An innovation lab at WBUR in Boston has received an additional $250,000 grant for its initiative to help public radio stations experiment with new revenue streams.
The Knight Foundation grant, announced Thursday, brings total funding for the initiative to $1 million. CPB provided $750,000 last month.
“As listeners increasingly turn to digital and on-demand methods to access news, it’s critical for public radio stations to collaborate and exercise new strategies that bolster audience retention, engagement and support,” said Jennifer Preston, the Knight Foundation’s VP for journalism, in a press release.
BizLab will work with six stations to design and test revenue experiments. It will share the results with the system. Participating stations will be announced by the end of the year and will begin work with BizLab in January.
“We are truly encouraged by the enthusiasm of our station colleagues and the number and variety of submissions we received for this initiative,” said BizLab Executive Director Joan DiMicco in the release.