December 16, 2004
It's been nearly three years since the window opened. In January 2002, my daily newsmagazine program debuted on National Public Radio. It was the first show targeting an African American audience in NPR's thirty-four years on the air, but I also viewed this coveted forum as a window for non-Black and younger listeners; a way to peer into a segment of this country's culture from which they've been largely segregated, at least from a media standpoint.
The program was collaboration between NPR and the African American Public Radio Consortium, a group comprised of Black public radio professionals who saw this as a window of opportunity, a way to bring new voices and perspectives to public radio, and in the process, to attract a broader base of listeners.
I feel confident in saying the experiment has been a success on virtually every level. We reach an estimated one million listeners each week on nearly 90 stations, attracting the most diverse audience in public radio history. When I recently announced I would not renew my contract with NPR, one listener wrote "Please let Mr. Smiley know this 63-year-old white male born in North Carolina enjoys his shows immensely"; another said "As a 30-something Orthodox Jew living in a white suburb, the perspective Tavis brought was, for me, fresh, thought-provoking, and expanded my horizon to a community that too often goes unheard", and a third commented "As a white male from Seattle, I considered your show to be particularly important. To be sure, I wasn't interested in some of the show's topics; sometimes I even found the show annoyingly 'black' - but at some level, I also thought for me, that was the point".
The point, exactly. Increasingly, people in this country are trying to live with others who are essentially like themselves, and my efforts throughout my broadcasting career have been focused on narrowing the yawning racial divide. "The Tavis Smiley Show" was a bridge across the chasm. So why am I walking away from it?
It's not because of the listeners; they certainly understood, appreciated, and participated in this unprecedented dialogue. The executives of the affiliates that carried the program could not have been more supportive and enthusiastic, as were the thousands of politicians, academics, actors, musicians, writers and athletes who appeared as guests.
But to my surprise, NPR, the network that rightfully deserves much credit for offering this groundbreaking platform, didn't really get it. It began the journey, but wavered on the way to our agreed-upon destination.
I sought to have NPR build upon the foundation we laid down, to attempt to attract the millions of white, black, brown, and yellow Americans of all ages in each red and blue state, who don't hear public radio and who perhaps prefer the comfort of listening to what is familiar and unchallenging rather than entering unexplored territory.
The funds were certainly there to do the job, thanks to Big Mac lovers everywhere. Joan Kroc, who inherited the McDonald's fortune, bequeathed 225 million dollars to NPR in her will. I had hoped the network would use part of the generous gift to spread the word to underserved communities, to create additional, complementary programming, to expand what I believed was our shared mission.
That was not to be.
NPR, considered a bastion of the liberal media elite in this country, was satisfied with the limited victory it had achieved, and wanted to leave well enough alone. Some of the disenfranchised had been brought into the tent; it apparently was okay for others to remain out in the cold.To accept that kind of complacency would have been a betrayal of everything I strive for in every aspect of my life, so while I will forever be grateful for the vehicle NPR provided, it's time for me to head in another direction.
We live in perilous times, and when the national dialogue can be hijacked by an exposed breast or a dropped towel, extra effort must be made to embrace, grow, and reward intelligent and inclusive conversation. If not, we deserve what we get.
I now intend to concentrate on media outlets that get the job done, such as my nightly television show on PBS. I'm proud to say that program has, over the last year, attracted the youngest, most educated, and, as was the case with the NPR show, the most diverse audience of any regular series on public broadcasting. Our eclectic mix of guests has been as varied as the viewers; I've spoken with Prince, Newt Gingrich, Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Aretha Franklin, Dustin Hoffman, John McCain, Lenny Kravitz, Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Bill Cosby, Maya Angelou, and Ted Kennedy. (This works for PBS... but don't try it at your next dinner party!)
And while NPR failed to fully exploit the window of opportunity it had, that window has been pried open and will remain so. I'm pleased that NPR says it will continue to air the show that we created in some form, and I hope the commitment to the program will increase.
The truth is, retreat at this point is impossible. The exclusionary chains have been broken, the diversity genie is out of the bottle, and I will keep the faith that this small step backwards will inevitably be overcome by our continuing march forward towards a day when we will enjoy the profound privilege of talking with, not at, each other.
Tavis Smiley
Los Angeles, CA
16 December 2004
http://www.tavistalks.com/TTcom/press_rel_121604.html