At a time when many local newsrooms fear artificial intelligence, The Baltimore Times is leaning in. In this episode of Keep It Local, host Ryan Welton talks with Paris Brown — one of Local Media Association’s Digital Innovators of the Year — about how a 40-year-old community paper is using AI, AR and VR to serve its audience in fresh, creative ways.

Brown shares how the Times is:

• Making health coverage more accessible with narrated AI summaries and avatars.
• Creating immersive AR/VR storytelling experiences like racing alongside legendary Black cyclists.
• Building trust through partnerships with artists, technologists, and community groups.
• Exploring new AI tools (Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini, Zapier) to streamline workflows.
• Developing an AI model to process community-submitted stories through a custom style guide.

Why It Matters

The Baltimore Times is proving that innovation isn’t reserved for large media companies. By treating AI as a partner, not a threat, the paper shows how small publishers can lead in digital transformation while staying rooted in community trust.

🎧 Listen to learn why Paris Brown calls AI “a friend, not a threat,” and what’s next for The Baltimore Times.

Description:

Back-to-school isn’t just a moment on the calendar — it’s a major opportunity for local newsrooms to deliver value, grow audience, and drive new revenue.

In this episode of Keep It Local, Ryan Welton talks with David Arkin, founder of David Arkin Consulting, about practical, proven strategies for turning back-to-school content into audience-building, SEO-friendly, and sponsor-ready coverage.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction: The Problem with School Websites

00:17 Welcome to Keep It Local Podcast

00:36 Meet David Arkin: A Journey in Journalism

01:43 David Arkin's Consulting and Projects

04:04 H Town Dads: A Successful Promotion

08:16 Back to School Strategies for Newsrooms

17:36 Monetizing Back to School Content

19:47 Conclusion and Contact Information

David shares:

• A promotion playbook that turned dads into subscribers
• The three types of back-to-school content every newsroom should create
• How AI can help speed up data, graphics, and formatting
• Sponsorship ideas that go beyond traditional “special sections”

If you're looking for utility-driven content ideas that resonate with your community and your advertisers, this episode is a must.

Links:

• 💼 David Arkin Consulting (davidarkinconsulting.com)
• ✉️ Contact David: David@davidarkinconsulting.com

In this episode of Keep It Local, host Ryan Welton talks with Bethany Lane, revenue strategist at QCity Metro in Charlotte, N.C., and a Local Media Association Innovator of the Year.

Bethany shares how she helped the Black-owned digital publication grow from about 100 donors to record fundraising campaigns — all by getting comfortable with direct asks, using human-centered video and deeply understanding their audience.

They also dive into culturally specific fundraising strategies, overcoming the fear of unsubscribes and new frontiers like AI-read articles and community food festivals.

✅ Be direct — local journalism can’t survive on passive goodwill.

✅ Humor + human connection beat polished, generic pitches.

✅ Build campaigns around what your community actually values.

✅ Don’t fear unsubscribes; fear building a list of disengaged people.

✅ Think beyond stories: events, AI audio, and social experiments all fuel sustainability.