Boston’s WGBH announced Tuesday that it plans to add a news bureau in Worcester, Mass., the state’s second–most-populous city.
The bureau will be staffed with a full-time reporter and will be housed at the former headquarters of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette newspaper. The bureau will open in the spring with a full broadcast studio.
“WGBH News has consistently been reporting on key stories from Worcester. With an established bureau, we will be able to broaden our reach and engagement with the community,” said WGBH News Director Kate Zachry in a press release. “Our audience across Massachusetts will benefit from more in-depth stories and breaking news updates from the city and Worcester County as a whole.”
The news bureau is part of WGBH’s “continued investment in local reporting in regions throughout the Commonwealth,” the release said. After WGBH sister station WGBY combined operations with New England Public Radio last year, WGBH committed $6 million over six years to expand the organization’s news coverage. WGBH also bolstered its investigative reporting when the New England Center for Investigative Reporting merged with WGBH News in July.
The station has two bureaus: one in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester and another at the Massachusetts State House. The station also has a studio at the Boston Public Library.
The Worcester bureau is being funded in part by the C. Jean & Myles McDonough Charitable Foundation and The George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Foundation.