Tavis Smiley: podcast appearances and interviews

Tavis Smiley is an American talk show host and author born on September 13, 1964, in Gulfport, Mississippi. He was raised in Bunker Hill, Indiana, and attended Indiana University. During the late 1980s, he worked as an aide to Tom Bradley, the mayor of Los Angeles. Smiley became a radio commentator in 1991 and gained prominence as the host of BET Talk, later known as BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley, on Black Entertainment Television beginning in 1996. In 2001, after selling an exclusive interview to ABC News, his contract with BET was not renewed. He subsequently hosted The Tavis Smiley Show on National Public Radio from 2002 to 2004 and hosted a program on PBS that aired on weekdays. The same show was also broadcast on Public Radio International from 2004 until 2017. In December 2017, Smiley was involved in an employment dispute with PBS, leading to a wrongful termination lawsuit. He is the founder and chief executive officer of SmileyAudioMedia, Inc., based in Los Angeles. Since June 2021, he has served as the Chief Visionary Officer of KBLA Talk 1580, his radio station.