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.

In this episode of Keep It Local, Ryan Welton sits down with Liz White Notarangelo, co-CEO of Local Media Association and Local Media Foundation, for a frank and energizing conversation on the real work of newsroom transformation.

Liz brings deep experience as a fifth-generation publisher who led a legacy newsroom through digital transformation—and now helps lead innovation across the local media industry.

They dig into:

• Why every newsroom must adopt a culture of continuous change
• The power of “succeed or fail fast”—and how to operationalize it
• Why listening is a newsroom’s most underutilized superpower
• How trust lays the groundwork for any sustainable revenue model
• What to stop doing—and how to focus on what matters

Plus: Liz previews LMA Fest 2025, where AI, branded content, philanthropy, and revenue innovation will take center stage.

Resources:

• Learn more: localmedia.org
• Learn more about LMA Fest: https://localmedia.org/event/lma-fest-2025/

Subscribe to "Keep It Local" for more ideas on the future of local journalism and its sustainability.

🎧 If you enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a review. It helps the platform algorithms surface our content for other journalists and newsrooms to hear.

John Celestand joins Keep It Local host Ryan Welton to talk about his work with the Knight x LMA BloomLab.

🎙️ Topics Covered:

• What the Knight x LMA BloomLab is and how it works
• Supporting 25 Black-owned newsrooms across the U.S.
• Lessons learned from 3 years of digital transformation
• AI's evolving role in local media
• Why community trust must be earned again and again
• The unique role of Black-owned media in the American press

🔗 Learn more: https://localmedia.org/knight-x-lma-bloomlab/

💬 Connect with John Celestand on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/johncelestand

Collaboration over competition: How Oklahoma Media Center is strengthening local news

In this episode of Keep It Local, host Ryan Welton chats with Rob Collins, executive director of the Oklahoma Media Center, about how a statewide collaborative is helping newsrooms band together to tackle big challenges—and build a stronger future for local journalism.

They discuss:

• What a news collaborative is and why it matters
• How Oklahoma Media Center supports newsrooms with funding, training, and tools
• Why collaboration—not competition—is key to sustainability
• Creative ways to rebuild trust with local audiences
• The future of local news in Oklahoma and beyond
• Rob’s vision for recruiting, training, and retaining the next generation of journalists

🚨 Plus: Rob shares how OMC has distributed nearly $300,000 in project funding and launched innovative campaigns like “Free Press Isn’t Free” to promote the value of journalism.

📍 Mentioned in this episode:

• OklahomaMediaCenter.com – Learn more about OMC’s work
• LocalMedia.org – More about the Local Media Association

🎧 If you enjoyed this episode, leave a review and share it with a newsroom leader or journalist you know!

Episode description / show notes:

In our debut episode of Keep It Local, host Ryan Welton sits down with Shannon Kinney, founder of Dream Local Digital and longtime LMA collaborator, to unpack the power of branded content — storytelling that builds audience and revenue.

They discuss:

• What branded content is (and isn’t)
• How it creates value for both advertisers and audiences
• Real-world success stories from local media companies
• How the Branded Content Project is helping newsrooms generate sustainable revenue
• Why alignment between editorial and sales is essential
• The value of trust, transparency, and utility in content strategy

🚨 Plus: Shannon shares how media companies can join upcoming Branded Content Project cohorts, tap into free training, and get support through hands-on boot camps and case studies.

📍 Mentioned in this episode:

• BrandedContentProject.com – Resources, case studies, and cohort info
• LocalMedia.org – More about the Local Media Association
• DreamLocal.com – Shannon Kinney’s agency helping 75,000+ businesses grow online

🎧 If you enjoyed this episode, leave a review and share it with a newsroom leader or journalist you know!