With Los Angeles TV station KCET leaving PBS, talk show host Tavis Smiley has had to find a new PBS staton to host his show.

He is shifting the co-producer of the weeknight PBS show to WNET.org starting Jan 1, 2011,  reports our good friend Elizabeth Jensen in the New York Times’ Media Decoder blog.

WNET, the main public media outfit in New York City, will operate the Website for "Tavis Smiley," work to improve the program’s time slot in some markets, help with fund-raising and work on the show’s outreach to schools, the story notes.

The deal, however, is just for one-year, which Smiley said is "because I only do one-year deals."

While his shows will continue to be taped at rented studios at KCET-TV, it will be aired in Los Angeles on KOCE-TV starting next month, the story notes.

The switch to WNET.org “means more markets, it means better time slots, better marketing, more publicity, more prime-time specials, more collaborations with other NET talent,” Smiley said, adding that he hopes to tape his show in New York more often as well.

As for KCET’s decision to leave PBS, Smiley had this to say," “I think KCET is making a grave mistake and I fret that this grand station will end up being sold for parts. That’s my greatest fear.”

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