Paper cries: 'Get your beer here'

By: Mark Fitzgerald As seniors at the University of Illinois in 2004, marketing major Atish Doshi and industrial engineering major Derek Chin didn't know a thing about newspapers. But they thought The Daily Illini didn't reflect real college life. "You couldn't hear the student voice," Doshi complains.

And there was not a word about alcohol ? no beer pong, no beer bongs. So Doshi and Chin created The Booze News. Its motto? "Today's News ... Under the Influence."

They cobbled together $900 and a publishing program, sold ads to bars, and produced a 12-page tab of party pictures and campus humor. It made about $200 ? but they were hooked. "Honestly, the best part was sitting in class, and seeing people read the paper," says Chin. Now the free tab publishes local editions every school week at seven big Midwestern schools as varied as conservative Mizzou and party-hearty Wisconsin, where The Onion started 20 years ago. Revenue is growing 30% annually, and the Booze News hopes next year to expand to as many as 30 campuses.

"It's got some things that are drinking-oriented, but it's more than that," Doshi says. Chin quickly adds, "But students want the drinking games."