Smiley helps NPR broaden its reach

When Tavis Smiley does things, he does them big.

The talk show host’s March 2001 dismissal from cable network BET prompted national headlines. Smiley regrouped the next year by launching a new program on, of all places, National Public Radio.

Although his overtly political sensibility is not to every taste, “The Tavis Smiley Show” has enjoyed stirring success in drawing new listeners to more than 60 stations in major cities, including KPCC-FM (89.3) in Pasadena, where it airs weekdays at 8 p.m.

“The miracle here is that public radio is overwhelmingly listened to by white folks,” Smiley says.

“This show started to bring in African Americans and other people of color.”

“The Tavis Smiley Show,” which dwells on politics, pop culture and social issues, is one of NPR’s fastest-growing programs, though it’s still building its list of stations. According to Arbitron estimates, about 30% of the audience for the L.A.-based program is black -- six times the proportion of the typical NPR program. The program attracts the youngest audience of any in NPR’s roster, with a median age of 47. That’s two years younger than the median age for other NPR shows.

None of this is by accident.

“This is an increasingly diverse nation,” says Kevin Klose, NPR’s president and chief executive. “Even with that there are many segments of society who don’t know about public radio and who could be very interested in it.”

The creation of Smiley’s show, Klose says, is very much part of NPR’s attempts to “widen and deepen our content.”

Smiley, never content to rest, is set to start a PBS show early next month that is intended to serve as a complement to Charlie Rose’s evening talk show.

In Baltimore, WEAA-FM general manager Maxie C. Jackson III, one of the key architects of Smiley’s program, used it to establish the Morgan State University radio station’s first morning news presence.

And Jackson found new underwriters -- the public broadcasting version of sponsors. Spurred by Smiley’s success at WEAA-FM, AT&T; provided a grant of about $36,000 to support its growing news and information programming.

Some listeners have recoiled from Smiley’s inclination to explore racial aspects of social issues and news stories. Some NPR stations, such as WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, encountered resistance to Smiley’s show, according to Current, a publication that tracks the public broadcasting industry. Jay Nordlinger, managing editor of the conservative National Review, dismissively referred to Smiley as a “black leftist radio personality.”

But Jackson and other backers of Smiley say his presence is invaluable as NPR attempts to meet its mandate of offering news relevant to all Americans.

“We are drastically under-represented in public radio and public broadcasting -- both as listeners and as talent and producers of content,” Jackson says. “That’s why I think Tavis is so vital for public radio and why I think he’s going to be so vital for public television.”