Don Wanagas, a regular writer for AAN member paper NOW Magazine in Toronto, announced in December that he would become media relations director for Mayor David Miller's re-election campaign. "After all my time as a journalist, I thought it was time to see what the other side is about," Wanagas told The Globe and Mail.
In its December newsletter, the Alternative Weekly Network announced that "each of the five [Village Voice Media] markets already boasts existing or new publications locked up and ready to include on AWN sales presentations." The new publications include Minneapolis' The Rake, New York's L Magazine, and Nashville's Gannett-owned All The Rage. In addition, AWN hopes to land Seattle's The Stranger, which is currently a Ruxton Media Group paper.
Hartford Advocate Editor Alistair Highet calls the listings calendar his paper's "universal point of interest." The calendar is -- and long has been -- indispensable for most alt-weeklies, attracting readers who don't necessarily agree with a paper's perceived political stance. But the marketplace is increasingly crowded with online and print publications listing concerts and theater times. Freelance reporter Charlie Deitch speaks with AAN members to find out what they're doing to fend off competitors' attempts to infringe on the alts' longtime stronghold.
Brad Aaron has resigned his position at Flagpole Magazine in Athens, Ga., due to "issues with some of our management practices and decisions," Editor and Publisher Pete McCommons writes in the April 23 edition (second item). Aaron's popular column, "City Dope," is "in abeyance," but "may reappear at some future time when government has run amuck and the bat signal beams to the sky," McCommons says.
