A Note To Listeners: KPCC.org To Merge With LAist.com On February 29

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For over a decade, KPCC.org (or SCPR.org, if you prefer) has been the primary web destination for listeners and members of LAist 89.3, formerly KPCC. In 2018, when we acquired LAist.com, we moved publication of local daily news to that platform, which was an investment in building a daily digital reading habit on an established local news site. We kept KPCC.org going and it remained the home of LA’s largest NPR radio affiliate, with daily synopses of AirTalk guests and topics, radio programming schedules and NPR stories. Now, after nearly 200,000 stories, blog posts, audio clips and local and national programs, the time has come to sunset this site.

Starting on February 29, this site will be deactivated, and all of its radio programs including AirTalk, FilmWeek and FilmWeek Marquee will move to LAist.com, which will become the new home of LAist 89.3. This is the last stage in the rebranding process, and we wanted to make sure we got it right.

Why are we doing this? The short answer is that managing two sites is costly, and since the rebrand to the LAist name rolled out last February, it no longer made sense to keep our digital and broadcast operations separate.

The longer answer, though, is rooted in the strategy behind our organization’s digital transformation. To fulfill our mission, we realized that, more and more, audiences were moving to digital platforms for their news. In the last few months, that process has accelerated. We’ve watched with concern as many newsrooms went through devastating layoffs or shut down entirely. We know we have to act with urgency to maintain relevance and reach new audiences and members. That means we must continue to adapt and change.

As one of the largest newsrooms in the region and the state, our investment and efforts to broaden and scale our local news reach have outgrown what we can do on the radio alone. Today, more than a million people turn to LAist.com for our award-winning investigations, voting guides, podcasts, and human-centered journalism every month. Many of these people have never listened to LAist 89.3, and even more have not previously had a relationship with public media at all. Instead, they find us on social media, in news aggregators, on the LAist website, and on their mobile devices.

Our loyal radio listeners have played a critical role in making this high-quality local journalism available to Southern Californians. Without the support of the folks who built KPCC over more than two decades into LAist today, none of this would be possible.

We remain committed to serving our listeners even as we expand beyond our radio roots to reach Angelenos who may have never heard or listened to NPR coverage. The goal is to build a wide community of support to ensure the continued sustainability of local news in the greater Los Angeles region.

Make no mistake: We have no intention of backing away from what has made us great— from the high quality radio programs that you continue to listen to and support. LAist 89.3 isn’t going anywhere. Neither is AirTalk, Larry Mantle, FilmWeek, or the NPR programming that is such an important part of your day. The only thing that will be different is the web address.