KQED

In another cross-organization collaboration, the Center for Investigative Reporting is joining forces with KQED to air California Watch stories on the California Report.

The deal involves the pooling of editorial resources, the airing of California Watch segments on the California Report, the creation of multimedia tools that will appear on the Web sites of both organizations, and television appearances by California Watch reporters on KQED-TV programs.

"Public radio is a critical distribution outlet and this opportunity to reach large numbers of public radio listeners in California fits right into our strategy of maximizing the impact of our stories by using multiple media platforms," CIR executive director Robert Rosenthal said in a press release.

Veteran investigative journalist and long-time American RadioWorks correspondent and producer Michael Montgomery, who is a CIR correspondent, will be producing the radio segments for KQED.

KQED spokesman Scott Walton tells us KQED and CIR will share Montgomery's salary and expenses. The deal is currently for six months and will be reviewed at the end of that period.

Full press release, after the jump.

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NPR has a new $3 million pilot program to help local stations build their online news capabilities, and KQED stands a good chance of being one of the dozen stations selected to participate.

KQED vice president of digital media Tim Olson, who helped the national organization craft the project, told BayNewser the goal is "capacity building"—to help NPR affiliates make the transition into the digital age and develop capabilities for delivering news online as well as over the airwaves.

For the purpose of the project, each station will choose a topic of local interest to report on. While the various topics will likely vary, the stations will collaborate on exploring digital ways of gathering and disseminating the news. The ultimate goal is to develop new models for community news and help the network become a hyper-local powerhouse. When she came on board as CEO earlier this year, NPR's Vivian Schiller told PaidContent she wanted to "find a way to create indispensable local media hubs."

Olson said the goal is to launch the program in the first or second quarter of 2010. Of the $3 million, $2 million is coming from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and $1 million from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Northern California Public Broadcasting president and chief executive officer Jeff Clarke will retire in a year, on June 30, 2010.

NCPB includes San Francisco's KQED, San Jose's KTEH, Monterey's KQET, and North Highlands' KQEI.

Clarke's retirement will come after 45 years in the business. He became KQED's president and CEO in 2002 and oversaw the formation of NCPB in 2006, when KQED merged with KTEH.

NCPB's board has retained the firm of Spencer Stuart to find a successsor.

Full press release, after the jump.

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