Chester Smith

While never earning the recognition or acclaim afforded fellow Bakersfield sound exponents like Merle Haggard or Buck Owens, country singer Chester Smith remains best remembered for originating the oft-covered "Wait a Little Longer, Please Jesus" but enjoyed his greatest success as a media mogul, founding a broadcasting empire that revolutionized Spanish-language programming in the U.S. Smith was born March 29, 1930 in Durant, OK. His family fled the Dust Bowl for California in 1935, and settled in a migrant camp outside of Fresno. Smith launched his performing career at age n...