NOTE

A recent study by The Media Audit put Boise Weekly in the top 10 of alternative newsweeklies in the nation when it comes to reaching adults 18 and over. The study showed that when BW combines print distribution with our Web site, we're reaching more than 29 percent of Boise's adults.

As for the rest of you: We know where you live, and we're coming for you.

According to The Media Audit, some 38.8 million adults in 87 markets now read or visit the Web site of an alternative news-weekly like BW.

Don't flatter yourselves too much, but the auditors had some nice things to say about you readers of alternative papers like ours.

"We have observed that readers of alternative newsweeklies tend to be more computer savvy in terms of time spent online," said Bob Jordan, the president of International Demographics.

Savvy. We like savvy readers. We like the ones who keep us honest and the ones who push us to go further in our reporting. Not to get all Bubba on you, but we feel your pain, and we're working on it. We know you like to get lots of your news and information from the Web, so we started the BW Beat, our own daily version of the paper you now hold in your hands. We figured if other news outlets in town can run press releases verbatim and call it "news," we can, too. I wish I was kidding.

But we're doing more than that: We've got original reporting, breaking views and occasional tidbits we just can't keep to ourselves. Witness last week's news that the upscale blouserie Anthropologie is coming to Boise. You read it online first, at www. boiseweekly.com. Likewise our story about how North Dakota might outmaneuver Gov. CL. "Butch" Otter in an attempt to supply Cuba with potatoes. Ouch.

We're not done yet. Look for more Web advances in the coming weeks and months. But don't expect us to cannibalize the print edition just to get there. We're believers in the Web, but we're more fond of seeing people around town with copies of B W in their hands. We've got reports from 2006 saying that some 87,000 people in Boise read B W every week, and we're angling for more.

This week a posse of us will take leave of the B Wmothership here on 6th Street and head to Portland for the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies annual conference. I know what you're thinking: a conference? Not very alternative. Hey, we can wear a dorky name badge with the best of 'em, and we're hoping to learn some things from our brethren across the country. We'll give you the report when we return. Look on the Web.

- Shea Andersen