Tavis Smiley Show No Longer on NPR

I have to admit, I was a little hesitant when WBEZ shuffled its lineup, and Tavis Smiley was inserted into the afternoon programming. Part of it was my perception that his show was going to focus exclusively on “black” issues. But I came to appreciate the topics that he covered and his on-air style kept me awake at work after lunch. He was definitely one of the more dynamic hosts that I’ve ever heard on NPR, and I was disappointed to hear that he’d left back in December. Here’s a TIME article with Smiley, in which he said: “Our show is the most multiracial in NPR’s entire history, it has the youngest demographic of any show in NPR’s history, so progress was being made. My concern was the pace the network was moving at — it wasn’t fast enough.”