It's not everyday that a new media company starts up – especially in Buffalo.
But despite what has been a dark and hard time for some news corporations, Skunk Post has set up in the Queen City with a fresh outlook on broadcasting.
Skunk Post is a brand new Web only news site, using blogs and video journalism to cover various local news stories and features – with a comedic and satiric angle on the stories. The site launched on October 1 and started from just a blog.
Christie Weber, a video journalist for the site who came aboard in July said that the company started as a blog to gain followers while the site was being constructed, equipment purchased and more employees hired.
Tuesday in the Student Union, Skunk Post was interviewing students, giving away free t-shirts, bags and bottle openers. They also had an inflated basketball court, offering students the chance to win money and free stuff if they made a basket.
Skunk post came to UB in hopes that more students will become 'Skunk Posters' for the site, including bloggers and video journalists.
'If you think you're funny, post something on Skunk Post,' said Weber. 'With ‘You Post' users can post anything they want, they can even post a funny Craigslist advertisement.'
Users can upload content, blogs and videos, and the site will let society judge what is acceptable. In other words, the videos will not be edited for content or taken down unless the community feels the need to, according to Greg Garrick vice president of marketing for Skunk Post.
'There was a significant gap in the Buffalo market for this type of Web site,' said Garrick. 'Our research showed that our target audience enjoys… entertainment sites and shows like The Daily Show… [and] that type of entertainment and satire type stories.'
Garrick also added that everything the site does is based around their target audience, which is primarily 18 to 34 year-olds. The site conducted research based on focus groups and did secondary research on Web based traffic patterns of the demographic.
The news and stories featured on Skunk Post are current and hits a variety of stories that take place in and have to do with Buffalo and the WNY area. The site also covers national and world news, with a political section as well.
And no news site would be complete without sports coverage, Skunk Post features an in depth sports section, covering the Bills, Sabres and the UB Bulls teams. The section also features articles from around national leagues as well.
'The site focuses equally on both accuracy and also the entertainment value of the story,' said Garrick.
The site has several special features sections including a police blotter titled 'You have the right to remain stupid,' in which Skunk Post does a fantastic job in finding some of the dumbest criminals and people who get arrested in the WNY area.
Among the other features are special pages for sex, health and fitness, fashion and beauty, and an entertainment section. Each section has a variety of blog posts and video content focusing on a wide range of topics, and also feature posts from Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Popular Mechanics and many other sources.
When coming up with a name for the site, Garrick said they 'wanted something catchy,' and wanted the site to resemble something like the Huffington Post, but based in WNY.
Garrick has high hopes for the site and would like the community to get involved with the Web site.
'[I want this to] be a success from a traffic perspective, and that the users return often and enjoy the site and participate and provide user generated content [and to] comment and post things that they find interesting around WNY,' Garrick said. 'We would like this to get bigger and eventually see more Skunk Post sites across the whole country.'
The site is located at skunkpost.com and has both a Facebook and twitter account for users to follow up to date stories.
E-mail: spectrum-features@buffalo.edu
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
