WASHINGTON — A group of public radio stations has purchased the assets of Gothamist, which also includes DCist and LAist, for an undisclosed sum.
The group of radio stations includes WAMU in Washington, WNYC in New York and KPCC in Southern California. The broadcasters said the acquisition is being funded largely through donations from two anonymous donors.
Gothamist, DCist and LAist all abruptly shut down last fall. The websites focused on neighborhood news and entertainment. The owner of the sites, DNAinfo, said they weren’t economically successful.
The acquisition includes the story archives, internet domains and social media assets from Gothamist and DNAinfo.
“The addition of DCist expands the breadth of our local content and increases our digital presence to better serve our community,” WAMU general manager J.J. Yore said in a joint statement released by the three stations.
Billionaire investor Joe Ricketts, the founder and former CEO of TD Ameritrade, started DNAinfo in 2009. The defunct properties were recently put up for sale in what is described as a competitive process.
“The most important thing for me was to make sure the assets went to a news organization that would honor our commitment to neighborhood storytelling,” Ricketts said in a statement.
“I can’t think of a better home for these sites and their archives than WNYC and public radio stations KPCC and WAMU,” he said.
DCist launched in 2004 and reached 700,000 readers according to WAMU.
WAMU expects to launch the new DCist website this spring.
