Radio Riel, the Second Life-inspired radio station supported by Onlineability, is taking steps towards succeeding in the ‘real world’ after announcing its intention to become a US not-for-profit organisation – the next stage in its continuing development.

Founder Gabrielle Riel explained on the station’s blog: “I strongly believe that making Radio Riel a Non-Profit gives us our best chance to ‘make it in the real world’. Internet Radio is such a wild frontier. There are a few very successful commercial Internet Radio stations, such as Radio Paradise, SOMA FM and others.

“They have made businesses work on a model that bases their budget on listener donations, donations that are NOT tax deductible for the listeners. I want to give our listeners (albeit it will only be the American listeners) the ability to deduct the donations they give us from their taxes. And to do that, we need to be a Non-Profit.”

You can read her full post on the station blog here. Needless to say, we wish Gabi and crew all the very best in the next stage of their endeavour and will continue to be proud supporters of Radio Riel.