Print Is Dead

My new boss spent hours in his office, hooked into a T-1 line like an addict mainlining heroin, his eyes wide and his voice always excited. The magazine failed but he was not discouraged.

"I've got fire," he told me. "I'm like the cave man who wandered off, made the first torch, and came back to the cave." His old bosses gave him a big promotion.

Kelleher's job, starting in September, will be to open doors for SAY Media in New York, to educate Madison Avenue and big publishing on what the Web can do, to help the Silicon Valley start-up gain credibility in the big city's canyons of power.

What the Web can do is more than publish. Sites like ReadWriteWeb aren't magazines at all, but communities. What readers say means as much as what articles say. It's not just writing, but radio, TV, and Web apps. Technology like VideoEgg can prove publications are hitting their target markets and, in time, generate premium ad rates.

If Kelleher succeeds in achieving Sanchez's ambitions then SAY Media could add two zeroes or more to its revenue line. If she fails she can probably return to New York as CEO of Time Warner(TWX) itself. She'll have "fire."

This is one of those little stories that tell you what time it is.

At the time of publication, the author held no positions in any of the stocks mentioned.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage.