By Rick Newman
Posted: May 10, 2011

With the good times missing in action, a lot of Americans are coping with financial stress, declining living standards, and deep fear about the future. So veteran broadcaster Tavis Smiley ought to have a ready audience for his new book, Fail Up: 20 Lessons on Building Success from Failure. As a black radio and TV host, Smiley has managed to bridge many racial and political boundaries, starting as a commentator on a small urban radio station, expanding his audience with a show on Black Entertainment Television in the 1990s, and crossing into the mainstream with a stint on National Public Radio from 2002 to 2004. He currently hosts a TV show on PBS and two radio shows distributed by Public Radio International. Fail Up is his 15th book. I spoke with Smiley recently about his 20-year career, the setbacks he’s faced, and the many threats to prosperity in America. Excerpts:

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Tavis Smiley On Good Day: MyFoxPHILLY.com

2011 marks Smiley’s 20th year in broadcast — and that anniversary got him thinking: “The way I arrived at this place [of success] was failing my way — all the way,” he says. The book is sort of a Top 20 Worst-Of list: It details the 20 biggest mistakes of Smiley’s life.

Some of these mistakes were news even to Smiley’s close family. Before the Fail Up manuscript arrived at his parents’ house, Smiley called home to tell his mother and father they were about to read things they’d never heard before. Smiley was the first person in his family to go to college — but when he marched across the stage at Indiana University to get his diploma, he hadn’t really graduated. It technically took Smiley 16 years to get his degree; during college, he had been arrested and sent to jail for check fraud. “I couldn’t bring myself to tell my parents that I’d gone to jail while I was in college,” he says. “[Or] that I didn’t have a college degree.”

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This Takeaway originally appeared on CNN.com.

Even now, the predictable backlash has already begun. This is the nature of conspiracy theories and their most dedicated followers.

We will just have to accept that a certain segment of the population will forever believe — incorrectly — that the first African-American president is not, in fact, one of us and does not have the right to hold his high office. Sadly, if there were to surface a videotape of Obama’s live birth at the feet of the Statue of Liberty, some folk would still not believe.

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Listen to Tavis discuss FAIL UP on KPCC’s “AirTalk with Larry Mantle” on Southern California Public Radio

By MICHAEL STARR

Tavis Smiley has nothing if not impeccable timing.

The PBS talk show host and media dynamo, who’s celebrating his 20th anniversary in broadcasting, is here in Manhattan this week for two book signings — featuring Phil Donahue and Brian Lehrer — and to tape his show, “Tavis Smiley,” at WNET (Ch. 13), his new broadcast partner. His guest tonight? Katie Couric, who’s supposedly about to announce (finally!) that she’s leaving her perch at the “CBS Evening News” (Mayor Bloomberg guested on last night’s show).

“I wrote one of the essays for Katie’s book . . . none of this was meant to happen this way,” says Smiley, who’ll be promoting his own book, “Fail Up: 20 Lessons on Building Success from Failure,” tonight (8 p.m.) at the 92nd Street Y and tomorrow (6 p.m.) at Cooper Union with two one-hour conversations. They’ll be hosted by Donahue (tonight) and Lehrer (tomorrow), followed by a Q&A.

“Phil Donahue was my first talk show hero. He was, and still is, at the top of my list of personalities. He’s on the all-star team,” says Smiley. “And Brian Lehrer is my favorite public radio personality. He’s the best interviewer on all of public radio, for my money.”

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