$10 Million Grant to Aid WNYC's Digital Operations

New York Public Radio receives a $10 million grant from the Jerome L. Greene Foundation today. Much of the money will be used to support digital operations, including a new feature for WNYC's mobile app.

The New York Times is reporting that "... $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."

"Discover" is set to go live today.

The Times quotes WNYC's CEO Laura Walker as saying the gift will allow New York Public Radio’s “digital transformation” to stay mostly in-house.

“We made a very clear decision that we as a broadcast station and a national producer needed to undergo a digital transformation,” Walker told the Times. “It’s really important to have the digital development and social media people sitting beside the content people.”

The remaining $2 million of the gift will be dedicated to preserving affordable tickets at New York Public Radio’s Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, which opened in 2008 with the help of a $6 million grant from the foundation.