Tavis Smiley is being pushed out of his office. A papery gang, peopled by Bebe Moore Campbell, Omar Tyree, E. Lynn Harris, Yolanda Joe and black writers from around the world, is already claiming office space in The Smiley Building, his spanking new headquarters in the heart of Los Angeles's rebounding South Central district. "I've got bookshelves all over my house," says Smiley, "books stacked on the floor in my office. I kept saying one day I'd figure out something else. I had so many books at my house that I ran out of space. Someone said `That's a big wall. You must have a lot of books,' and I laughed. My new office has a wall of bookshelves that I had specifically built. I was hoping that I could take books from my house and fill part of the shelves in my office, but my bookshelf is already completely filled! I'm thinking that now I might have to turn one of these offices into a library."

His point is not lost on BIBR: Black radio sells books; and authors, publishers and booksellers alike are beginning to stand up and take notice of the power of the airwaves to reach their readers. National and local public-and talk-radio shows have long been used to introduce new authors and new works to audiences who tune in for intellectually stimulating conversation. These days, though, the power of big-city morning and afternoon drive-time programs to spread the word is catching on, and nationally syndicated shows as well as stations with a decidedly less academic programming niche are turning to authors and books to meet their listeners' increasing demands.