Local Joey Launches Two Hoboken Television Shows

Pete Romano was laid-off in 2010, after a 12 year career in advertising and multimedia production. For the next year he barely survived on freelance gigs until he got idea to form his own production company.

The result is Local Joey, which is launching two television shows about Hoboken, one premiering on Sunday and the second next week.

"I didn't have any money, no capital," Romano said. “This has really been a tale of bootstrapping.”

Romano said now thinks his small business can help others of the same size. Through its website and television shows Local Joey offers advertising and media production for local small businesses.

“Small businesses are under-served with media,” Romano said. “I thought let's start a company to give them the same opportunities as the big guys. Why should the local pizza place have a lesser quality ad than Papa John's?”

The first television show, Local Joey TV, was scheduled to premiere Sunday morning at 10 a.m. on Hudson County channel 18. The first episode features the happenings and history of longtime Hoboken bar The Shannon, and also includes segments about local businesses like Benny Tudino's and the Serenity Boutique, and an interview with Hoboken native son and award-winning actor Joe Pantoliano.

"We think of the segments as music videos for small businesses," Romano said. "We want to show the real people behind these businesses. (See the first few minutes of the first episode in the video embedded in this article.)

The second Local Joey show, called House Hop, is scheduled to premier next Sunday and feature agents from the Liberty and REMAX Gold Coast realty companies.

“We're following around real estate agents to see what they do,” Romano said. “We'll be visiting some beautiful properties and watch how these agents conduct their business."

Romano's team includes his former roommate Hunt Ethridge, who serves as the lead on-air face for Local Joey. His fellow hosts include Caley Rose, Cassie Low and , moonlighting outside her career as an agent with Boutique Realty. Ben Dzamba, Ryan Guiterman and Elliot Santiago do much of the work behind the scenes. Local Joey has a studio and edits its segments at , a co-working space at the Hoboken Business Center.

Local Joey takes its name from the baby kangaroo. "The idea is this little kangaroo that hopped around town meeting everybody," Romano said.

Aside from the television shows Local Joey features content on its website, including photos, blog posts, event listings and coupons. The focus is on nightlife, culture and art. "Basically anything interesting happening in town," Romano said.

Romano said he hopes Local Joey can expand to neighboring cities and towns in a sort of regional television network. Beyond that he hopes the story of how he came to start his own business inspires others.

“I like to think this is a true American story of hardship, hard work and success,” he said. “I can't wait for the next project, and who or what we're going to meet next.”

The Local Joey television show will air on channel 18 Sundays at 10am, Tuesdays at noon and Fridays at 10:30pm. House Hop will air on Sundays at 10:30, Thursdays at noon and Saturdays at 10:30pm, also on channel 18. Local Joey will host a premier party open to the public this Friday at the Shannon.