The BizLab Innovation Process & The 2019 Station Cohort
[This is a summary of Opening Remarks from the BizLab Summit] WBUR BizLab’s mission is to identify and test ideas for new revenue in public radio. WBUR strongly believes that…
2019 BizLab Summit
Sustainability & Innovation in Public Radio
December 10, 2019
The changing financial landscape of journalism has created an urgency in public radio to identify and test the effectiveness of different funding models. Implementing new strategies and testing new revenue streams can be difficult, but it is possible, and many stations are doing it.
On December 10, 2019, over 100 individuals from media organizations, including many NPR stations, convened for a day of learning. The Summit was a fast-paced day of lightning talks and panel discussions, with invited speakers and station innovators sharing their stations’ new paths to sustainability.
We shared best practices, tools, tips, and real life examples of this work, enabling attendees to hit the ground running at their own media organizations. The Summit covered revenue generation through digital audience engagement, spinning off new brands, event monetization, text-to-donate platforms, and podcast donation strategies.
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Panel Recaps and Videos
The BizLab Method and Tools
As we prepared to work with our 2019 cohort stations, BizLab sketched out our process and identified Discovery Research and Analysis tools and methods that we thought would work within…
Six Stations, Six Revenue Projects
BizLab stations across the country spent 2019 testing news ideas for revenue at their stations and in their communities. At the BizLab Summit, each station gave a six-minute overview of…
Summit Panel: Launching a New Brand At Your Station
Three BizLab stations have launched products positioned distinctly from their public radio station’s identity: WAMU’s new monthly membership to the DCist is separate from a membership to WAMU; Louisville Public…
Summit Panel: Editorial and Business Working Together
For all media organizations, striking the balance between the desire to diversify revenue streams and the need to maintain high standards of editorial integrity is an urgent concern. In this…
Making the Case for Innovation in Public Radio, with Tamsen Webster
The biggest barriers to innovation are often an organization’s culture and leadership alignment. To address this head-on, the second half of the BizLab Summit focused on what it takes to…
Summit Panel: Leadership and Innovation in Public Radio
The stage where most innovation projects fail is not at the beginning or middle, but at the end, when the project’s findings are integrated into the main operations of an…
Summit Panel: Text Messaging and Public Radio Donations
There are more technologies than ever that are specifically designed to make the donation and engagement process more streamlined for listeners. In this panel, three stations that have effectively integrated…
Summit Panel: Podcast Donations – Methods That Work
Public radio has mastered the art of requesting donations in live audio, but we need to develop a strategy for asynchronous, on-demand audio, which is becoming more and more prevalent…
Summit: Full Day Live Stream
On December 10, 2019, over 100 individuals from media organizations, including many NPR stations, convened for a day of learning. The Summit was a fast-paced day of lightning talks and…
BizLab stations across the country have spent 2019 testing news ideas for revenue at their stations and in their communities. DCist.com/WAMU, Louisville Public Media, WDET, Capital Public Radio, WLRN, and Vermont Public Radio will unpack the past year of BizLab experiments from how to launch a new product and brand to aligning editorial plans with revenue goals.
Summit Panelists and Invited Speakers
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- Candice Springer, Assistant Director of Community Engagement, WBUR
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- Rachel Sadon, Editor-in-Chief, DCist
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- Rebecca Lavoie, Digital Director, New Hampshire Public Radio
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- Cody Fiala, Development Services Manager, Vermont Public Radio
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- Giselle Reid, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Friends of WLRN
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- Tracy Karem, Corporate Marketing Representative, Capital Public Radio
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- Sarah Bloomer, Experience Strategist, WBUR BizLab
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- Maddie Poore, Membership Manager, DCist
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- Kelly Morrison, Corporate Support Executive, Capital Public Radio
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- Paul Adams, Director of Corporate Support, Capital Public Radio
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- Courtney Hurtt, Associate Director, Product Strategy and Business Operations, WDET
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- Michelle Owens, Director of Marketing and Engagement, Vermont Public Radio
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- Meta Stange, Digital Producer, WDET
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- Adrian Ma, Bostonomix Reporter, WBUR
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- Andi McDaniel, Senior Director of Content and News, WAMU
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- Sheila Reinken, COO/CFO, Friends of WLRN
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- Amira Valliani, Co-Founder and CEO, Glow.fm
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- Katie Lepri, Engagement Producer, WLRN
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- Brendan Kinney, SVP of Development and Marketing, Vermont Public Radio
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- Kjerstin Wood, Digital Fundraising Officer, KUOW
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- Lisa Cooper, Corporate Support Executive, Capital Public Radio
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- Charlotte Cooper, Director of Audience Growth & Marketing at PRX/Radiotopia.
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- Ellen Oost, Director of Development, Louisville Public Media
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- Tina Pamintuan, General Manager, KALW
About BizLab
WBUR’s BizLab is an innovation lab developing and testing new models of support for public radio. Operating as a lean startup, BizLab is a team of product managers, experience designers, and business analysts. We work with public radio stations to uncover new avenues for revenue generation, distinct from traditional approaches including on-air drives, direct mail, and underwriting.
WBUR, Boston’s NPR News Station, created BizLab in 2015 believing it is critical that public media invest in innovation and experimentation to identify new revenue channels to sustain public radio into the future. Given the changing landscape of journalism, media consumption, and digital advertising, there is an increasing urgency to test and measure the effectiveness of different funding models.
Funding provided by
BizLab’s work with stations and the Summit is funded through the generous support of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Knight Foundation.
Additional promotional support for the 2019 Summit provided by Greater Public.
