WNYC To Raise $15 Million For New Podcast Division

WNYC, the public radio powerhouse in New York, is about to grow even bigger through a new division that will develop programs for the expanding podcast market.

The division, WNYC Studios, is to open this week with a plan to raise $15 million for new programming. Among the shows being developed at the studio will be “The New Yorker Radio Hour,” a partnership with the magazine; a spinoff of WNYC’s popular “Radiolab” program coming next year that will focus on the Supreme Court; and “Only Human,” a health program.

In addition, the division will allow WNYC — which has used NPR to syndicate many of its shows — to distribute its programs to other radio stations around the country, a move that could help WNYC make more money and raise its profile in markets outside New York.

“This is the way we will become a much, much bigger content company, period,” said Dean Cappello, WNYC’s executive vice president and chief content officer.