In Black America; Tavis Smiley

Thank you. From the Longhorn Radio Network, the University of Texas at Austin, this is in Black America. My book was only available in African American owned bookstores and yet if you look at on a monthly basis the Emerge magazine bestseller, you know best black booksellers list, if you look in essence in the back of essence at their best black sellers, black bestsellers list, it emerged or essence the two monthly magazines to do that regularly to track black book sales in both of those magazines on a regular basis since this book came out I have always I have ranked consistently if not number one in terms of being a bestseller for black books, soft cover, nonfiction, if not number one John, I have ranked consistently in the top five books in the country written by black authors in terms of sales and that happened and my book was the only one on the list, only available in black on stores.

Tava Smiley, author, radio commentator and host of BET tonight. Smiley didn't plan on becoming a radio or television talk show host when he was a teenager who was bitten by a political bug when he met former US Senator Birchby at a campaign stop in his home state of Indiana after graduating from Indiana University in 1987 he moved to Los Angeles and began as an intern with the late Mayor Tom Bradley during that period he ran for city council and lost. In 1991 he began doing radio commentary just to keep his name in public view the smile report became so popular that it was nationally syndicated a year later. I'm John L Hanson Jr. and welcome to another edition of in black America on this week's program radio and television personality Tava smiley in black America. Good evening and welcome to BET tonight. I'm Tava smiley glad that you're with us on this Tuesday night. We will get to your phone calls as always in just a moment. Let me tell you up top of the show.

We apologize that we are not being joined tonight as we promoted and promised last night by Dr Maya Angelou. She called late this afternoon to say she's not feeling well. I had to pull out of the show tonight for promises to join us at another time to talk about her new movie down in the Delta and other matters. So we hope to be joined in the coming days by Dr Maya Angelou. I wish her well and a speedy recovery from whatever is ailing her this evening. However as they say in the business the show must go on and so it does and so it does. And I'm just as pleased tonight to be joined in studio by the former agriculture secretary Mike espy. You know the story of this brother has been completely exonerated and he's not Maya Angelou. But if ever anybody could say and still I rise still I rise. It is Mike espy. That's right. Nice to see you secretary. Tavis going to be with you. I'm sorry Maya. Back in 1994 Tavis Smiley was the only African American commentator on radio and television in Los Angeles on a daily basis and just happened to air over L.A. two most listened to and watch stations born in Beluxi Mississippi and raised in Kokomo Indiana with his nine brothers and sisters.

Smiley was quite the activist and talker while at Indiana University where he graduated with a degree in political science and law. Three years ago he signed on as a political commentator on the time join a morning show. Physician was only a temporary assignment but the popularity of a few moments on air prompted joining to ask him to stay on to comment on issues of the day. In addition to his radio commentary and TV show BET tonight with Tavis Smiley he appears regularly as a political analyst for CNN and NBC today show and CNBC recently in black America spoke with Tavis Smiley. Actually born in Mississippi. I was only there for a couple years. I was born right there on the Gulf Coast in Beluxi. The Beluxi Gulfport area and grew up in Indiana. My father was but that matter still is in the air force. She was working in the mess hall. I didn't understand why they call when you eat the mess hall but anyway. She was working in the mess hall. My father was patient there. They hooked up and a long comes Tavis shortly thereafter.

My father got transferred to an Air Force base up in North Central Indiana and unlike most Air Force families who are forced to move around the country and around the world for that matter. We did not end up having to do that in large measure because I have nine brothers and sisters or ten of us. So it would have been a huge economic hardship for us to move around that many people. So we basically I think in retrospect had the good fortune of being able to stay in one place although I love to travel staying in one place I think was good for us as a family. So I basically grew up in North Central Indiana and of course went to Indiana University down in Southern Indiana in Bloomington on a debate scholarship and that's how I got to IU. Give us an idea of growing up in Clang Country. What's really interesting about it is that I did not have too many experiences growing up with racism. As a matter of fact in my high school which is predominantly white I mean there were some twelve hundred students in my high school and of the twelve hundred there are only like twenty two twenty three blacks in the school.

Keep in mind your ten of them were in my family. There were a lot of black folk in my school. On the other hand I ended up being class president every year. I was voted most likely to succeed. I was the most valuable member of the speech team of the debate team and so I really you know not only was treated fairly but ended up finding favor with my classmates enough to be elected class president every year I was in high school. So I didn't have any real problem with that growing up however when I got to Indiana University that's when I really started to see and recognized that we still live in two fundamentally different America. One blackly other white I learned then in college that racism is still the most intractable the most egregious and perhaps the most divisive issue in this country. I had a friend of mine when I was a sophomore a friend of mine who was on the football team was murdered as far as I'm concerned murdered by the cops. The first murder, the first homicide, the first death involving an officer in that community in many many many many years and it really was a very sad situation.

Here you have a young black students on the football team being shot in the back by a number of cops white cops on the police force and so that really started to open my eyes and anyway the point is growing up as a kid I really didn't have any real problems with it but it wasn't until I got to college with that incident and a number of other incidents in and outside the classroom that I started recognized that being black isn't always an advantage. I had a chance to meet a man who was a senator and a member of the U.S. Senate from the state of Indiana got a very liberal senator from the state of Indiana which always shocked people to be reminded that we actually had a very liberal senator at one time before we served alongside Richard Luger who of course still understood him. But by that liberal democratic senator was beaten back in 1980 you recall Reagan had those co-tails back in 1980 and he brought along with him a young fool from Indiana named Dan Quail and Dan Quail upset by a 1980 on those Reagan co-tails.

I met him when I was 13 years of age and I saw in this man a fundamental decency and I realized through him that politics was the kind of profession if one pursued in its most noble form a politics of the kind of profession where you can actually do some good to help people. And so I decided then that I wanted to be a public servant and I started voting all of my time all my energies and been learning more about political process and became a real average history buff and political science students etc. etc. And that was back in when I was 13 and had chance to be birch by I might add that as you probably already know in November of last last month in November elections birch by son Evan by who was the former two-term governor of the state of Indiana also a Democrat of course his son Evan last month was elected to the United States Senate. He will be seated in January I look forward to being present at his swearing in and it is it's full circle his father was defeated by Dan Quail back in the back in 1980 and here along comes the son later on to be a very popular two-term governor of Indiana.

He's a young guy only 40 and now you remember it will be in January remember the United States Senate and I look forward to being Evan and I are very different and look forward to being present at his swearing in. So it's interesting how life sometimes comes full circle. Did you actually call the late Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley every day to receive a job from him eventually. I did for like eight months eight or nine months by nine months actually back in 1985 from January until September I either wrote or called Tom Bradley every single day to inquire as the possibility about working for him as an intern and make a long story short. I learned that you know persistence is what counts persistence always pays off and I worked the mayor I worked him over for nine months riding and calling and inquiring as to what I had to do to be an intern at the time Tom Bradley was one of if not the most popular mayors in the country. The eighty four olympics you know it had it made it made lost the star which is lost any list of shine even brighter with its massive success both in terms of the gold medals for the U.S. but also in terms of the money.

There was some two hundred plus million dollars as surplus on the Tom Bradley and Peter you brought were able to make off of the Olympics was a success all the way around for the city and for the country for the world. Tom Bradley was very popular and he was a member of my fraternity the cap alpha side attorney incorporated I want to work for Tom Bradley as an intern and so I begged and begged him and bugged him for nine months and ultimately make a long story short. I ended up receiving that internship and the rest as they say history. When did you begin doing your commentaries on television in Los Angeles. I went for Tom Bradley from basically eighty seven eighty eight through ninety one. I left in ninety one the mayor's office left there to go run for city council and I lost that race. But I was your mind people particularly young people that sometimes what appears to be a loss can really be a victory. I lost the campaign for the city council only twenty six and was running against an incumbent.

So some folks out I was foolish in the first place but I thought then as I still think now and retrospect that I could have done much better job representing that district than the council person was doing at that time. But I ran for the seat and I lost the race but I was only twenty six and I learned in that loss that there are a lot of people were listening to what I had to say. There are a lot of people who listen to what I had to say a lot of folks who voted for me and I almost forced this incumbent into a runoff election was a very close campaign. And as I said I realized that people were least paying attention to my issues and listening to what I had to say. And it occurred to me after I lost the campaign that you know that nobody in Los Angeles of African descent there was not a single African American NLA who was doing political commentary on radio or television. And again to make a long story short it was after I lost that campaign for the city council that I put together a little one minute radio commentary called the Smiley Report. And for sixty seconds every day on one of the local black on radio stations I did this commentary called the Smiley Report and the Smiley Report eventually got me off of that little small black on station to the largest urban station in the market. Eventually that that commentary turned into the chance to do commentary on the ABC TV affiliate K ABC TV NLA which at the time was the number one station for news in Southern California.

I had a chance to start doing commentary live at five during the five o'clock news at twenty seven years of age there I was every day I mean every week on K ABC this ABC affiliate during commentary during the five o'clock news. And then that turned into my own talk show and ultimately that turned into a couple of books and then BET called off me my own TV show. But not before Tom Jonah call I should back up Tom Jonah call me ask me to join his radio show BET called me off me my own TV show. And in John Hanson called here I am on in black America what can I tell you. Tavis was the commentary different from when you are on a majority black audience and then you switched to a more inclusive audience. That's a good question John very good. The answer is absolutely yes. It was like night and day no pun intended.

On this urban station you find yourself oftentimes if I could use this phrase preaching to the choir. You find it as an African American who is progressive in his thoughts and views while who is particularly left the center on many of the issues. You find that speaking to an African American audience you're preaching to the converted preaching to the choir. So while they're a folk who disagree with you and they're a folk who take exception to some of your commentaries by and large. The audience pretty much agrees with you pretty much like you know like Rush Limbaugh. People who listen to Rush Limbaugh primarily agree with Rush Limbaugh. So you find yourself preaching to the choir what happens is that you make the switch from talking to your audience. I mean imagine how Rush Limbaugh would be received if he left his radio show and started doing commentary or hosting that same kind of show on BET. You know what I'm saying? He would not be received obviously the same way he is by his core audience. So when I made the switch from the black radio to mainstream radio it was a rude awakening. I was getting hate mail, I was getting death threats at one time.

There were a lot of people on mainstream radio listening to mainstream radio who did not agree with and did not want to hear my particular point of view and they were terribly visceral in their words and their treatment of me. But again being a big boy I had to grow up and every day I went to ABC radio or ABC television. I took my big boy pill and I went in and did what I had to do. I wasn't going to be rabid about it, I wasn't going to be unreasonable and I certainly wasn't going to allow that to make me a bitter person. But I learned how to fight and I learned how to stand up for my beliefs in the trenches and that has held me in good stead to this day. Having the tremendous notoriety now internationally, how does Tavis keep that even kill that level head? As you know, as I mentioned earlier to the audience, I have nine brothers and sisters and so if there's anything you want, you're having nine brothers and sisters who tell you they knew you when you had nothing and they knew you when you weren't nothing. It's having a family that I'm not grew up in a family that was terribly impoverished. We were disenfranchised economically, politically, socially. We were not in the end crowd. We were not a bourgeois family. We did not have money.

I had to fight to pay for my education and then turned around and paid for the education of my brothers and sisters who are younger than I am. It was very humble and very media beginnings and the truth is that while I am doing quite well and I thank God for it and I'm able to help the members of my family, I recognize every day through the struggles of my own brothers and sisters that in a very real way until my entire family has overcome, I really have not overcome. So I don't think that I'm out of the woods. I just have too many examples with my own family of people who are struggling every day against all odds trying to make it. And so just being conscientious and conscientious of what's happening in my own immediate family keeps me grounded and rooted and the other thing is I recognize that what we do is we operate in a very tenuous environment at best. That is to say that my TV show can be canceled tomorrow. Tom Jonah could fire me tomorrow.

You know, so I don't get caught up in it. I mean, obviously thank God for the opportunities on a personal level, on a personal, try to invest my money well because I don't know how long this is going to last. Right now, I'm just riding away, man, but I don't get caught up in it. I recognize that service is the price we pay for the space that we occupy. I don't get heavy or high-minded by it. I thank God every day for the chance to be a black man, to say what I think and to be paid for that. I take that as a unique and wonderful opportunity, but never will I get caught up in it, so to speak. I just try to remain humble and recognize that the only difference between me and every other black person in this country is that I get a chance to force my opinion over radio through television on the lecture circuit and through books. I don't know if we all have a point of view. I'm just fortunate to get a chance to have mine broadcast, but other than that, I'm no different than anybody else. How do you decide on your commentaries, particularly for the Tom Jonah morning show when I call my friends around the country? Some of them talk a little about Tom Jonah and what has been said, but they ask me, did you hear what Tava said today?

No, I appreciate the compliment. First of all, I should say there's never a shortage of stuff to talk about. I feel at the time as you would know. There are no good times to be black in America and sometimes are worse than others. So because we live in, despite all the progress we've made, we still in some ways are living in some worse than other times. There are always things to talk about. So it's typically a matter of trying to pick what I can say. I'm only on Tom a couple of days a week. And so a couple of days a week, being black, you've got to pick and choose, which one of the transgressions of black America you want to talk about today? There's always stuff to choose from, but what I try to do is to pick the things that African Americans don't often get a chance to hear about. I mean, if I'm talking to seven million people every day, there are always a number of stories that everybody has heard about. I try to come with things that you might not hear unless you are listening to the Tom Jonah morning show.

Now, there's some times where you have to talk about issues that are relevant, that everybody is aware of, like this whole, you know, Bill Clinton crisis. You know, there's some days you cannot avoid talking about that. It's relevant, I think, to talk about those matters. But there are other days when there are issues that are worthy of being discussed, that if I don't talk about it on the Tom Jonah show, these black folks would not hear about that particular issue. That's why I think the black press, the black media, is so invaluable, more valuable today than they were even 50 years ago, because it is still true that if the black media, if the black press doesn't raise certain issues, doesn't talk about certain matters, does not profile certain people who are succeeding against the odds, if we don't do it, then it just won't be covered. And so I try to recognize that we have a syndicated audience for some 7 million people, and I ask myself, what is that I can talk about today, that these folks probably won't hear anywhere else today unless they hear it from me. Are you surprised with some of the reactions when you ask people to react? Oh, John, it blows me away. That's the kind of stuff that humbles you. You know, some would get the big head, and I said earlier, get Haiti, and high-minded, and uplifted and populous about it.

I have the exact opposite reaction. It humbles me to no end. When I come on the radio, the people listen to what I say. They hang on every word. I know too many people who are sitting in their cars in the parking lot, knowing they about to be listening to work. Wait for me to finish my thought so they can get on the car and rush into the building and clock in. That humbles me, man, the people actually listen to me, and that they recognize that I'm trying to do what I call the three E's, trying to educate, trying to empower, trying to encourage our people, the least among us oftentimes. It humbles me that people respond to that, and it never seems to have amazed me. Every time I go on and raise a particular issue, I never think before I go on the radio that I know these folks are going to do this. I don't have that kind of attitude. My thing is, when I go on the radio and ask African-Americans to get involved in something, I think the reason had better be a good reason. I better go on and do the best commentary I've ever done to justify why I'm asking them to do this. It better be the right issue. The timing had better be right. My delivery had better be good. My rationale, my argument had better be on point. It had better have been a legitimate issue. I really have to go on, I think, on those days and do better commentaries that I otherwise would. That's the way that I approach it.

I don't go on thinking that they're going to do it just because I ask them and I'm having a smiley and I know they're going to do what I ask them to do. No. I have nightmares and I get butterflies in my stomach. I'm always worried that I'm going to go on and say something or do something that the audience is not going to respond to. It's really on those days when I'm launching a campaign, which we really don't do all the time. But when I'm launching a campaign about something I find so egregious that we have to do something about it because it is in fact that egregious. I work harder on those commentaries truth be told that I do on days when I'm not launching a campaign. This past year you've had two sit down exclusive interviews with the president. What was those experiences like? Wonderful. I think it's always honored to have the ear of the president and to have his time where he sits down for a one on one interview with you. As you mentioned, we did that twice in this year and for that I'm terribly and he's totally grateful to the president. One for coming, if you're choosing me to speak to a premier.

We called you. They office called you? Oh yeah. It's very much both ways. You always, you know, when we work with my philosophy, I always have a standing interview request for the president. I'm always begging for an interview. And sooner or later you'll call you back. But in earlier this year we traveled with him on his trip to Africa. And so we had the opportunity to be given the first to be given an exclusive. And that's the other thing. It's not just that we did two interviews. I had two exclusive interviews with the president. And on the Africa trip I was the first person he sat down with from the continent of Africa to interview with. We did the show live from Africa back to the States when we were in Cape Town. And so that was a wonderful occasion to be traveling with the president. I mean, as the first time I'd ever traveled with my president on his plane outside the country. And it was a wonderful experience just to be a part of it and to go to Africa and to see how the president was received. But it was especially nice to be able to sit down and get the first interview with him live from the continent.

Secondarily, as you know, we sat down with him for an exclusive interview on election E of this year. That was the first interview since January that the president had done in a one-on-one situation about the medical lunatic matter. And so it was a wonderful opportunity for us on election E to get the president's thoughts on the night before an election. Arguably, I think the most important election day of his life because that election day, depending on the turnout, could have shipped wrecked his whole campaign. And as it turns out, in retrospect, of course, the Democrats picked up five seats. And I'd like to think that in some measure because of our commentaries on Tom Jonah, because of our interview with the president on election E, we were in fact able to motivate African-Americans to turn out to vote. I feel very good about that. And it made me feel proud of what we were trying to do. I'm doing what we do one day a week. You do it four nights a week. Tell us about the grind of putting out it. And yours is an hour and minds and half hour. And our program four nights a week.

It's tough. I like it. I wouldn't say that I didn't like it. I appreciate the opportunity to be doing this show lightly. What I especially like about it is that it's live. And that because it's live, what you see is what you get. And what you get is what's happening. I like the live element. I've come to disdain now almost hate taped TV shows. I love the live element of it number one. And secondarily, I like the fact that because it is live, I get a chance to interact with our callers. With our viewers. That really, I really like that. That we get a chance to interact with the viewers. And those two things are totally important to me. But it is a grind. You know, you're trying to put out quality product every single night number one. Number two, because BET is the only black on network, you are really responsible for being all things to all people. Number three, because BET is the only black on network, I have to hit all the various demographic groups. So on any given week, I have to put together shows that appeal to a vast demographic in terms of age of African Americans. I have to put together shows that that that titillate the entertainment interest of that audience.

I have to put together shows that that that respond to their interest in empowerment issues. So on any given night, on any given week rather, I have to bounce between shows about entertainment and shows about empowerment. Shows that are light and shows that are serious. Shows that appeal to young people. Shows that appeal to older Americans. It really is, you know, a lot of stuff to deal with on any given week, trying to put together shows that addresses all of those questions, all of those issues, all of those demographics. And still is a good show. That's a lot of work. Not to mention that as you know, I live in L.A., so I still travel every week between DC and L.A., just to do the show from Washington. Although this year, this season, we're doing some of our shows from L.A., which I'm grateful for. But it's a lot to do. On the other hand, having, you know, having cried and whined about how tough it is. As I said earlier, I do like the fact that it's live. I like the fact that we get a chance to engage our viewers. And I especially like the fact on a personal level. You know, I'm all those persons that have to be challenged every day of his life. If I'm not being challenged in some way, then the day for me was a boring sort of day. And I never worry about that with this particular show because every night, I am challenged to show that I can do this and bounce between those issues of entertainment and empowerment.

So it becomes, for me, a mental workout to go from talking to the President of the United States one night and talking to Ice Cube the next night. I mean, that's a real, it's a quantum leap every single night. Last night we talked about on our show, for example, last night we talked about the impeachment process. We had on a number of people, including Congresswoman Maxine Waters, talking about the impeachment of the President or the impeachment inquiry of the President. Tonight on our show, I'll talk to David Stern, the Commission of the NBA, about why the NBA is still locked out. When is the NBA going to return? And then tomorrow night we'll go back to something, you know, again. So it's back and forth thing every night that keeps me challenged that I especially enjoy. Your latest book out on air the best of Tava Smiley on the time joining Morning Show. It's a good book. I think if I must face with my own official unbiased opinion, it is a collection, it quickly, it's a collection of our commentaries on the time joining Morning Show as the title suggests the best of Tava Smiley on the TJMS.

What happens is, I'm going to do my commentaries. I basically don't script those things or pretty much impromptu. A lot of it is extemporaneous. And so if people call to request copies of that Morning's commentary, there never is a copy to send them because it wasn't written as such. Tava Smiley, author, radio commentator, and host of BET Tonight with Tava Smiley. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions as to future in Black America programs, write us. Also let us know what radio station you heard us over. The views and opinions expressed on this program are not necessarily those of this station or of the University of Texas at Austin. Until we have the opportunity again for IBA technical producer David Alvarez, I'm John L. Hansen, Jr. Thank you for joining us today and please join us again next week. Cassette copies of this program are available and may be purchased by writing in Black America Cassettes.

Communication Building B, UT Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712. That's in Black America Cassettes, Communication Building B, UT Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712. From the University of Texas at Austin, this is the Longhorn Radio Network. I'm John L. Hansen, Jr. Join me this week on in Black America. We have to support Black owned businesses. We cannot continue to blame the white man or the blame the system if you will. We can't blame them for not having to worry about problems and give them 100% of our money. Radio commentator and TV talk show host Tabith Smiley this week on in Black America.