May 13, 2008...8:16 am
The Amsterdam Star: The Little Newspaper That Couldn’t
I came across this newspaper box the other day. It must be the last remaining Amsterdam Morning Star box. The Amsterdam Star was a shortlived paper, produced back in the mid 1990s by former Amsterdam Recorder employees, Steve Picciocca and Dave Dalfonso. It was a decent newspaper. In fact it was better than the Amsterdam Recorder.
As we all know, it is difficult to go up against an established newspaper, even if it is not a very good one. I believe that the Amsterdam Star would have been successful if it had remained a weekly, instead of attempting to become a daily.
After the Amsterdam Star folded, Steve Picciocca ran another shortlived monthly called The Buzz. It was eventually purchased by Joey Isabel and then folded. Dave Dalfonso has been very successful with his monthly advertising newspaper, The Sacandaga Monthly.
Former editor of the Amsterdam Recorder, Tony Benjamin, with the help of Theresa Cuda also attempted an alternative to the Amsterdam Recorder, called the Mohawk Valley Free Press. It too was shortlived.
The Amsterdam Recorder has never been the quality newspaper it was when Tony Benjamin was editor, which explains why I subscribe to the Daily Gazette.
4 Comments
June 18, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Did you hear that the Amsterdam Recorder has a new editor?
June 19, 2008 at 8:26 am
Yes. I don’t read the Recorder often, but I did look at it yesterday. It was much better than usual. I still think the Recorder has to write more editorials, realize that there is more to news than fires and car accidents and provide a little bit more for free online if people are going to take it seriously.
June 19, 2008 at 11:56 am
They don’t have the new editor yet. He’s coming, though, and he’s a good one.
June 30, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I had the opportunity to know a Recorder editor in the late 70’s. Remember Stan Silvernail? He was a real gentleman.
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