After agreeing to purchase KBLA 1580 in November 2020, Tavis Smiley has filed to acquire the Los Angeles signal completely.
A former BET, PBS, and NPR host, Smiley agreed to purchase the station for $7.15 million. After operating the station under a local marketing agreement since June 2021, Smiley will now pay an adjusted total of $6.896 million for the signal.
After Smiley Radio Properties took over the signal, it began airing a Black talk format, under the slog “Unapologetically Progressive”.
In addition to owning the station, Smiley currently hosts the midday timeslot on the station from 9:00 AM-12:00 PM.
A class B 50,000-watt station, KBLA is licensed to Santa Monica and was a brokered Spanish station before Smiley took over operations.
Smiley exited PBS after being accused of sexually harassing multiple female colleagues. A jury found he had broken the morality clause in his contract, and was ordered to pay $2.6 million to the public broadcaster. However, he said he has put that situation behind him.
“On this side of the PBS drama, what you hear in my voice is a sincere depth of gratitude to be back in the game, back in the business, to be in this space,” Smiley told the Los Angeles Times last month. “The sweet spot for me has always been talking to people. These three hours on the radio are the best part of my day.
“But everywhere I went, I continued to hear from people. They would tell me how much they missed my voice,” Smiley continued. “It became clear to me that if I was going to get back to what I was placed here on Earth to do, I would have to create it myself. So it’s no longer about asking for a seat at the table. It’s about building your own table.”
