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KPCC and Me: blogdowntown Joins Southern California Public Radio

By Eric Richardson
Published: Friday, September 23, 2011, at 09:48AM

blogdowntown

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Downtown was a very different place when I first launched blogdowntown.com in January of 2005. Ground had yet to break for either Ralphs or L.A. Live, and Cedd Moses' bar empire was still just confined to the Golden Gopher. Over the years, the site became a place for residents to keep up with the rapidly-changing developments of an evolving neighborhood.

Time sure does fly.

blogdowntown has gone through a number of changes over the years, trying to stay at the front of Downtown's growth and serve the needs of a growing community. We're about to go through another, one that I believe will help keep blogdowntown relevant as our neighborhood continues to mature.

On Monday, the site will become a part of KPCC (89.3FM), joining Southern California Public Radio's existing efforts to provide news for our region. I started working for the station in May, and we have been working on how such a move might work ever since.

In a day where most journalism talk is about layoffs and budget cuts, KPCC has been making a push to expand its role in the greater civic conversation. The organization's mission of engaging its audience in an ongoing dialogue and exploration of issues, events and cultures is a perfect fit with what I have envisioned for blogdowntown. As our neighborhood grows and evolves, the need for informed conversation only grows with it.

In practical terms, you won't see much change on the site come Monday. You'll see a few new names popping up as authors, and you can expect to see a bit of KPCC branding appear in the coming weeks. I suspect you'll also hear about the station's upcoming pledge drive in October. blogdowntown will continue to operate as a stand-alone site, though we will be looking to bring more integration with efforts like KPCC's OnCentral and the station's news operations.

I'm sure there may be some bumps in the road as we experiment with ideas in how public media covers and serves a community like Downtown, but I think it will be a journey well worth taking.

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Conversation

Clyde Beswick on September 23, 2011, at 10:02AM – #1

Congratulations Eric!

Rosseee on September 23, 2011, at 10:18AM – #2

It's gonna be great - looking forward to it

Robert Bewernick on September 23, 2011, at 10:42AM – #3

This is huge news!

Congratulations Eric and SCPR.

Dave Bullock (@eecue) on September 23, 2011, at 12:05PM – #4

This is so awesome Eric, congrats man!

Ginny Brideau (@ginnycase) on September 23, 2011, at 01:23PM – #5

Congrats Eric! For your next trick, please bring me some swing sets! :-)

Matt McGrath on September 23, 2011, at 07:00PM – #6

Great idea, I'm glad you doing it.

Thanks for all your work on blogdowntown. A lot of folks appreciate it.

David Murphy on September 23, 2011, at 07:47PM – #7

Congrats Eric! Big props to SCPR/KPCC for bringing such an awesome venture into its fold.

Jessica Wethington McLean on September 23, 2011, at 08:28PM – #8

Congratulations, Eric. Looking forward to you keeping up the good work for Downtown in an even great way now. Good for KPCC for recognizing talent when they see it; this will be a great addition to their coverage. I knew they were my favorite local public radio station for a reason!

Fabricio Vai (@dataxy) on September 24, 2011, at 08:21AM – #9

That's great! Two of my main sources of news together. Congratulations.

Dixon on September 24, 2011, at 12:08PM – #10

Any chance of bring back the much-missed Ed Fuentes? This blog hasn't been the same without him.

Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on September 24, 2011, at 01:57PM – #11

Cota: Ed moved out of town a little over a year ago. Definitely his absence has been felt in what we're able to cover.

Downtowncommuter on September 24, 2011, at 02:27PM – #12

Not sure what I'm more excited about -- the bound-to-be-happening Blogdowntown tote bags, or getting three questions correct on Wait, Wait and winning the voice of Eric Richardson on my answering machine!