Billy Penn becomes a member of WHYY
We announced in March that we were exploring the sales of our three sites, and that process ends today with the sale of Billy Penn to WHYY, Philadelphia’s premier public broadcaster. From here, they’ll drive the site that was our first to launch and last to sell.
“I’m thrilled to have found such a perfect home for Billy Penn at WHYY, and I’m excited for what that combination will bring to Philly journalism,” said Jim Brady, CEO of Spirited Media.
“WHYY is already one of the most impactful sources for news and information in the Philadelphia region,” said Bill Marazzo, CEO of the public media broadcaster. “Billy Penn will be an important addition to (our) media platforms, further building the necessary changes in media infrastructure to accommodate the ongoing shifts from broadcast to digital distribution platforms.”
That’s the last Spirited site to leave the fold, ending our time as their owners and operators. And for me, it’s a very hard day.
I vividly remember huddling with the original Billy Penn team in an office on Temple University’s campus, looking for gaps we could fill in Philadelphia’s news ecosystem. There were only four of us in the newsroom, though our launch team would swell to a few more:
And the rest, well, I consider that to be Philly journalism history. First-person stories from the great Anna Orso — now an Inquirer reporter — rappelling down a building, tracking the Binary Bandits, enduring a marathon Wu-Tang-themed evening at Han Dynasty. Mark Dent riding with bike messengers, spotlighting coverage of Philly’s “middle neighborhoods,” or interviewing that Center City lawyer who used to be in Blind Melon (and wrote the “No Rain” riff that’s now the earworm you’ll have for the rest of today, you’re welcome).
More fun stuff: Comparing mayoral candidates to characters on The Wire. Figuring out which Candyland character best represented Jim Kenney.
Important news: Stories we broke around Pope Francis’s visit, around the Democratic National Convention invading our city, about the time the current President of the United States called a reporter at the city’s biggest newspaper a super-dirty word. About the quickly-reversed “no sitting” ban in Rittenhouse Square park.
After we grew: Cerebral Cassie Owens pieces on flash mobs in Philly; on the origins of the Jimmy; on Dumpster pools. And who could forget the Camel Prom Mom?
I could write so many more words about what Billy Penn did in those days, but it’s more fun to point out who else is doing these kinds of stories today — The Inquirer, among other media outlets here, decided it liked this approach so much that it now employing at least three people with Spirited Media DNA.
So current editor Danya Henninger, the very first person I hired full-time as soon as the investment check from Gannett cleared, has had a different challenge in the time she’s been running the newsroom — figuring out different ways of standing out. Her staff has broken news (around the city’s decisions about Jay Z’s Made in America festival, about campaign websites being hilariously not-ready-for-prime-time, and the time the crew goaded the Mayor of Philadelphia into finally paying his interns), too.
And the best part of today’s announcement is that this talented crew of journalists will continue to do so, as part of the WHYY family; a great news organization with a rich history of nurturing separate brands under its banner. (Fresh Air! The Pulse! The Why! Etc!)
So! Danya, Max Marin, Michaela Winberg (and a player to be named later) will be WHYY employees moving forward, with the support of the most-viewed and best-respected public broadcaster in the city. I’m excited to see where they take Billy Penn in the years ahead, and hope it stays on top of Philly news for years to come.
