QUEST is an award-winning multimedia science and environment series on television, radio and the web originally created by KQED, San Francisco, the public media station serving Northern California. Launched in February 2007, QUEST has reached approximately XXX million viewers (final season 4 statistic-need update for YTD S5) and listeners through its traditional TV and radio broadcasts and its growing Web audience. QUEST’s ultimate aim is to raise science literacy in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, inspiring audiences to discover and explore science and environment issues for themselves.
QUEST's San Francisco Bay Area geographic coverage spans from Mendocino to Monterey and from Sacramento to Santa Clara, and focuses on nine content areas: astronomy, biology, chemistry, climate, engineering, environment, geology, health, and physics.
Every season, KQED’s QUEST produces:
- 20 new weekly half-hour television episodes which feature 2 long stories and a 2-3 minute mini-segment that explore the cutting-edge work of Northern California scientists and researchers (QUEST airs Wednesdays 7:30pm on KQED Public Television 9);
- 48 five to six minute radio reports covering urban environmental issues which often include multimedia slide shows, and Google maps (QUEST airs Mondays 6:30am and 8:30am on KQED Public Radio 88.5 FM);
- 20 educator guides for use by formal and informal educators, and provides professional development to science teachers from Bay Area school districts to support multimedia and technology integration in the classroom;
- 20 six-minute stories for its new web only series, Science on the SPOT, which takes a fresh, fast and curious look at science with stories about albino redwoods, the science of fog and banana slugs, to name a few. (launched in 2010);
- A daily science blog written by Northern California scientists, QUEST producers and science enthusiasts; exclusive Web extras, featuring extended interviews with scientists; Flickr photos, and science hikes.
- QUEST also works closely with 17 San Francisco Bay community partners, not only on story idea collaborations and events, but also on media trainings. (Link to Local Partners)
QUEST is going national!
And now, in its 5th season, KQED’s QUEST is working closely with six public broadcasting partner stations to expand its science reporting model nationally, piloting the production of a variety of science and environment stories on television, radio, and the Web, including the creation of educational materials aligned with state science standards. QUEST partner stations include: WCPN and WVIZ Cleveland; NET Nebraska; UNC-TV North Carolina; WHYY Philadelphia; KCTS Seattle; WPT and WPR Wisconsin.
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