Tavis Smiley: why everyone listens when this man talks

Jet, Oct 18, 2004 by Clarence Waldron

When Tavis Smiley talks, you know he has something to say. That's why millions of people tune in every day to his radio talk show. "The Tavis Smiley Show from NPR," and his late night TV talk show, "Tavis Smiley" on PBS.

They also tune in to "The Tom Joyner Morning Show" every Tuesday and Thursday to catch Smiley's insightful commentary.

Tavis has built up a trust fund with his public. They trust him. They trust his judgment, they trust his opinion and they trust that he will ask people just the right questions during his probing interviews. People love to listen to Tavis Smiley because the Brother "keeps it real."

Tavis appreciates how well the public has responded to him. "I just thank God for the public support and try to keep my head down and stay focused on the work. I raise an issue and advance the conversation--that's what I do. I always try to enlighten, encourage and empower people."

He notes that his philosophy of success is based on staying true to himself. "I decided a long time ago if I was going to succeed, I was going to succeed by embracing my authentic self. Not by trying to transcend who I am. My concern was whatever I did had to be done with integrity, I had to do it with individuality and with integrity. All I can be is who and what I am. If it works for people beyond Black America, then so be it. If it doesn't, so be it. It means you can live comfortably and peacefully with yourself."

The award-winning radio and TV personality is also a best-selling author of eight books including Keeping The Faith and the co-author of The Unfinished Agenda of Brown v. Board of Education.

He describes his approach to his work: "I see myself in the journalist tradition of W.E.B. DuBois, Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells. They were journalists who were not 'afraid to raise the issues that other folk wouldn't raise, ask the questions that other folk would not ask."

He is the first Black to have his own signature talk show in the history of National Public Radio. He is also the first person, Black or White, to host a public radio show and a PBS talk show at the same time.

He attended Indiana University in Bloomington on a debate scholarship and was active in student government. He received his bachelor's degree in law and public policy, and in 1986 he began his professional career as a top aide to the late Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. Earlier this year, Indiana University presented him with an honorary doctorate degree.

He won national prominence as host of "BET Tonight" for five years before he was fired three years ago. BET later explained that he was fired because he had sold an exclusive interview to ABC News without first offering the story to BET, even though Smiley's contract with BET did not require him to do so, Smiley said. Smiley said he offered the story, an interview with Sara Jane Olson, an alleged former member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, to CBS, which is owned by BET's parent company, Viacom. Smiley sold the interview to ABC, he said, only after CBS passed on it.

Reflecting on how his career has taken off since his BET days, he notes, "Getting fired from BET was a blessing. In retrospect, all I can do is thank God that things worked out the way they have. It opened up so many doors and revealed so many opportunities. They meant it for evil but God meant it for good."

He continues, "But I'm grateful for the time that I had on BET because for five years it allowed me to establish a relationship with Black America and everything that I do now is benefited by that relationship. Black folk were there when they put me on BET and they were there when they took me off BET."

He has gone on to build a spacious, 6,000-square-foot corporate office building in the heart of the Black community in Los Angeles that houses his company, The Smiley Group, and the Tavis Smiley Foundation. It also includes a 16-person, fully-equipped conference room, a state-of-the-art radio studio where he produces his radio shows and a full fitness facility.

An average day for Tavis is obviously, quite intense.

"I wake up in Los Angeles on East Coast time and go to bed on West Coast time. I am typically up at 3:45 a.m. And I go to bed every night around 10 o'clock."

He explains, "Every day I work out, do my NPR show, PBS-TV show, "The Tom Joyner Morning Show," run my company, oversee the foundation and make any public appearances and travel that may be necessary. I get home every evening around 7:30. By the time I get in my radio and TV shows have delivered my research package for the next day. I read any material for the next day or pop in CDs and videotapes, things that I need to listen to or watch to prepare me for the interviews the next day. Around 10, I am winding down and ready to head to bed and sleep for about 4 or 5 hours."

He points out, "The only way I can do this is to compartmentalize. So whenever I am doing a particular thing, nobody bothers me. When I am doing radio, nobody comes into the studio with anything else happening. When I am doing TV, my radio show does not call me on my TV set. I have to he allowed to compartmentalize. When I am in that moment, when I am doing that project, that's what I have to be allowed to do. Everybody has their time and every body has to stay within their time frame."