In order to keep the paper alive and free, the Weekly has decided to sell individual blocks of editorial content to readers for the next three weeks. Each page will be divided into 204 blocks and each block costs five euros (about $8). "The message to readers is that we are asking for their support during this transition," says publisher Todd Savage. Editor Steve Korver explains how it will work: "Fans of our photography page can sponsor that page, or those who love our film reviews can show their preferences by sponsoring blocks on those pages," he says. "We hope to sell out the paper, but we are also curious to see how the pages will look with missing blocks on the page. It could be quite arty."
It's an extra challenge to be alternative in a town where marijuana coffee shops and prostitutes posing in brothel windows are the norm. Todd Savage, a former Chicago Reader freelancer, didn't let that daunt him. He debuted his new English-language alt-weekly in the Netherlands' largest city this week. The Reader is a major investor in the enterprise.
