Crosscurrents (radio program)
 | |
| Genre | Radio newsmagazine |
|---|---|
| Running time | 30 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | KALW |
| Host(s) |
Holly Kernan Hana Baba |
| Creator(s) | Public Interest Reporting Project |
| Director(s) | Holly Kernan |
| Recording studio | San Francisco, California |
| Air dates | 4 August 2008 to present |
| Audio format | Stereophonic |
| Website | www.CrosscurrentsRadio.org |
Crosscurrents is a half-hour evening newsmagazine from KALW Public Radio in San Francisco. The show launched on August 4, 2008, and is co-hosted by Holly Kernan and Hana Baba. Crosscurrents is a continuation of KALW's Public Interest Reporting project, which began in 2003 with the stated goal of promoting in-depth, local, not-for-profit reporting at a time of media consolidation and cutbacks.[1]
Members of the Crosscurrents team have won awards including the Society of Professional Journalists Northern California Award for Best Explanatory Journalism in Broadcast,[2] and the 2008 RTNDA Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Continuing Coverage.
Crosscurrents is broadcast Monday through Thursday from 5:00 to 5:30 p.m. on 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area, and streams live. The show is also available as a podcast via the program's website.
Crosscurrents is funded through a combination of grants and listener contributions to KALW.[3]
Show contents
Crosscurrents shows combine coverage of key local news stories with sound-rich features highlighting the arts and culture of the Bay Area. Crosscurrents hosts have interviewed newsmakers including Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, and author Van Jones. The features include a segment called "Meet Your Neighbors", in which a reporter learns about a certain character or community by interacting with total strangers, "Muni Diaries", which airs listeners' stories about experiences on public transit, and "The Source", which explains how different neighborhoods got their names. The show also features "DIY" segments, "Reality Check" pieces debunking public officials' questionable statements, and "Brain Vitamin" reports, which break down complex scientific and technical subjects.
Promotion
Crosscurrents has been running advertisements in the Bay Area weekly newspaper The San Francisco Bay Guardian since October 8, 2008, with the tagline "We Go Deeper." The show also has a page on Facebook.