Postcard From A Member Station

Los Angeles has a certain reputation for celluloid actors, bikini-clad sunworshippers, and a dry landscape of freeways that sprawls for miles. But dig just a little deeper and you'll find a treasure chest: a huge city that has some of the most vibrant communities in America. Juan Devis, a producer at PBS station KCET in LA, is committed to finding the creative heart of LA  through a young project called Web Stories.

Partnerships have been key to the project's success. For one of the  first Web Stories, "Rites of Passage," KCET partnered with the Japanese-American museum to take a multimedia look at growing up in LA - a photo gallery that features punk teenagers in the 1980s. more

Central Pennsylvanians are up in arms about the new partial smoking ban, instituted state-wide on September 11th. 

Local member station WITF asked readers of its blog, The Reporter's Notebook, to comment on the new law that prohibits smoking in most public places, including many bars, restaurants, taxi cabs, schools and government buildings.more

The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul hosted the Republican National Convention last week, proving that, like RMPBS, they could throw quite a political party. 

Twin Cities Public Television's (TPT) local public access program, Almanac: Access at the Capitol, is a weekly live broadcast with an accompanying website, and during the conventions, the show, and particularly the site, went into overdrive.  Almanac reporter Mary Lahammer and commentator David Gillette  provided in depth and behind-the-scenes coverage of the RNC that rivaled national coverage in both information and entertainment value.more

The presidential candidates are back on the campaign trail, so let's take a look at how the locals in Denver participated in the convention while the nation was watching.  Tomorrow, a look at the local online voices in the Twin Cities.

The Democratic National Convention (DNC) swept through Denver last month, yielding hundreds of hours of media coverage.  Yet, few media outlets offered a window into the impact of the convention on Denver and its residents.  Local PBS member station Rocky Mountain PBS offered just that window on its Panorama website, where community members shared their convention experiences and political opinions.more

With the question of race so much with us - given the presidential campaign of Barack Obama and CNN's much-promoted Black in America television series - it's a fitting time to check out HoustonPBS's "A Conversation on Race."

Using the 10th anniversary of a hideous Houston-area hate crime - the dragging murder of James Byrd, Jr. by a white supremacist - the station brought together a wide range of local leaders to discuss race issues. The event was broadcast earlier this month.

This could have been a tedious and earnest exercise. But the video clips now available on You Tube show some of the extraordinary passion and insight the discussion generated.more

San Diego lawyer Charles Hartley had been blogging for several years when he came across a help wanted ad from KPBS, his local PBS station.

It wanted six viewers who were willing to spend the next year blogging about the presidential election.

Charles didn't hesitate to apply.

"I thought this would be a different forum. ... And quite frankly, I'm self-employed, so I look for any chance I can to increase my name recognition," he says.

Six months later, Charles is one of the stars of Citizen Voices, KPBS's yearlong experiment with citizen blogging.

The project brings together six average Joes from the San Diego area, including Charles, a registered Republican who considers himself a Libertarian; Candace Suerstedt, a Democratic filmmaker; and Steven Garrett, a registered Libertarian and professional food blogger.more