© 2024 KALW 91.7 FM Bay Area
KALW Public Media / 91.7 FM Bay Area
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Smiley & West: What do you think?

KALW | By Matt Martin
Published October 17, 2012 at 10:49 AM PDT

At the end of September, WBEZ – Chicago’s primary NPR affiliate – made the decision to drop Smiley & West from its schedule.  This week, Tavis Smiley released a public letter responding to the cancellation, and to comments made by Chicago Public Media president and CEO Torey Malatia, who said the show was “becoming like Democracy Now" and veering too far from WBEZ’s declaration of principles.

WBEZ’s principles and programming decisions are certainly its own, but since KALW has aired Smiley & West Fridays at 1pm for the past two years, we want to take this opportunity to hear your thoughts about the show.  Please let us know what you think of Smiley & West and where it fits in the mix at Local Public Radio.

Chicagoist: Tavis Smiley Fires Back At WBEZ's Malatia Over Smiley & West Cancellation

Tavis Smiley’s open letter to Torey Malatia
 
Matt Martin
Matt Martin was KALW’s general manager from 2006 through 2018. Under his leadership, KALW grew into one of the most productive and innovative stations in public radio. Programs launched at KALW during Matt’s tenure as GM include the award-winning local newsmagazine Crosscurrents, the design podcast 99% Invisible, and the Spanish-language narrative journalism program Radio Ambulante. He helped create the station’s Audio Academy, a year-long program aimed at developing new talents in public radio, and led the first broad-based strategic planning process in the station’s history.
See stories by Matt Martin