Faces of Rochester

The Biz Blogger

By Megan Malugani

It’s no surprise that Rochester’s most popular blogger, Post-Bulletin business columnist Jeff Kiger, is recognized around town by the buttoned-down types who live and die by his timely scoops on everything from real estate deals to restaurant closures to layoffs. What is surprising is that everyone else seems to be reading Kiger’s Notebook (http://postbulletin.typepad.com/kiger/), too, including the teenage checkout clerk who professed to be a fan while Kiger was doing a little shopping, or the furniture movers who stopped him at an apartment complex where he was reporting and wanted to know when a White Castle was coming to town.
Kiger’s cross-over appeal derives not only from the fact that he offers newsworthy info on his blog—often before any other media outlet—but that he delivers it with self-deprecating panache and that he welcomes instant feedback, whether it’s glowing or scolding. “I like the give and take with readers. I’m infamous for my typos. They give me a hard time and I jibe back,” says Kiger, whose thick skin developed over years of handling complaints as a business editor at several newspapers.

Kiger, an Indiana native, moved to Rochester with his wife Valerie (who is also a journalist) ten years ago for a job at the P-B that primarily entailed editing. Then, six years ago, he created the “Heard on the Street” column in the newspaper’s business section, and four years ago launched the blog. “I made myself a writer. I prefer to write,” he says. And the blog is “perfect for the way I do stuff. I can’t focus on anything for very long,” says Kiger, who digs up news with the help of tipsters (he once got a great tip from a parent in his kids’ play group), other news sources, and court and real estate documents, among other sources.

Kiger’s Notebook has evolved to become “it’s own universe” that advances even in his absence. It doesn’t happen often, Kiger says, but there are days when he is on vacation and doesn’t check in with the blog. Sometimes there will be “a whole conversation on there I had nothing to do with.”