KATU and KVAL launched 38 community-focused websites in the Portland and Eugene areas today as Fisher Communications expands on a project that began in Seattle this summer. Among the areas of focus are locations such as Southeast Portland; Camas, Washington; Downtown Eugene and Springfield.

The sites feature content the stations were already receiving but had no outlet for, and provide a new opportunity to establish advertising relationships with local businesses. Fisher is also seeking user-generated content and is partnering with Windermere real estate agents to provide stories on non-real estate issues.

In August, Fisher Interactive manager Troy McGuire told OMC that user content would largely be unpaid, though there would be freelance funds to go to specific content areas, such as restaurants in Seattle. "We could actually help grow traffic for other neighborhood blogs by providing links and creating partnerships," McGuire said. "Not everyone is seeing that opportunity."

Portland-area bloggers we spoke with this summer were mostly positive on the new sites. Silicon Florist author Rick Turoczy echoed the sentiments of many, saying, "I'm a big proponent of any hyper-local, micro-local, or whatever-the-heck-you-want-to-call-it local coverage. Seeing established old school media companies gravitating toward this space is great validation for publications and blogs that have gone before them."

A directory of Portland-area sites can be found here, Eugene sites are listed here.

You can read from today's press release after the break:

Fisher Launches 38 Hyperlocal Neighborhood Web Sites in Portland and Eugene to Serve Local Communities and Advertisers

SEATTLE, WA, Oct 07, 2009 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Fisher Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSCI) today announced that it has launched a network of 28 hyperlocal neighborhood Web sites in the Portland market and 10 in the Eugene market, increasing local content offerings and expanding advertising opportunities for local businesses. The hyperlocal sites bring together the stations' valuable content and DataSphere Technologies' LocalNet service, including an online platform that provides technology, advertising and sales solutions.
The hyperlocal sites are designed to provide local communities with the best source of information about news, events, entertainment and personalities relevant to their day-to-day lives. A complete list of the sites can be found at www.KATU.com/communities and www.KVAL.com/communities.

Fisher's President and CEO Colleen B. Brown stated, "With our strong local broadcasting heritage as our foundation, we are building our 'broadcast to broadband' initiative in order to provide neighborhood information at a grassroots level while further enabling local businesses to efficiently reach their customers. This effort has been very successful in Seattle, our first launch market, and we are pleased to now be able to offer these services in Portland and Eugene."

"With our long history of serving Oregon and southwestern Washington, we are proud to now reach even deeper into our communities with this initiative," said KATU Vice President and General Manager John Tamerlano. "KVAL Communities is a great way for us to provide coverage for important events that are too narrow in scope for the over-the-air product," added KVAL Vice President and General Manager Greg Raschio.

To support their hyperlocal Web sites, KATU and KVAL will restructure their newsrooms to effectively and efficiently capture and post community news on a real-time basis. Local stories and breaking news that station reporters cover on a daily basis will be complemented with user generated content, and also with content provided through an innovative partnership with Windermere Real Estate, a company with local knowledge and strong presence in each community.

The launch of the Oregon sites builds on the successful launch of Fisher's 44 hyperlocal sites in the Seattle market in August. Fisher expects to launch similar platforms in its other markets. In addition, Fisher and DataSphere anticipate distributing the technology and sales solution to other broadcast companies looking to establish hyperlocal sites.