IU alumnus all 'Smiley' after return to lineup

Tavis Smiley has a new reason to live up to his surname after his show was recently brought back into the WTIU lineup.\nSmiley, an IU graduate and native of Kokomo has an aptly-named "Tavis Smiley" late-night talk show which has featured guests atypical to traditional PBS television, including actors, musicians and politicians, among others. \n"It's a program that has a lot of guests that don't normally appear on public television," WTIU Station Manager Phil Meyer said. "It also has a voice from a young African-American and it's not a common voice it's also an interesting about politics, culture, and social issues."\nWhile Smiley's show brought a new demographic to the PBS, the recent time change brought his show into a time conflict in WTIU's lineup, and was therefore taken off the air in Bloomington. When Smiley learned his show was canceled from a fan, he was especially distressed because of his ties to IU and the state of Indiana. \n"I was shocked because it took a little work to get the station to understand why they should put the show on in the first place," Smiley told the IDS. "I'm a graduate of Indiana University and it really hurts when your alma mater takes awhile to decide to carry show and then it especially hurts to be taken off that particular station. It's one thing to be taken off of any other station, but to be taken from your alma mater really hurts."\nWhile the decision to take his show off of the air was painful for Smiley, he said it was especially moving when his fans made the effort to bring his show back into the WTIU lineup.\n"I got a little emotional about it, it took me by surprise, it was not a coordinated effort," Smiley said. "I didn't even know that the IU station had taken the show off, I only knew about it through the students they wrote me about how they were going to write to the station to try and bring the show back."\nSmiley carries some serious credentials into his public television show. As the former host of "BET Tonight," Smiley was honored with the NAACP Image Award for Best "News, Talk or Information Series" for three consecutive years, has been named as one of Time magazine's America's 50 most promising young leaders and has hosted "The Tavis Smiley Show" on the National Public Radio network for years. Smiley was also the first black person to have his own show on NPR.\nMeyer said the decision to bring the show back had nothing to do with his ties with the University, but with the response from the WTIU viewership. \n"I think it had to do more with people's interest in it, we heard from students, staff and faculty," Meyer said. "The response from the viewers was relatively high because of his association with the University because they watched the show and wanted to see it come back."\nSmiley wanted to thank the WTIU management just as much as his fan base because the final decision to bring the show back on the air was in the hands of the station's leaders. \n"I really appreciate him for responding to these students. I'm glad that (WTIU Director of Radio and Television Services Perry Metz) brought the show back into the lineup, just as much as for the students and faculty who wanted the show back," Smiley said. "Television officials don't have to listen to what the viewers have to say, and he listened to what the students wanted."\n-- Contact senior writer Dan Patrick at djpatric@indiana.edu.