Tavis Smiley
KBLA Talk 1580
"Tavis Smiley" is the flagship program for KBLA, America's newest progressive radio network and LA's first Black-owned talk station. Broadcast live across southern California on 1580AM and around the world on KBLA1580.com and TuneIn, this podcast presents the best of Tavis Smiley's conversations with activists, influencers, thought leaders, and cultural vanguards.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Dec 9, 2025 • 40min
Dr. Willie James Jennings joins Tavis Smiley
Dr. Willie James Jennings, author and Yale Divinity School professor, takes us inside Yale Divinity School’s new “eco-theological” residence hall and marks 15 years since the release of his seminal text, “The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race.”Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.
Dec 9, 2025 • 17min
Oliver Chi joins Tavis Smiley
Oliver Chi, city manager of Santa Monica, California, shares details about the reparations paid to the family of Silas White, the Black entrepreneur whose Ebony Beach Club was seized by the city in the 1950s.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.
Dec 5, 2025 • 22min
Dr. Cornel West joins Tavis Smiley
Dr. Cornel West, scholar, leading public intellectual, author, and special contributor, shares his thoughts on Trump's mischaracterizations of Black immigrants, why empathy is the new Christian battleground, and more. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.
Dec 5, 2025 • 17min
Dr. Kaye Wise Whitehead joins Tavis Smiley
Award-winning talk show host and Founding Director of the Karson Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice at Loyola University Maryland, Dr. Kaye Wise Whitehead discusses the upcoming 160th anniversary of the end of chattel slavery this Saturday and how we can prepare for the 100th anniversary of Black History commemorations.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.
Dec 5, 2025 • 22min
U.S Rep. Lauren Underwood joins Tavis Smiley
U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) gives an update on the pushback against the ICE detention center in her suburban Chicago district and explains how she flipped a traditionally Republican seat.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.
Dec 4, 2025 • 40min
Marcus Collins joins Tavis Smiley
University of Michigan professor, award-winning cultural translator, and author Marcus Collins shares his thoughts on America staring down the erasure of Black history and progress this year, the White House’s new media bias tracker, and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.
Dec 4, 2025 • 39min
Joshua Clark Davis joins Tavis Smiley
Joshua Clark Davis, historian at the University of Baltimore and author of “Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of the Civil Rights Struggle and the Activists Who Fought Back,” explains how newly unveiled photos of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reveal the depth of NYPD surveillance.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.
Dec 4, 2025 • 40min
Briahna Joy Gray joins Tavis Smiley
Briahna Joy Gray, political strategist and host of the “Bad Faith” podcast, looks ahead to the 2026 midterms as progressive democratic socialists and centrist Blue Dogs prepare to tussle in the primaries.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.
Dec 2, 2025 • 20min
Deji Laray and Thomas Q. Jones join Tavis Smiley
Deji Laray, creator and executive producer of the ALLBLK TV series "G.R.I.T.S. (Girls Raised In The South)," along with star and co-executive producer Thomas Q. Jones, is back with an inside look at their latest program.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.
Dec 2, 2025 • 23min
Paul Knepper joins Tavis Smiley
Basketball writer Paul Knepper talks about his new text, "Moses Malone: The Life of a Basketball Prophet," telling the story of the three-time MVP “anti-superstar” who was shy around the media and humble on the court.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.
