Village Voice - January 8-14, 2003
Selling the 'New York Press' Hype Dreams [by Cynthia Cotts]
When Russ Smith launched the New York Press back in 1988, he dreamed of making it the city's number one alternative weekly. With the secret backing of his brother Randy Smith, Russ was going to huff and puff and blow the Voice down. But now he seems to have lost his wind. Last month, the Smith brothers sold the Press to Douglas Meadow and Charles Coletti - who say they, too, aim to dethrone the Voice.
The Times reported that the new owners paid $5 million for the Press, but the real figure is closer to $3 million, according to a knowledgeable source. Meadow and Coletti have said they won't change much. Smith will still write the Mugger column, and most staffers will stay on. But the source predicts the new owners will cut the publisher's salary and decimate the editorial staff.
So who are these guys? According to a report in the New York Post, Coletti was a past owner of the Connecticut-based Consumer Direct chain of shopper publications, and Meadow comes from a family that once owned Spotlight magazine. But a subsequent Post story, and the knowledgeable source, say that Meadow and Coletti are front men for Avalon Equity Partners, a private investment fund that owns Window Media, a chain of gay alt-weeklies including the New York Blade. Window is beset with financial problems, according to recent reports in the Gay City News.
The source explains that Avalon is losing money on the Blade, and the investors see buying the Press as a way to bail themselves out. Avalon's game plan, according to the source, involves moving the Blade into the Press offices, packaging the Window chain with the Press, and selling the package for up to $10 million.
That is, if they can make the Press profitable. For the last few years, profitability seemed to elude the Smith brothers, even though, like the Voice's owners, they have no inhibitions about selling sex ads. Sex ads accounted for about 27 percent of the Press's $5.8 million in revenues last year, according to the source. The paper lost about $500,000 in 2002, but the situation has been improving: by year end, losses were down to about $30,000 a month. By cutting Russ Smith's salary and expense account (no more Bermuda trips on the company dime), the new owners might even break even.
Smith did not return an e-mail for comment. Reached at the Press, Meadow said he'd call back, but did not.