By Mark Hanzlik, AWN Executive Director

I guess it’s one thing to have a daily newspaper print your publication, another to have them distribute your weekly humor magazine, and yet another when you’ve turned over ad sales too.   But the clincher is the sales pitch from CEO of The Onion who is quoted saying  “The Post is the undisputed king of media in Colorado and The Onion is ‘arguably the most popular humor periodical in world history.'”

This is not the first market where The Onion has formed an agreement with an established daily newspaper to distribute its youth-oriented publication The A.V. Club.    The Onion leadership group figures this allows them more time to concentrate on the humorous content which interferes with their ability to sell ads.

Read more about The Onion’s  agreement with the Denver Post at TheDenverChannel.com.

By Mark Hanzlik, AWN Executive Director

In a story that has already circulated around the Alternative Weekly Newspaper industry, Paul Curci, publisher of Philadelphia City Paper announced today he will step down from the paper and will depart by the end of the year.   Nancy Stuski, currently Associate Publisher at the paper will take over as Publisher at that time.

What this means for AWN is that we’ll be losing one of our strongest supporters, a consistent, creative, and capable leader.   Paul served on the AWN Executive Committee for the past seven years, helping provide guidance to the Board of Directors, cooperative sales force, members and AWN’s back office company, HanzMediaInc.

Paul will be heading in a new direction pursuing management consulting opportunities.   “I’ve long been interested in helping organizations improve performance, and manage change, through coaching and consulting,” he wrote in an email today.

Read more about Paul’s departure at AAN News and view a photo from 2008 of Paul and two fellow AWN Executive Committee members (Brian Hieggelke & Everett Finkelstein) while meeting in Philadelphia at the 31st Annual Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Convention.

AWN national sales superstar David Garland has returned to the Alternative Weekly Newspaper industry effective last month.   

Garland joins the Phoenix Media Communications Group, a place he’s well familiar with… having worked for the same company from 2000-2004.   Prior to that he made his mark jump-starting national sales with Newcity Communications and the Alternative Weekly Network.   The power trio of Brian Hieggelke, Mike Hartnett and Garland were instrumental in setting the stage for AWN’s largest sales growth period (1996-1999).

In 2000, Garland took a number of accounts with him when he moved on to the Boston Phoenix and continued to sell national ads for AWN.   Ultimately, he returned again Chicago while working for Time Out Chicago where he held the position of Publisher until he departed recently.   Garland who  is a graduate of University of Tennessee has relocated his wife and two young children to the Boston area.

Welcome back David!