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NPR really blew it with Tavis Smiley
newsday ^ | 12/10/04 | LEAH SAMUEL

Posted on 12/10/2004 3:02:31 PM PST by Drango

Tavis Smiley's departure from National Public Radio will be a loss not only to blacks but also to all NPR listeners.

For its part, NPR issued a vague statement that is long on happy talk about Smiley helping to "jump start" its effort at reaching blacks.

Smiley's departing letter to local stations asserts that NPR has "failed to meaningfully reach out to a broad spectrum of Americans who would benefit from public radio."

(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: liberaltalkradio; npr; smiley; tavis; tavissmiley
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To: BigSkyFreeper
"Was his NPR show anything like the PBS show he has on TV?"

Yes. Same old divisiveness and victimhood stuff. He occasionally had a substitute, whose name I don't recall, who was not bad at all.

21 posted on 12/10/2004 3:53:37 PM PST by Bahbah
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To: GOP_Raider; Drango
As one reporter put it:

The show on CNBC averaged 75,000 viewers a night, the television equivalent of hitting a serve at about 8 mph.

http://www.nbc17.com/entertainment/3973582/detail.html

22 posted on 12/10/2004 3:56:24 PM PST by BigSkyFreeper (Congratulations President-Re-Elect George W. Bush!)
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To: conservlib

pfffft - anyone ever watch the Tavis Smiley show? His interview skills are that of a weekly, high school, television audio visual cable program. He spent 30 minutes interviewing Harrison Ford (so I thought I'd listen to old Harry expound on his libby views); 5 minutes was spent discussing politics. Tavis spent the other 25 discussing "Star Wars". This guy is the talent equivalent of Joan Rivers doing red carpet interviews.


23 posted on 12/10/2004 3:57:29 PM PST by Butch America
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To: conservlib

sorry conservlib; didnt mean my post directed towards you, only in general. MEANT it only as a GENERAL post re: the article.


24 posted on 12/10/2004 3:59:31 PM PST by Butch America
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To: BigSkyFreeper
Speaking of Moyers, did everyone catch his quote today...

"I'm going out telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the Republican National Committee," says Moyers. "We have an ideological press that's interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people."

I wonder if he's hitting the sauce again?

25 posted on 12/10/2004 4:00:17 PM PST by Drango (Those who advocate robbing (taxing) Peter to pay Paul...will always have the support of Paul.)
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To: Drango

Man, I love victimization! Apparently Smiley isn't going to be heard because he is a liberal! It's the jihad against the left! This is the undertone to the leftist chant that only stupid and evil people are conservative... in which case, anything bad that happens to them must be due to a lack of comprehension or a cruel conspiracy. And now the punch line... Travis will be picked up somewhere almost instantly and continue his career without missing a beat.


26 posted on 12/10/2004 4:02:21 PM PST by redpoll (redpoll)
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To: Bahbah

His C-SPAN interview was both idiotic and entertaining (I pride myself in Liberal Schadenfreude). One of the points he made was that he was touching all cross sections of America. A quick glance at his show's website reveals every subject touched on blacks only.


27 posted on 12/10/2004 4:05:55 PM PST by BigSkyFreeper (Congratulations President-Re-Elect George W. Bush!)
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To: Drango
I wonder if he's hitting the sauce again?

I hope so. He'll now have plenty of time being drunk while stupid.

28 posted on 12/10/2004 4:11:27 PM PST by BigSkyFreeper (Congratulations President-Re-Elect George W. Bush!)
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To: BigSkyFreeper
The only thing I can stomach on NPR is All Things Considered.

NPR has gotten better in the last few weeks. It was almost intolerably bitter after the election.

It is a great news program to listen to in the car, when doing chores (dishes) etc. when there is no TV (and thus no FOX). Besides, it is good to hear what the libs have to say. Then we can develop our own arguments. It's lucky that liberals don't do the same. They refuse to pay attention to the other side.

29 posted on 12/10/2004 4:33:29 PM PST by Republicanprofessor
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To: BigSkyFreeper
I read an interview that Time magazine did with Tavis Smiley. Smiley stated in the interview that the Bush cabinet had more diversity than NPR did. Meaning that the Bush cabinet has more black people than NPR. Which I found funny.
Also Smiley said that when he first went on the air at NPR, the listeners complained that he was "too loud and boisterous". Meaning that he was acting too black for the lily white NPR audience.
Now you say most stations shuffled his show to the literally the middle of the night when nobody was listening.
Seems like Mr. Smiley is a victim of white liberal hypocrisy. Even thought they say they are champions of the "underdogs", liberals don't like people who don't look and act like them. Blue collar workers figured this out about the time of Reagan's first election to President. I have a feeling that blacks are going to seeing through the libs in the near future thanks to issues like school vouchers.
30 posted on 12/10/2004 4:36:22 PM PST by Ticonderoga34
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To: Paul Atreides

Tavis is trash. Buh-bye Tavis. Now I can go back to listening to NPR... hehehe did I just admit that? ;-)


31 posted on 12/10/2004 4:39:03 PM PST by cyborg (http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/flamelily.html)
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To: zert_28

Most white liberals still have a modicum of pride, and can't stand hear the trash that Smiley spewed every day. I walked into a bookstore playing his show once and he was laughing about the soldiers dying in Iraq. Not funny.


32 posted on 12/10/2004 4:40:34 PM PST by cyborg (http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/flamelily.html)
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To: GOP_Raider
McEnroe would just blame a chair umpire.

You can't be serious!!!!

33 posted on 12/10/2004 4:42:32 PM PST by mountaineer
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To: conservlib

"The hot topics of the nation are discussed at length on the Dianne Ream show at 10 AM. It is almost as good as the book review on C-Span2"

You won't think so, once you're old enough to shave.


34 posted on 12/10/2004 4:49:14 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: cyborg
I only read the Time magazine interview with him. I never realized that he was that offensive. My bad.

However, I still think that black people will start to separate from the Democrat party in the near future.

And I still think that liberals don't like people who act like uptight upper middle class jerks.

I stand by those comments. I rescind any comments about Smiley being a victim of white liberalism.
35 posted on 12/10/2004 4:52:40 PM PST by Ticonderoga34
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To: zert_28

He may be a victim. White libs have been running around claiming to want to fix racism in America. They're the biggest racists of all IMHO with the way they find some black toadie to be their friend and prove what enlightened people they are. I find it laughable that Al Sharpton is the 'ideal'black man and not Clarence Thomas.


36 posted on 12/10/2004 5:05:27 PM PST by cyborg (http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/flamelily.html)
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To: cyborg
Could Smiley be both a victim and offensive at the same time?

In any case, your arguments concerning Al Sharpton and Clarence Thomas advance my theory that blacks are going to desert the Democrat in the future.

Right now, libs take support from blacks for granted just like they took support from blue collar workers for granted back in the day. The Democrats lost a big chunk of blue collar voters and I think the same thing will happen with blacks.
37 posted on 12/10/2004 5:15:44 PM PST by Ticonderoga34
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To: conservlib
The hot topics of the nation are discussed at length on the Dianne Ream show at 10 AM. It is almost as good as the book review on C-Span2.

Brian Lamb has decided to end Booknotes, unfortunately. I agree with you about C-Span2. It's terrific programming. I used to be an avid NPR listener but I can't take the bias anymore. I listen to recorded books in my car instead now.

38 posted on 12/10/2004 5:22:35 PM PST by jalisco555 ("The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." W. B. Yeats)
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To: conservlib
I am an avid NPR listener

Our State Radio rebroadcasts NPR shows like AllT Considered here in Australia. I remember the days when we would get bits of VOA rebroadcast here on radio... it was very contrasting flavour to the liberal-socialist-pc-prattle that is NPR and PBS (and our State Radio/TV too for that matter).

I listen into AllT Cons radio show in the van in the afternoon because I want to here what the liberal talking points du jour are. They will always bang the drum for an environment or "social jusatice" (sic) issue and I am never surprised at all. I listen in to be surprised tho - its like a listening post, its like "bugging" the left wing inteligensia. I want to know what they are thinking and that it hasn't taken a turn of some kind.

Conservative people should be thankful of the great service that these broadcasts provide. The rusted on leftists cannot do a commercially viable show because they are so radically against the mainstream flow and worldview, so to have a taxpayer funded outlet for the emotional claptrap is good. Let them get it off their chests, let them live out their delusions, let there be a safety valve to relieve their pent-up frustrations and crazy utopias... and let it be public and above the radar at all costs.

Last thing we need is for this demographic to be secretive and conspiratorial. Its healthier for the majority of normal society that Leftist activism is out of the closet.

39 posted on 12/10/2004 5:30:40 PM PST by rocknotsand ( "I don't want any messages saying we are holding our position... We're not holding anything!")
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To: Drango
The only worthwhile show on NPR is Car Talk.
40 posted on 12/10/2004 5:33:14 PM PST by reg45
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