PBS39 hosted a launch party last week to introduce the journalists that will make up its “Reporter Corps,” which they are dubbing of one of the most significant journalistic hirings in the Lehigh Valley and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania in decades.

The team of 10 reporters will be providing focused on creating community-focused content for the PBS39 digital platform and PBS39 News Tonight, the Reporter Corps’ new nightly, televised newscast, which launched on September 17.

“PBS39 is uniquely suited to handle this type of journalism, as we do not have the constraints of commercial news,” said Tim Fallon, Chief Executive Officer at PBS39. “We have an opportunity to undertake a different kind of journalism, where we are looking beyond the story of the day with a mission to give citizens a deeper understanding of their community.”

The reporters and crew behind the new Reporter Corps team hosted a launch party on Sept. 21 at the PBS39 Studios in Bethlehem, next to the ArtsQuest Center at Steelstacks, where attendees were invited to meet the journalist and learn more about the initiative.

PBS39 News Tonight airs nightly at 6:30 p.m. and again at 11 p.m. on PBS39/WLVT. Visit the PBS39 website to find the correct channel number for your cable or satellite provider.

Journalists from the “Reporter Corps” will be embedded in ten counties across the Pennsylvania, including Lehigh and Northampton counties in the Lehigh Valley, as well as the counties of Warren and Hunterdon in New Jersey.

“This newscast is not intended to cover crime, weather and traffic,” said Yoni Greenbaum, Chief Content Officer for PBS39. “It is about the revival of community journalism, which has been eroding steadily over the last decade. We’re telling the stories that nobody else is telling.”

Reporters Chloe Nouvelle and Megan Frank (left to right), who will be covering Northampton and Lehigh counties, respectively.

Megan Frank will exclusively cover Northampton County as part of PBS39 News Tonight, while Chloe Nouvelle will be providing coverage for Lehigh County.

Frank grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Temple University. She previously worked as a freelance reporter for Philly.com before moving on to radio reporting for PBS’s WHYY in Philadelphia.

At WHYY, she reported for the station’s flagship radio program “NewsWorks Tonight” and worked on shale drilling project “StateImpact Pennsylvania” as an investigative research aide. She also has family ties to the Lehigh Valley, and had relatives who worked for Bethlehem Steel in the 1990s.

“I joined Reporter Corps because this is such an important time in our history as journalists to do something that can really empower people, and can give them the truth at a time when the truth is being questioned,” Frank said. “This is a journalism team that really seeks to dive deeper into issues that maybe don’t always get as much attention as they should.”

Nouvelle previously worked at NBC News producing segments on worldwide events for NBC Nightly News, Today, Dateline, and MSNBC.

As a member of the network’s foreign unit, she contributed to NBC News’ chronicling of the war in Syria, the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and the refugee crisis across Europe.

“One of the main driving factors of my accepting the role with Reporter Corps was the newsroom leadership and their commitment to telling real stories and covering real news,” Nouvelle said. “America is very unique in the fact that it has a free press and that starts locally.”

The Reporter Corps initiative has been made possible by a $82 million windfall PBS39 received last year from its participation in the Federal Communications Commission‘s sale of broadcast frequency rights, a spectrum auction that resulted in $19.8 billion in gross revenue.

Click here to learn about the reporters covering other counties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which also include Bucks, Montgomery, Berks, Schuylkill, Carbon and Monroe counties.

PBS39 is a community-owned public television station licensed to Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton, Pa., serving eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It seeks to act as a catalyst to promote civic engagement, and to fulfill the regional needs of the Greater Lehigh Valley through its communication platforms and resources.

PBS39 is owned and operated by the Lehigh Valley Public Telecommunications Corporation.