KQED News has announced a new multiplatform service called KQED Newsroom for television, radio and online, with award-winning journalist and anchor Thuy Vu as host. Scott Shafer, the award-winning journalist and host of KQED Public Radio’s The California Report, will join Vu as senior correspondent.
The new weekly television program will replace This Week in Northern California on the Friday evening television schedule. New segments will give viewers access to features and stories from all KQED News sources with newsmaker interviews, debate segments and field reporting.
The title, KQED Newsroom, will remind longtime viewers of KQED’s groundbreaking 1968 program, which was the first nightly news series on public television and informed the launch of the national The Macneil/Lehrer Report, which premiered in 1975. The new half-hour television program, with a new set, premieres on Friday, Oct. 18, on KQED Public Television 9 and will air on KQED Public Radio 88.5 FM on Sundays at 6 p.m. All KQED Newsroom episodes and additional Web-only content will be available on KQEDNews.org.
“KQED is transforming all of our services to meet the changing needs of the people of the Bay Area as they seek news and information on new digital media like smartphones and laptops along with television and radio,” said KQED President John Boland.
“This was the right time to transform our popular Friday night television public affairs program to a multiplatform service of KQED News. The new name, KQED Newsroom, signals a change, but also reminds us that KQED has been innovating to better serve the public for nearly 60 years. This will not be the Newsroom of the '60s and '70s, but rather a 21st century service with a name that recognizes our heritage.”