Category Archives: Blogroll

Isthmus in Madison Sold by Longtime Publisher

By Mark Hanzlik, Executive Director

Isthmus, a long-time member of AAN and AWN charter member changed ownership for the first time in it’s 38-year history.  Veteran publisher Vince O’Hern, along with his wife and co-owner Linda Baldwin sold Isthmus Publishing Co. to three local Wisconsin businessmen.     Read more about that sale at Altweeklies.com, posted July 10, 2014.

IsthmusFrac

Linda Baldwin served several key leadership roles in the AWN cooperative between 1996-2003 including Vice President of the Board of Directors for the first six years of the network.   Both Linda and Vince were stalwart supporters of AWN for the entire history (20 years) of the network.  They became a model for many other AWN members, a highly-respected, independently published alternative weekly that stayed true to their mission.

The new owners, Jeff Haupt, Craig Bartlett and Mark Tauscher are a good fit for new Isthmus leadership.  They have a strong local presence in the Madison market, experience publishing (The Onion) and marketing to students and their parents through the Red Card, a prepaid dining and discount card.

Metro Times Merges with Real Detroit Weekly

By Mark Hanzlik, Executive Director

Two long-time Detroit rivals became one last week in a deal announced by Euclid Media Group owner of Metro Times.    Published in the market since 1980, Metro Times and its upstart rival, Real Detroit Weekly (launched in 1999) merged into what the owners are calling the largest newsweekly in Michigan.   Owner and publisher of Real Detroit, John Badanjek will serve as president of events of the newly formed company along with Chris Keating, publisher of Metro Times.

RealDetroit_MetroTimes

Both publications have been represented by AWN numerous times over the past 20 years beginning with Metro Times as a charter member in 1994 under its original owners Ron Williams and Laura Markham.   When Times Shamrock purchased Metro Times in 1999, the publication moved representation to The Ruxton Group (New Times) creating an opening for Real Detroit to become an AWN member for the first time in 2000.   Five years later, Metro Times returned to AWN, and  Real Detroit followed by moving to Ruxton Group  (Voice Media).  In 2008 Metro Times moved once again to Ruxton and within a year Real Detroit was back with AWN where they have remained until the merger.

We never quite understood the reason for all the movement but never complained as AWN was always representing a viable alternative product in a market that never failed to appear on most national ad buyers lists.

One item has remained constant since AWN first broke in to Michigan,  Jim Cohen, Ad Director at Metro Times in 1994 is still Ad Director in 2014.   As a board member for several years he spearheaded the first marketing projects for AWN in 1996.

 

Where Alt Weeklies Become Alt Media

A nice lift from a relatively new and young voice posted yesterday on the AAN (Association of Alt Newsmedia) site  providing a positive spin the future of AltMedia.    It’s certainly true, many “alt weeklies” are now providing content all the time, and have moved beyond simply posting a static version of their print product for aging hipsters to view.   If all the independently published papers we’re doing all the great things mentioned in this article, they will likely be the ones standing after the dust settles (paraphrased from SF Reporter editor in the article) in each of their respective markets.

Check out the author of the article, Christina Cauterruci’s video interviews from AAN 2013 conference in Miami here.

Alt Weekly Goes Quietly After Serving The Inland Empire for 8 Years

By Mark Hanzlik, AWN Executive Director

There was no official press release from Southland Publishing, Inc. confirming the closure of Inland Empire Weekly on January 30.     The 8-year-old alternative weekly quietly published their final issue with a colorful cover story about Pink Martini, the wildly diverse Portland-based band.

IEW_PinkMartini

IE Weekly with 30,000 distribution had served a large geographic area (San Bernardino-Riverside-Ontario metro area) with nearly 3.8 million residents.   Publisher Jeremy Zachary commented briefly before the final issue hit the streets,  citing lack of advertising revenue as the main reason for IEW‘s demise.

Zachary and Managing Editor Rich Kane started the alt weekly in 2006, but quickly sold the newspaper to Southland Publishing, Inc. which at the time published four other alt weeklies including LA CityBeat and four monthly magazines.   IEW was based in Corona, California where Zachary continues as publisher of Culture, a monthly magazine covering entertainment and lifestyle in the medical cannabis community.

Southland Publishing, Inc. currently publishes four weekly newspapers; Pasadena Weekly, Ventura County Reporter, The Argonaut and San Diego CityBeat.   They also publish three monthly magazines; Arroyo Monthly, Ventana Monthly and So. California Life After 50.

 

 

How the Top Alt-Weeklies Fared in 2013

A year-end piece by Aljazeera examines the top alt media papers in 2013 and how they compare to earlier versions of themselves and the possibility of their demise in the short-term.

How the Village Voice and other alt-weeklies lost their voice in 2013

The papers — which documented parts of cities that other media missed — suffered major blows this year.   What you don’t read in this article is about how the other 95% of alt media publications have fared over the past year.  Check out Portland, Oregon;  Burlington, Vermont, and  Monterey, California to name a few.