PBS SoCal, KCET and 89.3 KPCC-FM are partnering to provide a new daily regional news program. Social Update will be available for free on Radio, Television, Online Streaming, Podcasts and Social Media.
The collaboration was initially tested last April when the community needed timely local news about the COVID-19 pandemic and public health developments across the Southern California community. Over 150 episodes of an on-air, five-minute daily report on KCET was created to give viewers the biggest local headlines of the day. This content aired weeknights on KCET and online.
Additionally, select segments were distributed through KCET’s and PBS SoCal’s social media accounts. The program also aired as a radio segment on KPCC and was made available online. The rapid-response experiment proved to be a great success.
“We think this initiative reflects the best of public media, and reflects why so many Americans place their trust in public media,” said Andrew Russell, PBS SoCal and KCET President/CEO.
“This community-owned, local, public media news collaboration sets a new model for trusted local news and journalism in Southern California as NPR and PBS are two of the most fair and accurate sources of news that exist in the world today,” said Kristen Muller, Chief Content Officer, KPCC and LAist.
“We are telling stories abandoned by commercial media as we are doing everything we possibly can to reach our community and make sure that local news is both free and available for all,” said Juan Devis, PBS SoCal and KCET Chief Creative Officer.
