In an episode of the web TV show "This Week in Startups," Tommy Russo calls in via Skype to chat with host Jason McCabe Calacanis about new media and old (his bit starts about 5 minutes into the show). "Alt-weeklies were the innovative product to the daily newspaper 40 years ago," Russo says. "What's happened is that these papers haven't innovated; they haven't changed." He says that alt-weeklies, like the rest of the newspaper industry, have been barking up the wrong 'net tree. "'How do we get our papers online?' [is] not the right question. The question is: 'How do we dominate our market with news media through this new tool?'" Russo goes on to talk about how alts are well-positioned to become more robust multimedia outlets. "The advantage a weekly paper has is that we are on the streets," he says. "A lot of these online search companies are trying to get into the trenches with us -- but we're already there, we just don't realize it."
Tommy Russo, owner and publisher of Maui Time Weekly, has been chosen as one of Pacific Business News' annual "Forty Under 40" honorees, AAN News has learned. Meant to highlight Hawaii's top rising young businesspeople, the awards were handed out at a June 26 ceremony. Russo, who founded Maui Time in 1996, was previously named Maui's Young Business Person of the Year in 2005.
