Bingo and Sally Barnes bought Boise Weekly in August 2001, and the paper's business plummeted a few weeks later in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. By October of that year, when Gannett announced the launch of its Boise faux-alt, Thr!ve, the Barneses were petrified. But their fears were unfounded. After revamping the paper and forging closer ties with the community, they have soundly trounced the faux alt in the three-plus years since its debut.

Continue ReadingAlt-Weekly Thr!ves Despite Competition from Gannett

Blood. Frogs. Vermin. Hail. Locusts. Slaying of your first editor. Whatever. If you publish a paper long enough, sooner or later you will be hit with a disaster. With eleven papers to worry about, the folks at New Times are always thinking about these things, and they have agreed to share their disaster-recovery plans with business-stream attendees on Saturday, June 18 at 4:45 pm.

Continue ReadingEmergency Preparedness Seminar Added in Business Stream

The AAN Library, a feature of the newly redesigned AAN website, includes handouts and presentations from past conventions and conferences and links to industry-specific articles, as well as AAN-commissioned white papers and marketing collateral. New material is added weekly, so be sure to check out the library frequently. Material from the 2005 AAN Convention will be posted in the library in late June.

Continue ReadingAAN Resource Library Grows

Bob Norman of New Times Broward-Palm Beach and Bruce Rushton of Phoenix New Times were named today as finalists in the 2005 Gerald Loeb Awards contest. Norman and Rushton received two of the four nominations in the small-newspapers category, which includes papers with circulation under 150,000. The Loeb Awards, which recognize superior business journalism, have been presented by UCLA's Anderson School of Management since 1973.

Continue ReadingNew Times Reporters Named Finalists for Loeb Awards

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared yesterday "Village Voice Obie Awards Day" in the Big Apple, celebrating the half-century mark of a program that recognizes the best of Off and Off-Off-Broadway theater. Jerry Tallmer, the awards' founder, recalls the original Obies, held in June, 1956, when Shelley Winters hosted the event. Pictured above are Obie golden anniversary hosts Brían F. O'Bryne and Stockard Channing.

Continue ReadingVillage Voice Celebrates 50 Years of the Obies