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Most of the time, newspapers and television stations are fierce competitors. So when the two get together for anything, well, that's worth mentioning. And when three of them get together for something -- well, stay tuned, as they say.

Here's what's up:

Starting in early January, we're joining with not just one television station but two to help produce a monthly television program called "JobQuest." It's goal is to help give people advice about finding a job in these troubled economic times.

Blue Ridge PBS -- most of its know it as WBRA-TV -- is producing the monthly show, which will air for the first time on January 6 at 7 p.m.

WDBJ-TV (Channel 7) is providing the host.

And we're providing a guest each month to talk about the job picture in Western Virginia.  This is "toot your own horn" time, and we also have the advantage of the job listings in our classifieds -- available, of course, both in print, and online at jobs.roanoke.com

Let's give credit where credit is due -- Will Anderson at Blue Ridge PBS has been the driving force behind this unique collaboration, which also includes Virginia Western Community College, New River Valley Community College, plus various economic development agencies which are listed below.

Here's a press release from Blue Ridge PBS describing more about the program:

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There are at least two ways to look at all the lay-offs that have been announced at companies around Western Virginia lately. One is to add up the numbers and see the sobering result. The other is, well, to look at them -- plot the lay-offs on a map and see where they are and what patterns or trends emerge that way about which communities are the hardest hit.

That's what our data delivery editor, Matt Chittum, has done on The Datasphere, our online center for all kinds of data about Western Virginia. Here's his map and a blog post explaining it.

Matt also was invited to talk about it on WVTF-FM last week. Here's his interview with the Roanoke public radio station, if you'd like to take a listen: