Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
Karen Foshay, a senior producer on the award-winning investigations "SoCal Connected" team at KCET, has been hired at KPCC. Yes, she's moving from TV to public radio — but that's a route that could become more common as KCET abandons the on-air news coverage it was known for. KCET hasn't officially said that "SoCal Connected" is dead, but most of the team has left the station (many were on seasonal deals) and dispersed since the season ended and executive producer Bret Marcus was let go in April. KCRW's Saul Gonzalez is another LA journalist who moved from KCET shows to news on public radio.
Here's the radio station's note on Foshay — who is a big get for KPCC:
From: Muller, Kristen
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 3:34 PM
To: SCPR
Subject: Addition to KPCC
All,
I'm excited to announce the hire of our new investigative producer, Karen Foshay.
Karen has spent the last 20 years covering many of the biggest stories in Los Angeles, from the Northridge earthquake and the OJ Simpson trials to the explosion of pot shops and mismanagement at the city’s housing authority. She has won nearly every broadcast journalism award, including a George Foster Peabody and two DuPont Columbia silver batons.
Most recently Karen worked as a senior producer for KCET's SoCal Connected. There, she researched, interviewed, wrote and helped edit several award-winning stories including:
- An investigation into FEMA's use of inaccurate flood maps to label parts of South LA as a high risk flood zone, which forced residents to buy costly flood insurance or risk losing their mortgages. After her story aired, FEMA reversed its decision and took the area out of the zone, saving residents hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance premiums.
- An investigation into Cal OSHA which revealed that one of the biggest food producers in the world, Dole Foods, was sending workers injured in California to Mexico for medical treatment, saving the company thousands of dollars in worker’s comp payments.
Karen also pushed for broadcast coverage of L.A's dependency court and her crew was the first to film its proceedings. Her report on the juvenile court system in Los Angeles won her team a DuPont Award.
Karen began her career on the assignment desk at KCAL. She went on to CBS and NBC News where she produced stories for NBC Nightly News, CNBC and the Today Show. Karen earned her degree in broadcast journalism from Loyola Marymount University. She is married and has two children.
She starts on July 29th and will report to Paul Glickman....
Foshay and company picked up awards from the Press Club over the weekend and are nominated for local Emmys.
