AAN News
Birmingham Weekly Publisher Talks About His Weekly Card Program
This innovative program came to be after the young paper was having trouble selling restaurant ads for actual cash -- most establishments simply wanted to trade for food. Those meals are now sold via the Weekly Card, which is a sort of credit card for local businesses. Members pay the Weekly a flat fee of $24.95 when they sign up for a card, and then receive 40 percent off retail price at the participating businesses. Users can then add credit to the cards as they wish. Publisher Chuck Leishman recently talked to AAN News about the program's origins, its success, and his plans for other markets.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
07-23-2008 1:45 pm |
Industry News
Another Alt-Weekly Writer Weighs in on 'The Weekly'new
"Now I know how the line workers at a bottling plant must have felt when they heard about Laverne and Shirley!," Chris Packham of Kansas City's The Pitch writes in reaction to the sitcom "set in the office of a dishy alternative weekly publication and blog" that ABC is considering. "You totally know this thing will be like Sex and the City with nose rings and ironic T-shirts. TV is not always the worst -- for instance, it's awesome when it tells stories about Battlestars or Detective McNulty -- but this has the unmistakable whiff of horrible, usually depicted by cartoonists as wavy stink lines."
The Pitch |
07-23-2008 12:25 pm |
Industry News
SF Weekly Will Appeal Ruling in Bay Guardian Casenew
In a move that was widely expected, SF Weekly and Village Voice Media have announced they will appeal San Francisco Superior Court Judge Marla Miller's ruling in favor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian in the predatory-pricing case. Miller rejected arguments last week to overturn or modify the jury's March verdict. Calling the suit "economic terrorism," VVM CEO Jim Larkin claims "mom-and-pop advertisers in San Francisco will suffer from [Judge Miller's] handiwork, as will any aggressive new business in the city that attempts to challenge a larger, established competitor."
SF Weekly |
07-23-2008 11:05 am |
Industry News
Another Paper Touched by Bob Thomas Marks His Passingnew
"Bob was a good man. Steady, confident, generous, and quick to smile beneath his salt and pepper 'stache," writes Chris Thompson in the East Bay Express. Thomas, who passed away July 12, ran the business side of the Express for six years in the 1990s. "Bob was the grownup who made sure the ads got sold, the circulation was working, the numbers got crunched; he took care of all the things our rumpus room needed," Thompson writes. "It wasn't fair that disease took his life so soon."
East Bay Express |
07-23-2008 10:17 am |
Industry News
Tags: Management, East Bay Express
Former Music Editor of The Stranger Returns as Staff Writernew
Dave Segal, who resigned as The Stranger's music editor in 2006 after secretly allowing an employee from ad sales to write pseudonymously for the paper's Line Out blog and music section, has been hired as a music writer. "Whatever Segal's missteps as an editor, he remains an impeccable music writer -- passionate, knowledgeable, diverse in his tastes -- and so, after several rounds of musical chairs, we're bringing him back as a staff writer," writes current music editor Eric Grandy. "He'll have no managerial responsibilities -- to the point, he won't be hiring any freelancers -- but he'll get to do what he's best at, which is writing about music." Segal was most recently music editor at OC Weekly.
The Stranger |
07-23-2008 10:08 am |
Industry News
San Antonio Current Names New Publisher
Chris Keating, who was publisher of SF Weekly from 2004-2006, will relocate to San Antonio and take over as the Current's publisher effective Aug. 1, AAN News has learned. He replaces Chris Sexson, who took the publisher spot at the Current's Times-Shamrock sister publication Metro Times in mid-June.
AAN News |
07-23-2008 8:13 am |
Industry News
AAN Board Member Gets Married by East Bay Express
The Santa Barbara Independent's Robby Robbins, who is AAN's Classified Advertising Chair, was married on July 2 to longtime partner Bryan O'Quinn as part of the Express' Wedding Wednesdays promotion. The paper chose six couples to be married to celebrate same-sex couples' newfound right to legally marry in California. In attendance at the July 2 ceremony were a number of Independent staffers who drove up from Santa Barbara, as well as Gloria Mock, advertising director of North Carolina's Independent Weekly, where Robbins previously worked. "Bryan and I are so grateful to the East Bay Express, [publisher] Jody Colley, and all
their partners/vendors for making this wonderful time more spectacular than
we could ever have imagined," Robbins tells AAN News via email. For more photos click here, and for a video montage of all six weddings, click here.
AAN News |
07-22-2008 1:38 pm |
Industry News
John Yarmuth Offers His Two Cents on the LEO Salenew
LEO's founder, who currently represents Kentucky's Third Congressional District in Congress, says that the recent sale of the paper to SouthComm Communications was "probably a good thing." He tells the 'Ville Voice that the former owners "had lost interest" over the past few years, and that "their business plan wasn't working," because it was based on owning a chain of alt-weeklies, and they only ended up with two. "[SouthComm] obviously cares about the paper, it's part of a business plan that they've already executed, to a certain extent, because they already own multiple papers," Yarmuth says. "Not all are alt-weeklies but they are in the region so they can do regional ad buys and so forth. I think it will be good for the paper."
The 'Ville Voice |
07-22-2008 10:00 am |
Industry News
Will The Village Voice's Siren Festival Have to Relocate?new
The Voice's annual indie rock festival, which celebrated its 8th installment this weekend, may have to find a new location if the redevelopment of Coney Island breaks ground next year as some expect, the New York Times reports. "Siren isn't the most comfortable of rock festivals. The sound systems are mediocre and the pedestrian routes between the stages are irrational," the Times notes. "But Siren does place the tattooed-nerd fashion sense of indie rock in the diverting context of Coney Island's other freaks and sideshows." However, the redevelopment would eliminate these freaks and sideshows and the entire old amusement area, which could mean an end to Siren at Coney Island. "It's my first time here," Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew said as the band ended its set this weekend. "I don't want it to be the last."
The New York Times |
07-22-2008 9:36 am |
Industry News
Tags: Marketing, The Village Voice
Bob Thomas' Former Paper Remembers His Lifenew
Thomas, who passed away on July 12, was the first president of Pleasanton Weekly, owned by Palo Alto Weekly parent company Embarcadero Publishing. He was an original organizer of AAN West, and also worked for the East Bay Express. "For those who knew Bob, his accomplishments come as no surprise," says Embarcadero CFO Mike Naar. "Even so, they pale in comparison to the grace, good-naturedness and intelligent practicality he brought to work every day. His sense of humor, his incredible optimism, and his evenness defined the remarkable prince of a human being Bob was. We will all deeply miss him." Funeral services will be held Saturday, Aug. 9 at the Presbyterian Church in Burlingame, Calif. MORE: Read Thomas' obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Pleasanton Weekly |
07-22-2008 8:38 am |
Industry News
Dan Pulcrano Talks GeoDomains at Chicago Exponew
Domain Name Journal |
07-22-2008 3:56 pm |
Industry News
Alt-Weekly Writers React to 'The Weekly'
"I suspect I know how this new show, tentatively titled The Weekly, is gonna go," writes Washington City Paper's Mark Athitakis about a sitcom "set in the office of a dishy alternative weekly publication and blog" that ABC is considering. "I've seen plenty of portrayals of journalists on TV after all," he writes, before offering some sample dialogue. "Don't think what follows is funny? Fine; the show is being produced by a co-creator of The King of Queens, so I'm just being spot-on." Salt Lake City Weekly's Bill Frost says he's curious about the new venture because he had a similar idea. "I wrote a sitcom pilot script about an alt-weekly newspaper office four years ago and submitted it to Bravo's reality-competition show Situation: Comedy," Frost writes. "Sure, my script sucked -- but it was still better than any Fox comedy of the last decade or so. ... Maybe I'd better dust that dog off and submit it to The CW ... while they're still in business."
Washington City Paper | Salt Lake City Weekly |
07-21-2008 12:17 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Editorial, Management
Jules Feiffer: 'I Wouldn't Have Been a Cartoonist' Without the Voicenew
The Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist spoke with Brian Heater from the Daily Cross Hatch blog after a recent event celebrating the release of Explainers, a hardbound volume of the early Village Voice strips that first put Feiffer on the map. He talked about how hard it was to get his work published in the 1950s. "The political times were essentially not friendly to satire. This was just after Joe McCarthy, and there was still a very oppressive atmosphere, particularly in terms of what the media was and wasn't willing to print," Feiffer says. "The Voice, as it appeared, was the one independent newspaper that was likely to run me, if anyone was going to run me. If The Voice wasn't going to run me, I would have run out of choices and would have had to do something else with my life."
The Daily Cross Hatch |
07-21-2008 12:00 pm |
Industry News
Tags: The Village Voice
Judge Denies SF Weekly's Motion for New Trial Against Guardiannew
With little comment, Judge Marla Miller on Friday denied requests from SF Weekly to overturn the verdict in favor of the Bay Guardian or to order a new trial, the Guardian reports. The ruling means the predatory-pricing case will likely head to the California Court of Appeal.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
07-21-2008 8:14 am |
Industry News
East Bay Express' 'Best of the East Bay' Party Was 'Hella Fun'new
Amoeba Records' Blog |
07-21-2008 12:48 pm |
Industry News
