Small Press, Big Ideas is a podcast about the business of local news and community journalism in the US. Host Paul Gewuerz interviews entrepreneurs and journalists in the field to get their take on what's working, what isn't, and how local publishers can thrive in today's rapidly changing media landscape.
Katy Temple is the executive director of the Foundation for Local News, a New Jersey nonprofit focused on student journalism. She found her way back to journalism through her community college newspaper. That led to advocacy for New Voices legislation, a political science degree from Columbia, and stints in state and federal government. Then a LinkedIn message from Mike Shapiro turned her plan to start a nonprofit into an offer to run his.
Katy explains the foundation's first workshop series, which covers personal branding, short form video, and broadcast. She also lays out the long game: pilot newsrooms in schools that don't have one, paid pathways into local outlets, and a model other states could adopt. Along the way she walks through the legal cases that shape student press rights. She also makes the case that funding student journalism means investing in democracy itself, the same way we invest in roads and schools.
Links:
Foundation for Local News
https://foundationforlocalnews.org/
on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/foundationforlocalnews/
Katy Temple - LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/katy-temple-7b5817154/
---
This podcast is sponsored by LocalPod.co, the podcast platform built for local media. LocalPod.co
---
Subscribe to the Local News Industry Pulse newsletter to receive a weekly briefing of news, policy, trends, and more in the local news industry: https://localnewsindustrypulse.beehiiv.com/subscribe
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
28 Sept 2026
How a newsroom of one bought its hometown paper
Amy Bushatz spent 13 years at Military.com before moving to Alaska and launching the Mat-Su Sentinel, a nonprofit, digital first newsroom she runs largely on her own.
After hearing at a public meeting that the local paper, The Frontiersman, was about to lose its public notice revenue, she closed a deal with its owners in about two weeks and took over the 80 year old Frontiersman's brand, archive, and subscribers, but not its building or printing press.
In this episode Amy talks through the messy reality of acquisition, from locked social accounts and unreliable subscriber data to boxes of unlabeled photo negatives. She also explains why she skips opinion and police blotters, how her LION Publishers award winning model rests on nine income streams, and why she approaches fundraising the way a candidate approaches an election.
Links:
Mat-Su Sentinel
https://www.matsusentinel.com/
The Frontiersman
https://www.frontiersman.com/tag/news/
Amy Bushatz - LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-bushatz/
Tiny News Collective
https://www.tinynewsco.org/
Listening Post Collective
https://listeningpostcollective.org/
---
This podcast is sponsored by LocalPod.co, the podcast platform built for local media. LocalPod.co
---
Subscribe to the Local News Industry Pulse newsletter to receive a weekly briefing of news, policy, trends, and more in the local news industry: https://localnewsindustrypulse.beehiiv.com/subscribe
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
21 Sept 2026
The scrappy playbook behind premium print
Everyone keeps declaring print dead. Megan Schertler has built an entire career proving the opposite. As cofounder and managing director of In Real Life Media, she helps publishers and brands put print magazines back at the center of their business, treating it as the anchor rather than the afterthought.
In this conversation she explains why print is now outperforming digital on trust, how COVID and AI reshaped what audiences actually believe, and why so many new magazines fold after a couple of issues. She breaks down the small but mighty model built on obsessive readers, the generational knowledge gap that leaves publishers unsure how to sell print, and the unglamorous operational decisions that quietly decide whether a title survives.
Links
In Real Life Media
https://www.inreallife.media/
Megan Schertler - LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwrays/
---
This podcast is sponsored by LocalPod.co, the podcast platform built for local media. LocalPod.co
---
Subscribe to the Local News Industry Pulse newsletter to receive a weekly briefing of news, policy, trends, and more in the local news industry: https://localnewsindustrypulse.beehiiv.com/subscribe
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
6 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Contact Small Press, Big Ideas
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
