AAN News

Boise Weekly Makes 'Difficult' Decision to Go with a New Printernew

The Weekly has been printed at Idaho's Snake River Printing for the past seven years, but that will change next week. The paper will now be printed in another state -- at Utah's Print Works (which also prints the Salt Lake City Weekly). "This has been a difficult decision because of our desire to keep our business local," publisher Sally Freeman says. "But circumstances beyond our control have forced us to make this difficult decision." Editor Rachael Daigle says that there just weren't many local printers that could handle the paper's print run of 30,000 each week; as an added bonus, she notes, the printer switch will allow for more color in the Weekly.
Boise Weekly  |  10-28-2009  12:44 pm  |  Industry News

Boise Weekly Unveils Redesigned Print Productnew

"The project has been both the most benign undertaking of the year and the most important," Weekly editor Rachael Daigle writes, "as an industrywide slump forced staffing changes while we simultaneously rolled out a new website, inaugurated first-ever supplements, and then radically changed Best of Boise." She says "the new design represents a maturity" in the nearly-18-year-old alt-weekly.
Boise Weekly  |  10-07-2009  10:34 am  |  Industry News

Boise Weekly Working on Happy Hour iPhone Appnew

BW's iPhone app that will provide users details about local happy hours should be available next week, according to KTRV-TV. The app will include need-to-know information on each happy hour, including travel directions and details on drink specials. "If there's something in particular you want to go and do you can really narrow it down and not play the guessing game," the Weekly's Shea Sutton says.
KTRV-TV  |  09-02-2009  9:50 am  |  Industry News

Diversity Grants Fund Innovative Projects at Two Alt-Weeklies

Boise Weekly and Omaha's The Reader each recently received $1,250 from AAN to pursue ambitious diversity-related projects as part of AAN's Diversity Grant program. Last fall, the Diversity Committee expanded the scope of the program to include diversity-related projects; the grants to Boise Weekly and The Reader mark the first to be awarded to projects rather than interns. (FULL STORY)
AAN News  |  05-28-2009  12:17 pm  |  Association News

Boise Weekly Launches New Website

Boise Weekly Press Release  |  05-26-2009  8:34 am  |  Press Releases

Boise Weekly Wins State Awards, Honored for Coverage of Minoritiesnew

The Weekly took home "an armload of awards" from the Idaho Press Club's Best of 2008 competition, including five first-place awards, for arts/entertainment reporting, business reporting, health/medical reporting, political reporting and watchdog/investigative reporting. Weekly staff writer Tara Morgan was also named Rookie of the Year for her work in 2008. Meanwhile, the Hispanic Cultural Center of Idaho awarded the alt-weekly an Animo award in the Outstanding Newspaper category for non-biased coverage of not only the Latino community, but of all minority communities in the area.
Boise Weekly  |  05-07-2009  9:21 am  |  Honors & Achievements

AAN Members Across the Country Unveil Major Changes

  • The Mountain Xpress is ending its 14-year run as a print publication today, "suspending its regular online news reports and converting its entire news operation to Twitter dispatches from staff and trusted community journalists."
  • The San Francisco Bay Guardian has settled its lawsuit with Village Voice Media, agreeing to drop its legal action and "shut the fuck up" about PG&E, sunshine, media concentration, rent control, and over-development.
  • Publisher Sally Freeman has sold the Boise Weekly to N-Corp-Al, which quickly shut the alt-weekly down and relaunched it as the Treasure Valley Weekly Post.
  • The Washington City Paper has relaunched as the Huffington City Paper.
  • Salt Lake City Weekly announced it has purchased SLUG magazine and will bring new features like "Cute Baby of the Month" and "Those Wacky Pets" to the long-running local underground-music magazine.
  • Athens, Ga., alt-weekly Flagpole has relaunched as "a celebrity 'zine about fun and style, now to be known as Starpole."
  • The East Bay Express is changing editorial course, introducing new procedures like "user-generated copyediting" and "reader-assigned stories."
AAN News  |  04-01-2009  12:22 pm  |  Industry News

Boise Weekly Partners with GlobalPostnew

The Idaho alt-weekly is one of "a growing number of news outlets" signing up to partner with the online world news site GlobalPost, the New York Times reports. The Weekly subscribed to the service last week and is running a widget that feeds global news on the sidebar of its citydesk blog.
The New York Times  |  03-23-2009  2:54 pm  |  Industry News

Boise Weekly Editor Named a 2009 Idaho Woman of the Yearnew

Rachael Daigle is one of 50 women named an Idaho Woman of the Year by the Idaho Business Review. The women will be featured in a glossy magazine and honored at an awards dinner in late March.
Idaho Business Review  |  02-06-2009  9:56 am  |  Honors & Achievements

More Papers Tighten Belts

Louisiana's Independent Weekly reports that in 2008 it had to lay off one employee and that it recently instituted "a single digit, company-wide salary cut." The Nashville Scene says it is eliminating its books section, as well as News of the Weird and the New York Times crossword. Boise Weekly's publisher says that even though the "last quarter of 2008 was very disappointing ... it might have been the best we will see for awhile." Meanwhile, the Chicago Reader says goodbye to two of its departing editorial staffers, and Nat Hentoff talks to the New York Times about his plans post-Voice.
AAN News  |  01-09-2009  10:30 am  |  Industry News

Boise Weekly Publisher Calls for Temporary Salary Cutsnew

At the paper's regular Friday meeting, Sally Freeman asked the staff to take a 10 percent cut in pay through the end of March to help ward off damage done by weak ad sales. "After the quick announcement, Freeman cried a little and then offered to meet with each of her workers individually," Weekly editor Nathaniel Hoffman reports. Freeman tells Hoffman that the paper's annual revenue is down 4 percent compared to 2007, and it came in $90,000 below budget in the last six to seven weeks.
Boise Weekly  |  12-08-2008  4:04 pm  |  Industry News

Boise Weekly Raises Nearly $13K at Cover Art Auctionnew

On the seventh anniversary of the event, the Weekly once again auctioned off a year's worth of cover art to fund a worthy cause. Last week's haul brings the total to date raised by the event to more than $78,000. The beneficiary of this year's auction has yet to be determined, but in the past the paper has funded causes like childrens' arts organizations and a work of public art.
Boise Weekly  |  11-18-2008  11:00 am  |  Industry News

Another Alt-Weekly Election Cover Draws Some Flaknew

Looks like the Chicago Reader isn't alone in running a post-election cover that ruffled some feathers. The Boise Weekly's cover illustration by Alejandro Lempkin, which includes the phrase "Barack Oboner," apparently upset a few readers. "I don't think many of those who I heard from understood that 'Barack Oboner' was not meant to demean the president-elect so much as it was meant to poke fun at people just like me," writes editor Rachael Daigle. "That is, people who live in a certain area of town -- the same area in which I live -- where Barack Obama was heavily supported, a part of town that -- crudely speaking -- had a boner for Barack." MORE: Chicago's CBS affiliate reports on the Reader dustup.
Boise Weekly  |  11-10-2008  9:20 am  |  Industry News  |  Comments (1)

Boise Weekly Eliminates Ad Director Position

Longtime ad director Nancy E. Spittle is leaving the Weekly after seven years "to pursue new professional adventures," according to a press release. Her position will not be filled -- instead, the Weekly has hired two additional account executives. "Even though Boise Weekly still has positive revenue growth over last year, the economy requires all companies to tighten ship and work hard to increase revenue and improve performance in sales," the press release notes. (FULL STORY)
Boise Weekly Press Release  |  09-26-2008  8:00 am  |  Press Releases

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