Tavis Smiley is making his return to the media circuit on June 19, 2021, with the launch of his new radio station, KBLA 1580 Los Angeles. Smiley recently purchased the station, which has been reformatted and will offer a Black and progressive perspective on the city and nation. The station is being marketed as the first and only “unapologetically progressive” talk radio station for the African American listening audience in the Los Angeles area.
Smiley is the majority owner of KBLA, which he and investment partners bought from New York-based Multicultural Radio Broadcasting in a deal valued at $7.5 million. The station also is the only Black-owned and -operated talk station in Southern California.
“The opportunity to have a Black-owned and Black-operated talk radio station in this city, where talk radio for too long has been all day, all night, all White, is an opportunity that is begging for someone to take advantage of it. So I’m dumb enough to try,” Smiley told The Associated Press. “The station doesn’t have an agenda except to be unapologetically progressive. We just want to be a voice for those who have been voiceless for too long in this city, speak a truth that is otherwise not being considered if we don’t speak it, and give people a chance literally just to be heard.”
Smiley has been quiet since he was fired from PBS after sexual harassment allegations arose in 2017. Last August, he was ordered by a judge to pay $2.6 million to PBS for violating the network’s morals clause by engaging in multiple affairs with subordinates. Smiley has denied the allegations from the start and is currently appealing the verdict.
“I have no idea why what happened to me happened,” Smiley said. “This Me Too moment happened at a time and in a way where it was very difficult, almost impossible, to put forth any other narrative, no matter how truthful that narrative was.“
D.L. Hughley’s nationally syndicated radio show is also part of the KBLA afternoon lineup and comedian Alonzo Bodden is a host on the station as well.
“This is not about Tavis Smiley. I’m only on (weekdays) three hours a day,” Smiley said. “We are live 24 hours a day, seven days a week. … So there are a lot of other voices on the station that will be talking about a lot of local, national and international issues.”
