Tavis Smiley renounces National Public Radio

Black Enterprise, Feb, 2005 by Carolyn M. Brown

Talk show host Tavis Smiley bids farewell to National Public Radio. Smiley, 40, reportedly said NPR has tried hard but fallen short of reaching "a broad spectrum of Americans who would benefit from public radio." The Tavis Smiley Show was launched January 2002 as a dally, one-hour program that was a collaboration between NPR and the African American Public Radio Consortium, The show drew 900,000 listeners weekly, of which 29% were African American.

NPR will continue the program with a new host. Smiley has not disclosed his future plans.