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Press Releases | |
April 22, 2002
Contact:
Tavis Smiley Brings a Bold, New Voice to NPR and WPBX-FM 88.3
Jane Finalborgo (PR@southampton.liu.edu)
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081
- On Wednesday, April 24, 2002, WPBX will premier The Tavis Smiley Show from NPR, a daily one-hour magazine that will engage national radio audiences with new voices and fresh perspectives. The Tavis Smiley Show offers intelligent talk, news, and ideas presented by one of America's most exciting, young personalities. WPBX-FM 88.3 will air the show every weekday from 7 to 8 a.m.
An accomplished author and broadcaster, host Tavis Smiley has gained national attention as a smart and deftly skilled interviewer. His trademark passion and energy fuel the show, which features substantive and provocative discussions, commentary and reports on everything from politics to pop culture.
"In our ongoing efforts to add diverse voices to our programming and to serve the multi-cultural audiences in our listening community, we are thrilled to add The Tavis Smiley Show to our special news programming. This show will join National Native News, Latino USA, Pacific Time and the BBC News," says General Manager Wallace Smith.
Every day The Tavis Smiley Show will feature an assortment of voices and regular guests including Cornel West, Princeton University professor; Omar Wasow, technology guru and executive director of blackplanet.com; Michael Eric Dyson, author and DePaul University religious studies professor; and Kimberly Crenshaw, law professor at UCLA. On Fridays the show will take a lighter tone, with guests such as comedians Paul Mooney and Sheryl Underwood, offering humorous takes on current events.
"For as long as I have listened to NPR, I have been enlightened, encouraged, and empowered by the information which comes forth. My other radio outlets allow me to voice my own opinions, personal and political. The Tavis Smiley Show allows me the chance to probe others about their feelings, beliefs, ideas, and passions," said Smiley. "We'll cover everything; politics, money, relationships, race, class, culture, and more. If it's being discussed, or better yet, if it's not, we'll be talking about it."
Time magazine selected Smiley as one of America's 50 most promising young leaders while Newsweek profiled him as one of the "20 people changing how Americans get their news" and dubbed him one of the nation's "captains of the airwaves." The New York Post screamed "Look out Larry King, here comes Tavis Smiley!"
As the former host of BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley on Black Entertainment Television, Smiley became known as Black America's favorite talk show host, honored with the NAACP Image Award for Best ?News, Talk or Information Series? for three consecutive years. He is also the recipient of the Mickey Leland Humanitarian Award from the National Association of Minorities in Communications.
Smiley is the author of five books. His most recent book, "How to Make Black America Better," is a clarion call to African-Americans to take control of their own destiny. Smiley offers political commentary on the Tom Joyner Morning Show and is a contributing editor for USA Weekend magazine. He is also a correspondent for CNN and an ABC-TV special correspondent for Good Morning America and Primetime Thursday.
WPBX broadcasts 24 hours per day, 365 days per year from Southampton College. It is the anchor station of the Long Island University Public Radio Network, with WCWP 88.1 FM simulcasting programming from the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University in Brookville, NY.