>> tonight a conversation with magic johnson. the nba legend is branching out into baseball with the group ways to buyer the dodgers. on april of 11, a new broadway play about his relationship with larry bird opens. he is the driving force behind the network. we are glad you joined us. a conversation with magic johnson is coming up now appear eager

>> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all walmart stands together with better. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: always pleased to have magic johnson on this program. he is preparing to launch a new tv network aimed at african- americans. a new broadway play opens on april 11 which explores the friend and rivalry between magic and larry bird, so a preview of bird. suffere

542 minutes, assists, 12, rebounds, 11. 44 minutes, 12-18 shoots. >> the guy is eating me alive. >> the broadway play, i was thinking, the only thing left for you to do is have someone name of planet after you. what is left on planet earth? is there anything left? >> this is a blessing from god. larry and i are blown away, areer. apply after our courie

i want to be a businessman. you do not know what is going to happen, but i am a businessman. that is what i always wanted to do, and that is going very well. >> talking about a preview, who had -- the producer have some notes for the guy who plays you. what did you tell him about the fact he was not smiling? but i said, larry brown is the is the one who smiles. my out, and that is what i was trying to explain, because i love to win. i love to play basketball. i was a fierce competitor, but of the same time i smile, so i

wanted to make sure he could bring out the true magic on stage. >> what have you been smiling about all these years? it is not like it became a creation to you. it was a great marketing tool for him, and he has talked about it before, and that was george foreman. who would notuy react. ali would tell you how handsome he was, but george foreman was the opposite. one looks back of your career, and you always have that. >> i got lessons from my mom -- blessed from my mom. i.s.o. gone part of her, who also wanted to save the world now -- i took on part of her and also part of my dad, so i got a

piece of both of them, and probably the best piece of both of them in me, so i am a guy who just enjoys life. i have got lots to smile about, a beautiful wife and three wonderful kids, so i have a lot to smile about, and then my path has been incredible. you think about it. you have known me a long time. 20 years of living with hiv. you know i am still here. i have got a lot to smile about. tavis: most cats your age do not say their grandfather were so easily. good >> i am happy. i am very happy. i love playing with them, beautiful babies.

i am so proud of them. the day is in college, and the baby has one more year of high school. i tried tune in the good father and -- i try to be a good father, but they have to be in sports, because a lot of times the father wants you to be playing sports. now now they are doing their own thing. >> i told ervine to tell you when he got home that i thought you did a wonderful job in the announcement. i love the documentary, and it was beautiful. we think we know your story. to see her tell her own journey and how she navigated you coming home, it was beautiful.

>> you know both of us very well. she is shy. she likes to stay in the background, and when they came me after 20 years, i said, the only thing is my wife. i said, women and people want to hear from you. they have heard my stories, but they really want to hear from you. are you comfortable with explaining that? she did a wonderful job, and she is a blessing from god. any time you look at this woman, she supported me. she could have left, never wavered in her love and support for me, so when i saw her at

michigan state over 30 years ago, i thought, i chose the right one. i know i chose the right one. >> you look good, kooky. you look good. you seemed tired. >> you are representing. i have my dodger gear for you because i know you are going to come to some games. >> i know there is a not a lot you can say about it, but why did you want to do this deal? >> that is a great question, and no one has ever asked me that. when you are in business, this is a great friend.

the dodger brand, if you think about it, it is thinking is, the dodgers, and the red sox. those are the teams people know, so i am in l.a. i am a baseball fan. the dodgers are for sale, so i want to thank frank record for and my the torch to mea business partners as far as the lifting of have this round. i am a baseball fan and way back to the detroit tigers when i grew up. the whole team, and i thought i could take it to another level, so it was years. a lot of people came after the dodgers, and they accepted our bid, and we do not control it

until 30 days. that is why there is not a lot i can say, because after 30 days i can go into it. i am so happy. i just left a lunch meeting before i came here and they still gave me a standing ovation, and i was blown away. this is the type of response i have been getting. >> folks care about this round. they see you as rescuing it. since you are our businessmen, how do you make decisions to attach your name to a brand and try to resuscitate a brand that has been damaged? this has been damaged over the years. why put your name on something? why spend $2 billion to buy something you know was tarnished?

>> that is the reason you spend $2 billion. you could take it, and the competitive nature is to build it to where it was. people of this theme -- love this team. you are in a good place, because all you need to do is invest money into it, invest money into the team, make sure you have a good product, and we are taking the stadium to another level, and people will come back because they want to come back and support this team, and then when you think about it, the dodgers is a world team in the world around, so you have something very unique, so it will not just the los angeles team. they have fans in korean, japan, china, so this is a brand

you could build something and bring it back, and it will be worth more than $2 billion, and we feel we can do that. >> the tv network. just this morning, you have been so busy running around you have not had time to see this, but oprah winfrey just went on the morning show and has made some news being open about the own network, and she has talked about some of the mistakes she made, and she said, she had no idea it would be this hard. if she had any idea she might have done something different. i am just paraphrasing. she opened about the difficulty of getting a network off the ground. this is over winfrey. when oprah is laying out how difficult this is and the mistakes she made and the challenges, the you take anything from that? >> no question about it, because

that is billions of dollars if she has, and magic don't have that kind of capital, and when you think about spending $400 million, i cannot afford that, so i understand everything she is talking about. i hope my group has learned from her mistakes. i am targeted. but i am going after african americans. i am going after african american families. there is going to be a family network where we try to bring the family by watching tv. we are targeted that way. of we understand last. i am going for 30 or older. we know who we are going after. we are going to try to hit fathe

person who will be watching, mom or dad, and hopefully have their kids. >> is there room for another african-american? >> 3 can survive. bob johnson did a wonderful job, and when you look at the you see, they have done a fine job -- look at bet, they have done a fine job. we will be able to provide positive content to the people, and i am hoping over gets it right. -- hoping oprah gets it right. she is an importt woman, and we want her to be successful.

we have already hit a lot of great sponsors. it was tough in the beginning. laurie out came in, -- l'oreal came in. we are getting a lot of good numbers. we are going to launch from june 30. >> i remind the from the announcement of so much of your story, which is the when you made the announcement, sponsors them away -- ran away. you were picking and choosing who you wanted to be partnered with, and then the announcement is made, and they run away. a few years later, they are back and then some. how did you do that? >> the real and true and honest.

did you know me. this is who i am. i am a guy who has always been an up-front guy, so i was hoping one day people would change, not to love magic johnson, but to understand and care about hiv aids, especially running rampant through the latino and african- american communities right now. did i know the people would accept me and want to come back with sponsors from corporate america? i did not know that. my helsing was making sure i was healthy, making sure i've built my business and making sure i was honest and -- my thing was making sure i was healthy and making sure i've built my business and making sure i was honest and making sure once i got out here talking about hiv and aids, now the people living with six or people who have to

look out now, let them know my story and make sure i was real with them, because the main thing especially in our community, they need the right information, so all i have done is be honest, and because of the honesty, because the smile never left my face, i was still a guy who was out here every single day, i think they came back because they saw a real guy and a guy who opened up the id was not her fault. -- who opened up that it was not her fault. it was my fault. >> why the decision to be so up ?ront and opene it is always better to tell the

story of. why not just disappear? there are other people who suffered from hiv and died from it who chose not to be public. you were the exact opposite. you made the announcement, and you stayed in our faces. why stay in our faces? you made your mark. you are already an iconic athlete. why stay in our faces? >> you can only be who you are. i am a guy who loves life. i am a guy who lives every single day on an emotional high, so i am not a guy who runs. i am a guy who meets the challenge head on, who says, ok -- i said, what do i have to do

to lives? take your medicine, have a positive attitude, and work out. he was telling me, i do those things, so that is what i have been doing for 20 years, so if i would have ran and hid, i probably would have died. i am being another person, so i like to control things on my own terms, so i have always been a man like fasthat. i am a competitive person. >> you asked what he did to live. you said, i have done those things. i cannot imagine 20 years ago you did not immediately think about dying, that you did not think about how long you have to live.

if i am right about that, 20 years later, with all you have to live for every day, do you ever think about dying? >> you are right. as the first thing you think about. you think it is a death sentence to yourself, so i am thinking about getting affairs in order. i did not know what this meant for me. i did not know who anyone who lived for a long time with hiv, and then i got in hiv aids community, and some unbelievable activist not sue me. they said, i have been living with it for 28 years covered 25 what? this is not a death sentence,

but it took those people to educate me on it, and elizabeth was the one who really settled me down and made me feel comfortable. she was dying of aids at the time. she told me i was going to be here a long time because a lot of great drugs were going down the pipeline, and she was right. at that time there was one drug. now we have over 30, so i have to really complement hiv aids community. but all the great organizations but are doing great work every single day from new york all the way to l.a. and definitely elizabeth glaser. she was a wonderful woman, and she has helped cookie and i. tavis: does the fact you are still living 20 years later have anything to do with the fact

that you are driven? i do not know how my life is going to end. we never know how it is going to end. i wonder if it has anything to do with how driven you are today. >> i would not say it has made me more driven. you want to spend -- it has made me want to spend more time with cookie, the kids, and grandkids, but i was always a driven person, so i sit in the beginning it made me rush through things, because i did not know. now i feel really good. everything has been amazing, so i think because i am doing well i do not think i have to rest.

is not mean an -- i do not think i have herto rush. it is not me. it is always, let me think about it. tavis: and when will you know when you have overtax yourself? when will you know there is too much on your plate? >> you and i do not live in the world, so i am going to put you in there, too. i am never satisfied. i do not need a lot of sleep. of i love to think about the the next deal.,

what do i worry about? i do not want to take on too much, because i have got to manage it. i have got to execute. i have to be successful. and my out of way that i feel yes, so this was a great question. i want to be still for the next year or two, because this is enough. i have to make sure the dodgers are successful. the play, we cannot control about. i hope that is successful, and i am sure it will be, but there is enough on my plate right now.

you said earlier, why take on that? because i am going to take time making sure it is successful, and i have got to hire the right people and make sure they understand the magic way to do things triggered strikes there is a magical way to do things, and it always works. " but on the calendar. magic has booked himself again for a year and a half. good to see you. i am proud of you. >> your support means a lot to me, even when you send me notes. tavis: that is it for our show. until next time keep the faith.

>> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with the notorious lobbyist jack abramoff on why the system in washington is still broken. that is next time. we will see you then. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more.

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