Tavis Smiley is severing his producing partnership with KCET in Los Angeles, and will collaborate instead with WNET/Thirteen in New York city beginning in January. WNET President Neal Shapiro told station staff in an e-mail: “Tavis will celebrate his 20th year in broadcasting in 2011, and we are truly privileged to have the opportunity to work with him as he continues to bring his nightly half-hour talk show to PBS stations across the country.” Smiley said in November that he had not been aware of KCET’s plans to drop its PBS membership in January.
UPDATE: WNET issued a press release today (Dec. 21) on the new partnership.