''California Connected'' was a

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

newsmagazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio, or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories in greater depth than newspapers or new ...

that broadcast stories about the state of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

to "increase civic engagement." The show was created by Marley Klaus and aired on twelve

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

member stations throughout California. In 2006, former

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

producer Bret Marcus took over as executive producer. The program was cancelled in 2007 due to a lack of funding. The program debuted in 2002 with host David Brancaccio; he anchored the show from the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

studios of PBS station

KCET KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOC ...

. Lisa McRee replaced Brancaccio in 2004. Rather than anchor from a

television studio A television studio, also called a television production studio, is an installation room in which video productions take place, either for the production of live television and its recording onto video tape or other media such as SSDs, or for ...

, McRee hosted the show from a different Californian location each week. A total of 154 episodes were taped. "California Connected" won more than 65 regional and national awards and, in 2007, the program won its first Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism for a story titled, ''War Stories From Ward 7-D.'' ''California Connected'' was co-produced by the following four PBS stations:

, KQED in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, KVIE in

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

, and KPBS in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. The

theme music Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

was written by

Christopher Cross Christopher Cross (born Christopher Charles Geppert; May 3, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He won five Grammy Awards for his eponymous debut album released in 1979. The singles "Sailing" (1979), and " Arthur's Theme (Best ...

and

Stephen Bray Stephen Pate Bray (born December 23, 1956) is an American songwriter, drummer, and record producer. He is best known for his collaborations with Madonna, being a member of the band Breakfast Club, and for winning the 2017 Grammy Award for the ...

. Major funding came from: the James Irvine Foundation, the

Hewlett Foundation The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, commonly known as the Hewlett Foundation, is a private foundation, established by Hewlett-Packard cofounder William Redington Hewlett and his wife Flora Lamson Hewlett in 1966. The Hewlett Foundation awa ...

, The California Endowment, and the

Annenberg Foundation The Annenberg Foundation is a foundation that provides funding and support to non-profit organizations. Overview The Annenberg Foundation was established by Walter H. Annenberg in 1989 with $1.2 billion, one-third of the assets from the sale o ...

. ''California Connected'' will continue to provide access to its website, audio files, videos, blog, and RSS feed.

External links

*
''California Connected''
at KQED * * Mass media in California Local television news programming in the United States 2002 American television series debuts 2007 American television series endings 2000s American television news shows {{US-news-tv-prog-stub