W W W . P H I L A D E L P H I A W E E K LY. C O M
40 YEARS
What steps did you take to turn it into an alt weekly? The whole thing was that we would go from the Welcomat, which paid $10, $20, maybe $40 for a story, to paying $300 to $500 for a cover story, so you could demand good writing and reporting. There was no reporting at the Welcomat to speak of. So we needed to hire staff writers and build a whole team.
Was there a time when the paper was at its best, or do you think it just sort of fluctuated?
Editorial Inflection Former Editor Tim Whitaker waxes nostalgic.
By Liz Spikol feedback@philadelphiaweekly.com Tell me about what you were doing before PW, and how you got involved with the paper. It’s probably a little fuzzy, but I was in Naples, Fla., at a magazine called Gulfshore Life for two years. The first year I really liked it and the second year I didn’t like it at all, and then I put migrant workers on the cover for the Christmas issue and they basically wanted me out of there. Then I decided we had to get back to Philly. I started doing some freelance work at Cigna of all places, hourly work there, and then I got a call from Michael Cohen, who got my name from somebody about doing a Main Line version of the Welcomat. I hired Sara [Kelly], and then Sara and I were brought in for the Center City Welcomat.
What was the Welcomat like when you came in?
P H I L A D E L P H I A W E E K LY May 4 - 10, 2011
So whose idea was it to make it an alt-weekly proper? That was publisher Michael Cohen. He was brought in to change it from the Welcomat into an alternative newspaper. And he was ruthless.
It was just you and Sara at the beginning.
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I put an ad in the paper and got a ton of responses, but Sara’s jumped right out at me because it was really honest about her state of life and how she had no money and was moving to Upper Darby on a wing and a prayer. Her ambition and her writing ability shone through, so I hired her. And then [staff writer] Karen Abbott was pretty close behind that.
Brian Hickey, staff writer
Many stumbles. Many, many, many, many, many stumbles. What was the first incarnation called? Brainsoap? It was really forward-looking, I’ll give it that. I think Anthony [Clifton] was very game to explore it in the most cutting-edge ways, but in the end, nothing worked. I’m not sure that any other alternative newspaper did a whole lot better, though. There was so much confusion about resources; there’s still confusion. To this day, the print product makes more money.
Philadelphia Weekly was the place that pulled me away from a life of chasing crime stories around Atlantic City during the day and Jagering my way around Sea Isle and Avalon at nights. The stories that stand out in my memory aren’t because of the quality, but because I don’t think I’d have been able to write them at other publications. Like naming Allen Iverson as Philadelphia’s Man of the Year. Or the muchlater anniversary story with Gary Heidnik survivor Josefina Rivera. I think the story I’m most proudest of is the last one I wrote. It was a story about the man who everybody thinks killed four A.C. prostitutes that I was working on before I got interrupted by a coma. Once I woke up from the coma, [Editor-in-Chief] Adamma Ince was more than willing to let me finish it up. I’m both proud and grateful for that.
In the heyday of alt weeklies, what were their strengths?
Hobart Rowland, A&E editor
I think it fluctuated. I think there were two periods when it was really good—one was when we had Rick Fellinger, Karen Abbott and Solomon Jones. I’m so hesitant to name these people because I’m so afraid I’m going to leave somebody out. Then at the end, the year before I left, the paper won the most awards in its history. Remember it was second to L.A. Weekly? And that was a time when the business side was not happy, so it’s weird.
What changes in the industry did you see over time that impacted what you were doing? It was all about online and trying to cope with that, and watching the advertising move away and then the papers getting smaller and smaller and squeezed and squeezed so that any sense of art design went away for long periods of time. Everything was just bunched in there. It had been a nice paper to look at, design-wise, when there were big papers and money was robust. If you look back at those old issues, they were swimming in white space. It’s hard to believe the papers were so big.
How do you feel about those early ventures into online territory?
I think it varied from city to city and from style to style. I think there was sort of the New Times style, which was real hardhitting investigative reporting, take-no-prisoners kind of thing. And then there was the L.A. Weekly model, which was the one I favored. I think it had more emphasis on writing and crafting. I’m not saying one was better than the other. I think in the heyday they both worked. It was just different.
Do you think that alternative weeklies are still relevant? Still relevant. You know, I think they still serve a purpose and they’re still places where writers can launch their careers. They’re still part of the noise of the city. But I think it’s much more challenging to have a significant impact on a consistent basis. There are so many alternatives, so many places to get information. Z O E Y S L E S S - K I TA I N
The Welcomat did a really nice job as a community newspaper, as a Center City community newspaper that had a small number of writers who were paid very little to express themselves about whatever they felt like. And I think that worked for a really long time, did really well, and then I think it sort of got tired. I think from a commercial point of view there was a chance to make a lot more money, get a much wider readership. All it required was looking at the template that worked at The Village Voice and places like that and just sort of mimic that kind of energy and that kind of writing and build a staff and it would do much better, and it did.
Memory Lane
Any other thoughts about PW? There are two things. One is, working at a weekly is probably one of the hardest jobs in journalism in terms of sheer hours put in. Much harder than a daily; even now with cutbacks and stuff, you just don’t work 50- and 60-hour weeks. To work at an alternative, you had to really put in mammoth hours. That’s one thing. The other is just the sheer number of people who passed through, you know? And considering how many that was, I think the number of people who went away unhappy were relatively few. ■
A few things I recall: weekend upon weekend of proofing and editing; moving between floors of the old office building (though I can’t recall why); bike-tire marks decorating the walls; trying desperately to keep that ornery rebel Joey Sweeney in line; and talking early Bowie and chainsmoking with Marah’s Dave Bielanko at a Superdrag concert.
Collin Keefe, writer, web editor Lauren McCutcheon and I came up with Lush Life. One of the first ones I penned was about the “Cop Shop,” the corner market and go-to spot for delicious and refreshing 40s of malt liquor at 13th and Lombard. It was nothing. Just a stupid couple of sentences about buying beer. Honestly I probably spent about 10 minutes on it. Years later, when my wife Holly and I first started dating, she lived practically across the street from the Cop Shop. I still smoked cigarettes then, so I once again found myself a regular customer. One night I stopped in ... to pick up some beer and a pack of smokes and was completely shocked to see my little 150-word sidebar framed and hanging on the wall. It remained on the wall there until the place changed hands a couple years ago.