Bill Dautremont-Smith

Dr. Bill Dautremont-Smith was Executive Director at WDIY from April 2008 until his retirement in August 2013. His involvement in radio began at WDIY in February 2003, after taking an early retirement from a long career in technology development at Agere/Lucent/AT&T/Bell Labs, where he was CTO responsible for strategy development of one of Agere's fiber optic communications divisions.

He was an optical transmission industry innovator and originator (28 year veteran), with critical contributions to many of the key milestones in the industry, including development of the components that enable the world wide web, with 20 patents awarded, and around 80 refereed publications and book chapters. As a Product Development Director, Bill successfully managed and lead a number of large R&D teams. Bill holds a PhD in Physics and a BSc in Chemistry and Physics from the University of Manchester in the UK, where he also ran the jazz club.

Bill began at WDIY being trained as a volunteer programmer, initially becoming one of the hosts of World Rhythms (which later evolved into The World Blend), became a member-elected member of the Board, and then served as President of the Board during a critical time of rebuilding in 2005 and 2006. He continued to be a very active board member and committee leader, prior to stepping off the board to become the Interim Executive Director. Bill has returned to hosting The Blend, after previously being the regular Tuesday host, and continues as a regular monthly host of The World Blend and as an occasional host of jazz and blues. Music has always been a really important part of Bill’s life, and he spends a lot of time at live music events where you might see him representing WDIY. Good beer, wine and food, skiing, biking and travel are Bill’s other passions that he now has more time to pursue in retirement.

Bill and his wife Charleyne reside in Orefield, where they have lived since relocating to the Lehigh Valley from NJ in 1995.