“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” -MLK JR.
SmileyAudioMedia, Inc. announced that its flagship Los Angeles-based radio station, KBLA Talk 1580, will launch year two of its Climate Justice work. This $2 million, 12-month campaign will link and combat the relationship between climate change and poor health outcomes for African Americans, other people of color, and the poor. The campaign was recently named a national semifinalist for the American Climate Leadership Awards 2025 by ecoAmerica.
Climate inequities have taken a toll with multiple health triggers in the Black community, such as extreme heat and poor air quality, made worse by the recent wildfires.
The campaign’s focus areas include Advocacy, Coordination, Communication, Education, and Knowledge and Awareness. Building on the success of last year’s campaign, KBLA Talk 1580 will tailor brand-specific health messaging to the Black community, use strategic alliances to create a healthful behavior pipeline, create culturally and socially sensitive health education opportunities, and enhance knowledge and awareness among Black community stakeholders.
The initiative will achieve these objectives with a robust schedule of climate/Black health-themed broadcasts and special programming during the next 12 months, free community events each quarter, a one-of-a-kind Black health online portal, two (2) town halls broadcast nationally from Los Angeles, and a savvy social media and marketing campaign. Last year, KBLA Talk 1580 hosted a national conversation live on C-SPAN. It will do so again this year with the theme, “Narrowing the Gap: Addressing Health Disparities Among African Americans.”
KBLA Talk 1580 is joined in this historic effort by public and private partners, including: the Sierra Club, Amgen, Cedars Sinai, Providence, Kite Pharma (a Gilead Company), California Senior Medicare Patrol, Takeda, Eisai, the City of Los Angeles, and Councilmember Curren D. Price, Jr., plus other partners soon to be announced, with additional sponsors joining the campaign in Q2, Q3, and Q4.
“The harsher impacts of climate change weigh heavily on communities of color, as we can see with the impact of the wildfires on historic Black communities like Altadena where lives were lost, property was destroyed, and these toxic air pollutants are likely to cause even greater harm in the months and years to come,” stated Tavis Smiley, KBLA’s chief visionary officer, host of the nationally syndicated Tavis Smiley show, and recipient of the coveted “Freedom of Speech” Award from TALKERS. “There is real concern that these wildfires may leave even more inequity in their wake.”
As a Black-owned and operated major media company focused on these underserved communities, and as the most ‘trusted, credible and reliable’ media source in Southern California for African Americans and beyond, we are committed to doing more than talk in these troubled times,” added Smiley.
“KBLA assigns itself the task of elevating the climate conversation connected to Black health outcomes by amplifying the voices of those who are most impacted by the climate catastrophes we are all witnessing in real-time,” concluded Smiley, who appears on the “Heavy Hundred” list of the 100 Most Important Talk Radio Hosts in America.