still fascinated with the county and its people and is as passionate about it as he was when he started in January 1988.

He said: "I came here when the station was two and a half years old with an off-air role as an assistant editor, expecting to be in Shropshire for a couple of years as a stepping stone before moving on.

"I am from Yorkshire and had been job hopping around local radio stations and expected to keep that going.

"But I stayed and have fallen in love with the county. It is beautiful, there's nowhere else I would prefer to be. Someone once said to me that Shropshire is the graveyard of ambition – but like anywhere, it only is if you let it become that."

By the 1990s Eric was itching to get back on the airwaves and in 1997 began hosting the station's flagship breakfast show.

"I love everything about it except for the early starts. Even now after 18 years of being in the office for 5am I still hate it," he said. "I am lucky in that once my feet hit the ground I am ready to work, but it is those winter mornings when you are having to scrape your windscreen at 4am when it gets you down.

"I can't go to bed early either. If I was to go to bed at 9pm I would be up at 11 making tea, but I survive with a nap in the afternoon and I catch up that way.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, though. I love the way things change from minute to minute and you never know what each day will bring.

"We can be on the air expecting to have a report in two minutes and then it gets scrapped and we have to fill time, or we can have a major breaking story that needs covering urgently.

"The three hours between 6am and 9am that we are on air fly by. I have no idea what we have done when we come out of that room, it is constantly turning and moving.

"We are a serious show with serious topics, but we also like to keep it entertaining and light as well – Clare and I love to have a laugh together, she is brilliant for that.

"We like to keep a nice steady balance between light and serious and I think it works – the listening figures seem to hold up well for us.

"I have worked here for 27 years but have never had a day where it felt like work. I enjoy people and as I have got older I have found I don't worry so much. I enjoy holding a politician to account and asking them face-to-face a difficult question.They are spending my money – and therefore the listeners – and they want answers as much as me. I don't like to let them wriggle out of things. If I am questioning them and they take a sip of water for a break, I know I am doing my job."

So what's next for Eric? "More of the same would be nice," he says. "I love the job and will keep doing it for as long as they will have me here at the BBC. I think local radio is vital for the BBC as it is the closest the organisation comes to the public. They don't identify with London or Manchester so much, but we are here in the town, working in the county and people know us."

And what does Eric's co-host think of working with him? "He's bossy and grumpy and he takes advantage of me being quite gullible," says Clare. "He can tell me anything and I will believe him and then he laughs at me. But we have a great time together and enjoy a laugh on air."