For Immediate Release: August 29, 2006
MEDIA CONTACTS: Sarah Spitz (310) 314-4627; Morgan Wells (310) 314-4625

KCRW to Air Ted Koppel Town Meeting:
"The Price of Security"

Recently named National Public Radio's newest senior analyst, veteran broadcast anchor and correspondent Ted Koppel is convening a Town Meeting at National War College at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C., for the Discovery Channel and NPR, timed to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America.

In "The Price of Security," Koppel asks how the United States can effectively protect the homeland, while at the same time protecting the privacy and civil liberties of Americans.

Join 89.9 FM KCRW-Santa Monica and www.KCRW.com on Wednesday, September 13 from 6:30 to 7:30 pm for this special broadcast.

From the U.S. Patriot Act to NSA surveillance and the U.S. prison for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the competing interests of liberty and security have bumped up against each other in the post-9/11 era.

How does the government reconcile the tensions? What is gained and what is lost? What does it mean for Americans?

This Town Meeting will be the first true national conversation on the balance between security and liberty. It's also the first major project by Ted Koppel -- an NPR Senior News Analyst since June -- and his new documentary team at the Discovery Channel. Participants include high-ranking current and former Bush Administration officials; former Pentagon commanders as well as privacy and civil liberties experts and other distinguished guests.

This is the first of as many as six town meetings Koppel expects to conduct in the coming year.

KCRW-FM, licensed to Santa Monica College, is National Public Radio's flagship station for Southern California. The station serves Los Angeles and Orange Counties at 89.9 FM, Ventura County at 89.1 FM on KCRU/ Oxnard-Ventura, the greater Palm Springs area at 89.3 FM on KCRI/Indio-Palm Springs and Kern and Northern LA Counties at 88.1 FM on KCRY/Mojave/Antelope Valley. KCRW can now be heard in Santa Barbara at 106.9. Other translators carry the signal to the Twentynine Palms and Yucca Valley areas at 90.7 FM, Gorman at 89.7 FM, Banning at 90.9 FM, the Ridgecrest area at 107.1 FM, the Santa Paula, Moorpark, and Fillmore areas at 102.3 FM, Ojai at 102.1 FM, and Lemon Grove/Spring Valley in San Diego County at 89.9 FM. Every week, more than 500,000 listeners tune to the station for its eclectic and innovative non-commercial program schedule. KCRW can be found on the World Wide Web at KCRW.com, streaming 3 channels and now podcasting all KCRW-produced talk programs.