Russel Pergament
TAB Newspapers
Boston Metro
Russel Pergament is one of the region’s most compelling newspaper publishers in every facet of the business. Editorial, Advertising Sales and Promotion. He is an innovator, an instigator and an inspiration.
A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Pergament moved to Boston and began a long career in the newspaper business. His first newspaper job at the Real Paper gave him hand to hand combat training as he battled with the Boston Phoenix for dominance in the alternative weekly market.
That experience led a stint at the Boston Herald where he competed in a larger market of daily newspapers and set the stage for his partnership with Stephen Cummings and Richard Yousoufian with whom he started the TAB Newspapers. In the fierce competition he faced with established weekly and daily newspapers, Pergament honed his trademark sales, promotion and customer service skills.
That is where his skill as an instigator paid off. At the TAB Pergament faced off against community papers with many decades of history by doing the opposite and doing it well. Instead of waiting for subscribers to sign up, he sent a paper to every home in the city. People read the TAB in droves in 14 cities and towns. Readers responded to the advertising, much of which he sold. The Tab was an early adopter of advertorial. Hundreds of local service providers told their stories and made names for themselves in the TAB service directory that included story format copy with photos.
His innovation speaks for itself. From scratch Pergament is responsible for the creation The TAB newspapers, Boston Metro, Boston Now and AM New York. While all of the papers had different missions and markets, one common theme was that these new papers were going head to head with more established media and changed the landscape of the local media.
Hundreds of people have worked for Pergament, many went on to long and distinguished careers in publishing, journalism and other areas of business. Pergament leaves a wide wake of success, talent that he nurtured and heightened expectation from readers.