Q&A: An extended interview with Elena Buscarino, Buffalo Rising Online
Elena Buscarino and Newell Nussbaumer, Buffalo Rising Online.
How do you describe BRO’s role?
Buffalo Rising brings an upbeat side to Buffalo news and events Sometimes our readers want to put us on the analyst couch when we seem to go dark, but it’s always and only for the purpose of being change agents when we think there’s an easy fix toward making something less than optimal go positive. Yeah, we do some finger pointing, but for the betterment of the common good in our point of view. Our readers also seem to like the little tidbits of information that might not be on mainstream media radar.
Do you follow the other media outlets closely? What do you think BRO does well that maybe these others do not?
Sure, we look at everything. It’s a small town, and we like to stay in sync with and apprised of what everyone is doing. I’m a fan of certain sites, and find it personally gratifying when they cover things we wouldn’t necessarily go after. The more, the merrier.
Why no more print version? What kind of response did it have?
Print didn’t make sense to us and our demographic anymore. The advertisers came along with this decision without the slightest blip. I have to say that I was probably the last holdout for moving away from print, due partly to my training in journalism and letting go of the nostalgia of print. In the end, I’m probably the happiest of all because my month isn’t divided into print and online and the constant shifting of gears that it caused. Now I can plow ahead into the most timely and pertinent issues, as well as taking the time to dissect those things I feel deserve a deeper look. When I think about it, the magazine was full of sweet features, but there was never immediacy to what went in there. Anything I did there, I can still do online, but the ability to drop everything for something that’s happening right now is very freeing. The fatigue I used to feel after getting a magazine to the printer on a monthly basis is replaced with a daily adrenalin rush that I wouldn’t trade.
Tell me about BRO’s future.
BRO exists on the basis of its contacts, good writers, and the ability to put the word out. We do constant check-ups to see what’s working in terms of what our readers like, and then we deliver. We have a wonderful development writer in the person of Chris Schmidt, architecture through David Steele, and then there are others that stick with us or jump on board just because they like what we do. I’ve had interns that write like pros, and people like Chao Li, who discovered a whole new career direction through BRO. I’m going to miss her when she goes to grad school next fall to pursue journalism as a career based on her found love for it at BRO. With Barry Heneghan’s eye on the stats, we’ll keep doing what our readers want and make it better as we go.
