Jim Brady’s new Philly news venture changes name, makes first hire

Philadelphians didn't like the name "Brother.ly," said Brady.

By:

Juliana Reyes, @juliana_f_reyes

Aug 7, 2014 1:22pm

A statue of William Penn. (Photo by Flickr user raymondclarkeimages, used under a Creative Commons license)

Philadelphia’s newest online news venture has an even newer name: Billy Penn.

Founder Jim Brady scrapped the original name, Brother.ly, because Philadelphians didn’t seem to like it, he wrote in a blog post.

Billy Penn also made its first editorial hire. Shannon McDonald, currently the social media strategist at WHYY/NewsWorks, will be Billy Penn’s community manager.

New job! Very hard to leave NewsWorks, but I'm thrilled to join @billy_penn as community manager http://t.co/DDMFmt8KA2

— Shannon McDonald (@sacmcdonald) August 7, 2014