Radio station KBLA to lead $2 million Climate Justice Campaign

Black-owned media company SmileyAudioMedia is set to launch a new $2 million, 12-month climate campaign aimed at empowering communities of color, among other goals, it was announced Friday.

SmileyAudioMedia’s flagship LA-based radio station, KBLA Talk 1580, will lead the effort in collaboration with public and private partners such as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Metro, the Port of Los Angeles, CalEndow, California Community Foundation, the Sierra Club and the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Other partners are expected to be announced later on during the campaign.

“The harsher impacts of climate change weigh heavily on communities of color,” Tavis Smiley, KBLA’s chief visionary officer and host of the nationally syndicated “Tavis Smiley” show, said in a statement. “In these underserved communities, families are less likely to have air conditioning, shade trees, bus shelters, water and energy effective appliances and other infrastructure that’s critical to mitigate a changing climate.”

A news conference was scheduled for Friday at 10:30 a.m., at the MLK Memorial Tree Grove inside Kenneth Hahn State Park to offer more details on the initiative.

The Climate Justice Campaign aims to center the voices of communities of color in the climate conversation, connect at-risk fellow citizens with advocacy organizations, increase climate health literacy and highlight frontline climate justice advocates of color.

During the next 12 months, there will be a robust schedule of climate-themed broadcasts and special programming, as well as four free community events per quarter, two town halls broadcast nationally from Los Angeles, and a social media and marketing campaign, according to the statement.

Going Public PR, a Black-owned and female-owned communications and branding agency, will lead the coordination of the events.

“As the most ‘trusted, credible and reliable’ media source in Southern California for African Americans and beyond, our talk station is committed to do more than just talk in these troubled times,” Smiley added. “There is a clear connection between Dr. (Martin Luther) King’s moral consistence on the notion of reverence for human life or the interconnected nature of life and the future of our world house.”

He continued to say that on this MLK holiday weekend, “KBLA assigns itself the task of elevating the climate conversation by amplifying the voices of those who are most impacted by the climate catastrophes we are all witnessing in real time. In a real sense, climate is king.”

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