Streetsblog Los Angeles has been honored by the Los Angeles Press Club for a variety of awards over the years in categories including: best blog, hard news, solutions journalism and both political and non-political commentary. Last night Streetsblog received an honor in the audio category for the first time for the SGV Connect Podcast.
“SGV Connect 120: Basking in the Afterglow of Arroyo Fest,” was singled out as the “Best Regular Podcast” with the judges noting, “This podcast makes listeners feel as if they are at Arroyo Fest with in-studio commentary interspersed with on-the-scene reporting providing a variety of perspectives of the event.”
Most SBLA readers are familiar with Arroyo Fest, but just in case: last year, ActiveSGV partnered with Caltrans, Metro, the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, and the cities of L.A. and South Pasadena to temporarily close seven miles of the 110 Freeway to cars - and open it to about 50,000 people on bike, foot, skates, and scooters.
When discussing a coverage plan for Arroyo Fest, our team felt that a different kind of open streets event should have something different than our regular coverage. Podcast co-host and audio editor Chris Greenspon suggested that since the 110-Freeway would be closed with one side of the divider set-aside for bikes and the others for people on foot; that he and co-host Damien Newton could record audio on the day from both sides of the divider.
When Newton signed up for the 10k foot race that took place at the start of Arroyo Fest, Streetsblog L.A. editor Joe Linton took over the coverage from the bicyclist POV. Linton brings a unique POV to any coverage of open streets as he had played a role in hosting the initial Arroyo Fest back in 2003, and was an early organizer for CicLAvia events from 2010-2012.
The trio recorded audio during the event and met afterwards for a recap. From there, Greenspon merged the recordings into the podcast. If you haven’t listened to it yet, give it a listen.
Greenspon, Linton and Newton would like to thank the rest of our colleagues at Streetsblog and all of the readers and donors that make our work possible. A special thanks to Foothill Transit who has been the long-time advertising partner of SGV Connect.
