Developing models for digital local news in Pa.
Pioneering journalist exports Philadelphia experiment to Pittsburgh
The last time I talked to Jim Brady, he was very proud of the way he was adapting to Philadelphia, where he launched the local digital news operation Billy Penn two years ago.
“I find myself explaining what a jawn is,” the New York native and Northern Virginia resident told me, referring to the Philly-ism for “thing.”
Now Brady is mastering a whole new lexicon as he starts up
The Incline, Billy Penn’s crossstate cousin in Pittsburgh. Fourand-a-half weeks in, Brady & Co. are searching for the right tone and flavor to reflect the spirit of the former Steel City. The key: trial and error.
“The first four months are for finding what the voice is,” Brady says.
Sure, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are in the same state. But they are 300 miles apart. And Pennsylvania, unlike, say, Texas or Wisconsin, is not a place with much of a sense of state identity.
And for local digital news operations, that distinct sense of place is critically important. That’s one of the things that has made Billy
Penn a successful start-up. Make no mistake, The Incline will have plenty of Billy Penn DNA. It will rely on a mix of original reporting and curation of other news outlets’ local content. It will be aimed at Millennials on mobile devices. It will use events both as part of its revenue strategy and to build strong connections with readers.
But, Brady points out, “the cities are very different. It’s not just cut and paste. Don’t look like Bil
ly Penn in Pittsburgh.” In building Billy Penn, Brady spent a lot of time in Philadelphia soaking up the atmosphere, staying in different parts of the city to learn the terrain. He is taking the same approach in Pittsburgh. And as in Philly, he is relying on local staffers to help plot the course. The Incline’s editor, Lexi Belculfine, came from the Pitts
burgh Post-Gazette and is from the area.
But having staffers from other places is important, too. They sometimes see things that the natives overlook. Of the first four editorial staffers, two are from the area and two are from elsewhere. One of those outsiders, MJ Slaby, formerly of the Knox--
ville News Sentinel, recently wrote a piece exploring the mystery of why this particular Pittsburgh, unlike others across the country, has an “h” at the end of its name. The mission, Brady says, is stories that “educate and entertain.”
So what are the differences between the two Keystone State cities? While Brady says he has learned not to say that Pittsburgh is in the Midwest, he allows that it has more of a “Rust Belt” vibe and is “less Northeastern” than Philly, meaning that it’s “less direct and blunt.” So the voice should be less edgy and more conservative — nicer — than in Philly.
That said, the Pennsylvania cities are not “wildly different,” Brady says, nor are the issues, although, he adds, “the Philadelphia political machine throws out an awful lot of stories.” Both sites will focus, for example, on education and gentrification. Public transportation is less of an emphasis for Pittsburgh, Brady says, while The Incline will do more with tech since Pittsburgh, unlike Philly, doesn’t have a well-established tech site.
He also has learned that Pittsburgh is “a tough city to eat healthy in,” noting that the beloved Primanti Bros. caloriefest comes with French fries on the sandwich.
Local digital journalism has proved quite a challenge, and successful business strategies have proved elusive. There have been any number of high-profile flameouts. And many sites survive through the herculean, round-the-clock labors of one or two people, which is not necessarily sustainable. Brady is a veteran of a number of high-profile digital journalism gigs; he initially financed Billy Penn with his and his wife’s money because he was tired of the frustrations that come with working for other people. (Gannett, which owns USA TODAY, has since invested in Bil
ly Penn and The Incline parent company Spirited Media.)
Brady, who jokes that his busi- ness model is “low overhead,” has relied on a mix of advertising, events and fundraising to finance his operations. He says he made a mistake in Philly by not hiring an ad salesperson at the outset, opting to build an audience first. In Pittsburgh, he made sure a salesperson was in harness from the get-go. The digital entrepreneur says
Billy Penn is now tantalizingly close to being in the black, and probably would be if he had had that salesperson in place from the start. Last year, events accounted for 86% of Billy Penn’s revenue. This year that figure is likely to be 65% as traffic and ad revenue have increased. The operation proved its news chops with its coverage of a major Amtrak crash in Philadelphia in 2015, earning the fledgling news outlet a finalist nod from the Online News Association.
Brady has experienced firsthand the pitfalls of absorbing the mores and learning the lingo of new venues. In Philly, he made the “rookie mistake” of referring to “14th Street.” Unfortunately, the thoroughfare between and parallel to 15th and 13th is called “Broad Street.” In Pittsburgh, he has been called out for incorrectly using “yinz,” Pittsburghese for “youse” or “y’all.” Hopefully the hard-core Jets fan is mastering the pronunciation of “Stillers.”
Regardless, Brady is undaunted — once The Incline is on track, he wants to take on another city, with Baltimore and Chicago looming as possibilities.
“I’m having a blast,” he says. “I can’t imagine doing anything else but this.”
“The cities are very different. It’s not just cut and paste.” Digital journalist Jim Brady