The Tavis Smiley Show

"The Tavis Smiley Show" is the name of a radio program that has seen a couple incarnations as an American radio talk show. A television show, simply titled "Tavis Smiley", is a late night program on PBS. All shows feature Tavis Smiley as host.

Public Radio International

The Tavis Smiley Show is currently broadcast on the Public Radio International (PRI) network. It is a two hour weekly program featuring interviews with news makers, thought leaders and artists and seeks to bring diverse perspectives to the airwaves. It is produced by Smiley Radio Properties, Inc., in partnership with PRI [ [http://www.tavistalks.com/ttcom/tsradio/about.html About the PRI show at its official website] ] at Smiley's studio in Los Angeles. [ [http://www.tavistalks.com/ttcom/tsradio/about_tavis.html Profile of Tavis Smiley] ]

Public Broadcasting Service

"Tavis Smiley" is a late night television program on PBS. The show began broadcasting in 2004. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0403813/ "Tavis Smiley"] at the Internet Movie Database] It follows a similar style of show, featuring interviews on topical subjects and entertainment. The show has won both the 2005 and 2006 NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Television, News, Talk, or Information Series or Special.

As the first west coast talk show for PBS, it is recorded at the studios of Los Angeles PBS station KCET.

History of Radio Show

The first version of "The Tavis Smiley Show" was on the National Public Radio (NPR) network. It was broadcast daily from January 2002 to December 16, 2004 in Los Angeles, [ [http://www.npr.org/programs/tavis/index.html Official website of NPR show] ] when the host Tavis Smiley decided not to renew his contract with NPR. [ [http://www.npr.org/about/press/041129.tavis.html Statement of NPR and the African American Consortium] regarding cancellation of show] Some of the reasons cited based on an article by Howard Kurtz for not renewing the contract were 1) Tavis Smiley wanted to tape his show a day in advance, and NPR did not agree; 2) against federal funding policies, Tavis Smiley wished to own the right to rebroadcast the show; and 3) Tavis Smiley appealed to have the budget for promoting the program significantly increased, and NPR did not have the budget to do so. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14799-2005Jan16.html Washington Post by Howard Kurtz] ]

The show was a news and opinion program focusing upon issues of race, diversity, and ethnicity and often featured guest speakers. It was an hour long show.

The show was helped through a collaboration with various public radio stations. It was replaced on some radio stations by "News & Notes" which follows much the same format and topics. Many other radio stations replaced it with the short-lived "NPR News with Tony Cox".

See also

List of late night network TV programs

Notes

External links

* [http://www.npr.org/programs/tavis/ Official website of the NPR show]
* [http://www.tavistalks.com/ttcom/tsradio/ Official website of the PRI show]
* [http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/ Official website of the PBS show]