New York Public Radio Receives Grant for $10 Million

New York Public Radio has received a $10 million grant from the Jerome L. Greene Foundation, which it says is the largest single gift ever made to a public radio station.

The foundation had previously given New York Public Radio two gifts totaling $11 million. The majority of the new grant, $8 million, is earmarked to support the development of digital operations, including a new feature called “Discover” on the WNYC mobile app. Designed originally with offline underground subway riders in mind, the feature will generate custom downloadable playlists for users who punch in the topics that interest them and the amount of time they want to listen. Developed in house, the feature will save listeners the trouble of searching for podcasts of public radio shows they already like.

Perhaps as important, it will help WNYC introduce users to content they may not be familiar with. It will also keep listeners within the WNYC ecosystem, where they can be encouraged to contribute financially.

“It’s our view, the board’s view, that we have this incredibly unique and special content,” he said by telephone, and digital technology can potentially help solve one of public radio’s biggest historical problems: much of that content is broadcast during hours when listeners are otherwise engaged and they never discover it. Digital can also be a way to reach younger listeners who may shun traditional radio listening, he said. The stations still get the majority of their audience from their terrestrial signals, but more and more public radio listening is migrating to digital, said Laura Walker, New York Public Radio’s chief executive.

[March 10]