By Felicity Clarke, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – The Rio Times, Rio de Janeiro’s English language news source, is celebrating its one year anniversary with a birthday bash at Waxy’s on Rua Vinicius de Moraes in Ipanema this Thursday night.
And there is every reason to celebrate. Over the past twelve months The Rio Times has established itself as a consistent, quality local news source, accumulating a readership of up to 35,000 page views per month. The event is an opportunity to say thank you to the collaborators, contributors, advisers and advertisers that have made The Rio Times possible, and will be held at Waxy’s with music provided by British DJ Karl Rodgers.
It has been an impressive first-year performance for a start-up news company, and Editor and Publisher, Stone Korshak, is delighted with the rapid growth; “It feels great. I’m proud and I’m excited and I’m looking forward to the future.”
Korshak, an American who spent most of the last fifteen years in New York, has a background in Internet marketing, film and journalism. He got the idea for an English-language newspaper after feeling the absence of it in the city first-hand. “After being in Rio a fair amount I felt there was a lack of English news and it was something I personally really wanted to have”.
Several return trips to Rio and the idea finally took hold thousands of miles away. “It was late 2007 and I was on Koh Samui, a small island in Thailand,” recalls Korshak. “They had an English language newspaper and I told myself then that if something similar didn’t exist in Rio the next time I was there, I’d start one.”
The Rio Times was launched as The Gringo Times in March 2009. In the months that followed the site’s team of contributing reporters was built. As Korshak explains, “We started so small that the first challenge was finding a group of good reporters and I feel a sense of accomplishment to have the team that we have and that we’re able to produce strong, original news stories on a regular basis.”
While the news team developed, the readership soared, achieving a solid 15,000 page views per month within the first quarter, and it became clear that Korshak wasn’t alone in wanting an English news source for Rio de Janeiro. “Within a few months of launching I really felt like our name was becoming known,” he says, “and it was really gratifying to meet people who had heard of us.”
In the following months, the readership continued to grow with both Rio-based expats and tourists alike looking to the site for quality coverage of politics, business, real estate, sports, travel and entertainment in the city.
To mark the anniversary and to look towards a bright future, including plans to go into print and add video content to the site, The Rio Times will be hosting a party at Waxy’s bar in Ipanema. “It’s an important milestone and we want to say thank you to our readers and our advertisers in the community, as well as our reporting team” says Korshak.
The music will be by DJ Karl Rodgers who for several years DJ’d in London at monthly nights HELP! and Sac A Magique, as well as playing at clubs such as 93 Feet East, Fabric and The Rhythm Factory. April sees him start the monthly Botafogo Social Club with a collective of fellow DJs, as well as the start of a weekly Thursday night residency at Waxy’s.
Waxy’s, which just opened in December, has quickly established itself as a late night spot par excellence in the heart of Ipanema, and British owner Daniel Yantin has had a varied music line-up high on its agenda since opening.
For The Rio Times Anniversary Party, from 6PM to 9:30PM VIP guests; including supporters, advertisers, friends at the consulates and different associations will enjoy the free Caipirinha bar, and from 9:30PM the party is open to all.