Modern local media, built and run by an operator.
Local Media HQ is one person and a small team helping established local media brands and operators make the modern transition: cheaper audience growth, AI in the operation, first-party data, creator content, and newsletters that actually make money.
TJ Larkin is the founder of Local Media HQ. He has launched 20+ local newsletters to 170,000+ subscribers, acquired through Meta ads as low as $0.09 per subscriber, and built two live AI products for local media operations: greetform and lightbreak.
Updated July 2026
How I work.
Operator-first
Everything here comes from a live operation, not a slide deck. The recommendations are the ones I run myself.
Modern by default
Newsletters, social, paid acquisition, AI, and data, working together. The channels that compound, built to fund themselves.
You own it
The audience, the data, and the systems are yours and portable. The goal is to leave your business stronger and independent.
Honest about fit
If it is not a fit, I will tell you. Good work starts with the right people in the room.
TJ Larkin
Modern Local Media Operator & Builder
I run more than twenty local newsletters reaching over 170,000 subscribers, acquired through some of the cheapest Meta campaigns in the category, with two AI products live in production. This is not a side study of modern media. It is what I do every day.
The hard part is knowing which parts of a media operation are worth rebuilding and which to leave alone. I bring both the judgment and the build, because they come from the same person who keeps a real operation running on exactly this.
Ready to modernize all of it?
The best fit is an established local media brand ready to grow again. Reach out and we will find the right shape.