Val Zavala will Anchor Nightly Broadcast

Madeleine Brand Joins as Special Contributor 

NEW SEASON BEGINS OCTOBER 29 AT 7 PM

Los Angeles, CA - October 9, 2012 - KCET's award-winning news magazine, SoCal Connected (www.socalconnected.org), is making big changes as it enters its fifth season. First, it will move from a weekly format to a daily format, combining its acclaimed field reports with in studio interviews. The new format will also include daily news wrap-ups, featuring local, national and international headlines. The show will air daily at 7 p.m. with an encore episode at 10:30 p.m., beginning Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. 

Val Zavala, who celebrates her 25th year with KCET, will continue to anchor the nightly broadcast and report on top stories. She will be joined by special contributor Madeleine Brand who will offer her signature interviews as part of the newscast.  Brand comes to SoCal Connected from KPCC, where the Madeleine Brand Show was highly rated and won numerous awards, including the 2012 Golden Mike Award for the best news and public affairs program from the RTNA. Prior to KPCC, Brand worked for NPR for 13 years, most recently as host of Day to Day. This marks Brand's first regularly scheduled television appearances. 

"SoCal Connected will continue its tradition of covering a wide range of stories, from around the corner to around the world," said Bret Marcus, KCET's Chief Content Officer and SoCal Connected's executive producer. "We have one of the strongest producing/reporting teams in Southern California, and are honored to add Madeleine to that group. She is a terrific broadcaster who has developed a loyal following among both listeners and newsmakers".

Marcus also announced the appointment of Rebecca Haggerty as his co-executive producer. Haggerty is an award-winning producer at SoCal Connected who has vast experience, including ten years producing for Dateline NBC in New York. Returning for the fifth season are award winning investigative producer Karen Foshay who will now function as senior producer of investigations, and producers Dina Demetrius, Angela Shelley and producer/correspondent Vince Gonzales. The broadcast producer is Jeff Kaufman. The coordinating producer is Linda Burns. Also returning are correspondents Laurel Erickson, Jennifer London and Judy Muller, among others. 

Last season, SoCal Connected dominated local television news awards, winning 16 Los Angeles Press Club Awards, more than any other TV station, including the prestigious "Public Service Award" for exposing lavish spending at the Housing Authority of Los Angeles (HACLA). KCET is only the second news organization to receive the award. In addition, the series won three Los Angeles Area Emmy® Awards last month. In its five-year history, the program has also won the two most prestigious awards in broadcasting: the George Foster Peabody Award and the Alfred I DuPont Columbia Award, both for investigative reporting.

ABOUT SOCAL CONNECTED

SoCal Connected, winner of the Peabody and duPont-Columbia awards, 17 Emmy® Awards, 19 Golden Mikes, 41 LA Press Club Awards, two Gracie Awards, and three regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, including Best News Documentary and Los Angeles Magazine's "Best New Local TV Program" of 2009, airs nightly at 7 p.m. with encores at 10:30 p.m. exclusively on KCET. For more information, to view episodes online or to leave comments, please visit www.socalconnected.org.

SoCal Connected is made possible through the generous support of The Ahmanson Foundation serving the Los Angeles community since 1952; Jim and Anne Rothenberg; the MaddocksBrown Foundation; The John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation; The California Endowment; and by UCLA. 

ABOUT KCET

On-air, online and in the community, KCET plays a vital role in the cultural and educational enrichment of Southern and Central California. KCET offers a wide range of award-winning local programming as well as the finest public television programs from around the world. KCET currently produces the Emmy®, duPont-Columbia and Peabody Award-winning SoCal Connected, a hard-hitting prime-time weekly television news program that examines the issues and people of Southern California. Throughout its 48-year history, KCET has won hundreds of major awards for its local and regional news and public affairs programming, its national drama and documentary productions, its quality educational family and children's programs, its outreach and community services and its website, kcet.org. KCET is a donor-supported community institution. For additional information about KCET productions, web-exclusive content, programming schedules and community events, please visit kcet.org.

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