The broadcaster Tavis Smiley is changing the co-producer of his weeknight PBS talk show to WNET.org, from the Los Angeles station KCET-TV.
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images Tavis Smiley’s talk show will not be co-produced by the Los Angeles station KCET-TV.The half-hour interview program, which is called “Tavis Smiley” and begins its eighth season in January, will continue to be taped largely at its rented studios at KCET-TV, which had been Mr. Smiley’s production partner. But with KCET’s decision to end its affiliation with PBS effective Jan. 1, the show needed to find a new partner within the PBS family.
Mr. Smiley plans to formally announce the move on Tuesday.
In an interview in New York, he said that with access to WNET’s streetside studio at Lincoln Center, he expected to bring taping of his show to New York more often. “I finally get to play New York,” he said jokingly.
In addition, WNET will take over operating the show’s Web site, handling outreach to schools, working with other PBS stations to improve the program’s time slot in some markets, and assisting with fund-raising, particularly for Mr. Smiley’s prime-time PBS specials.
“It means more markets, it means better time slots, better marketing, more publicity, more prime-time specials, more collaborations with other NET talent,” Mr. Smiley said.
His new deal is for just one year, Mr. Smiley said, not because of any trepidation over whether it will work, but “because I only do one-year deals.” He said that he tried to tie most of his deals to his September birthday, which he used each year as a time to assess his life goals. “If it’s working for me, I re-up,” he said.
As for KCET, whose new lineup will not include any of the PBS programs, he said: “I think KCET is making a grave mistake and I fret that this grand station will end up being sold for parts. That’s my greatest fear.”
Mr. Smiley’s program will be shown in Los Angeles on KOCE-TV, starting in January.
WNET is the producer of another PBS late-night interview program, “Charlie Rose,” and with both programs under one umbrella, “there may be more exciting things we can do,” said Neal Shapiro, the president and chief executive of WNET.org.
Mr. Smiley, who is also the host of two public radio programs and the author of best-selling books, including “What I Know for Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America,” will observe 20 years in broadcasting with a prime-time PBS special next November.