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SAN DIEGO - To fulfill its goal of being the premier local news analysis organization in San Diego, KPBS is taking significant steps toward better serving the community. Starting on Monday, May 23, KPBS 89.5 FM will begin airing 24 hours of news and informational programming.
“This is a positive move forward for KPBS,” said KPBS General Manager Tom Karlo. “KPBS is committed to serving our community with news and information all day, every day. The recent world and national events have demonstrated that locals rely on KPBS – on all our platforms – for the latest news and updates. Now they will have access to that public service on KPBS-FM 24-7.”
KPBS radio schedule changes to focus on news and information
KPBS’ shift to a full schedule of news and information features several significant changes:
• “These Days” is changing its name to “Midday Edition” and will be an hour-long program at noon.
• “Editors Roundtable” will become “The Roundtable” and move to noon on Fridays as part of “KPBS Midday Edition”
• All of the same popular and highly rated programs currently airing on KPBS radio will remain, however they may be airing at a new time. Please refer to the schedule at KPBS.org/radioschedule for an up-to-date look at KPBS 89.5 FM’s new lineup.
• There are several new programs being added to the radio schedule:
- “World Have Your Say” – a BBC call-in/ interview program takes questions from around the world (weekdays at 10 a.m.)
- “To the Point” – hosted by Warren Olney is a national interview/public affairs program with a West Coast feel (weekdays at 11 a.m.)
- “Q” – is an arts, culture and entertainment program from the CBC and hosted by Jian Ghomeshi (weeknights at 8 p.m.)
- “PBS NewsHour” – an audio feed of the award-winning PBS news program (weeknights at 9 p.m.)
- “The Splendid Table” this is one of the most popular cooking shows on public radio featuring Lynne Rossetto Kasper (Saturdays at 3 p.m.)
- “Being” – Krista Tippet hosts this program about religion, faith and beliefs. (Sundays at 7 p.m.)
KPBS.org adding classical music stream
KPBS is adding a classical music web stream to KPBS.org. Now classical music fans can access their favorite music 24-7 on KPBS.org instead of only during the evening hours on radio. While KPBS’ radio feed of classical is ending, the station will continue to frequently feature local classical music performances on Saturday and Sunday evenings. In addition, KPBS will continue to feature Classical-24 on our HD2 station. HD radio is becoming increasingly popular and more affordable. Many new car models feature HD radio.
“These are very exciting changes for KPBS radio and the organization as a whole,” said John Decker, KPBS Director of Programming. “The addition of these new programs, along with some of the time shifts will better cater to our audiences who like thoughtful news from a local, national and world perspective – and throughout the day and night.”
“These Days” moves to Midday
“These Days” has been on KPBS radio at 9 a.m. for 20 years and is the station’s signature news magazine program hosted by Maureen Cavanaugh. The new name, “KPBS Midday Edition,” reflects the program’s new timeslot and also complements KPBS’ lineup of news programs: starting with “KPBS Morning Edition” on radio, to the upcoming “KPBS Evening Edition” on television (see below).
The new “KPBS Midday Edition” will be an hour-long program featuring Maureen Cavanaugh at the helm. Decker saw an opportunity to capture a potentially larger audience at noon, while also having more time to react to and cover the stories of the day. Having three additional hours in the morning to prepare will allow the “KPBS Midday Edition” team to present a more powerful news-packed program.
“Our goal is to make ‘KPBS Midday Edition’ more relevant and timely at noon,” said KPBS General Manager Tom Karlo. “The staff will have more time to react to the news of the day to bring our audience a very news driven discussion that is more timely. KPBS is continually working to best meet the needs of our local audience and we see this as a tremendous opportunity.”
“KPBS Evening Edition” coming to television this fall
In addition to the changes on radio, the KPBS news team is preparing for a September 26th launch of a weeknight television news program called, “KPBS Evening Edition.” The 30-minute program will air Monday through Friday at 6:30 p.m. and feature thoughtful analysis of the news of the day. Video packages, interviews and multimedia features will highlight the program.
The addition of “KPBS Evening Edition” will allow KPBS to offer local news on all three platforms. The news block on KPBS-TV will shift to accommodate the new program, but “Nightly Business Report” and the “BBC World News” will remain in the schedule. The “PBS NewsHour” will continue to air at 7 p.m.
“I am thrilled that a KPBS nightly news program is just on the horizon,” said Karlo. “This move will be KPBS’ trifecta of news on all platforms. Our first step toward that goal happened two years ago when ‘San Diego Week’ began airing on Fridays and KPBS re-launched its website as a news service. We now reach more than a million people each week on TV, radio and digital media.”
“As a local news outlet, KPBS is in a unique position of growth and success,” said Karlo. “While other news outlets are scaling back and combining positions, KPBS, thanks to the generosity of our members, donors, and corporate supporters is reinvesting that support to provide a vital public service to the local community: thoughtful news and analysis on KPBS 89.5 FM, KPBS-TV, and KPBS.org.”
KPBS is a public service of San Diego State University, serving the region with TV, Radio and Internet content that is educational as well as entertaining—and free of commercial interruption.
