Although the official editorial stance was anti-gentrification, there have been arguments made that its coverage of local culture and business actually contributed to the upward trend in property values.

[5][4] One of the more unusual topics covered was a review of East Village drug merchants; the piece described various brands of heroin and cocaine that were available, their street names, and commented on the relative quality.

[8] In January 1976, The New York Times reported that the SWN was the second largest English-language weekly in the city, was being positioned as a direct competitor of The Village Voice, and was sold at 400 newsstands.

Goldstein described the intended audience as "basically the 22‐to‐35‐year old group, who grew up during the 60's going to rock concerts"[4] but conceded that his market research consisted of seeing who was buying the paper at newsstands.

Among his clients were Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and the Grateful Dead; 17 of the acts he represented were eventually inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

[11][12][13] Annie Flanders had been the fashion editor; very shortly after SWN closed, she organized a meeting of ex-staffers including Ronnie Cooke, Stephen Saban, Lesley Vinson, Megan Haungs, and Bill Cunningham to found Details magazine which ran from 1982 to 2015.

[14][15][16] Kim Hastreiter succeeded Annie Flanders as fashion editor; she and news reporter David Hershkovits went on to found Paper Magazine.

[19] Greenfield-Sanders has work on display at the Museum of Modern Art[20] and the National Portrait Gallery,[21] and was featured in American Master: The Boomer List on PBS.

[23] He was famous for a 1983 billboard in Times Square showing Tom Hintnaus modelling Calvin Klein underwear; American Photographer featured the photo in 10 Pictures that Changed America, saying that Weber "made men the focal point of sexual attention; for the first time, they were sold as sexual objects", noting that the image appealed to both gay and heterosexual men as well as to women.

The Ramones debuted in August 1974 as did Blondie [...] The local rock critic establishment—at the Village Voice and New York Times—was slow to respond to the goings-on at CBGB's and not enthusiastic when it first did.

During the length of the first wave, the brunt of local support came from the alternative press, initially the SoHo Weekly News and later the fanzines Punk and New York Rocker.In 1978, they ran an interview with Talking Heads.

One article on dance included a performance in a Mercer Street loft alongside one at the Metropolitan Opera House by the American Ballet Theater.

The biggest thing that ever happened to them was a mention in the Village Voice or the Soho Weekly News.On November 26, 1979, 27-year-old Manhattan resident Henry Benvenuti walked into the SWN office and asked to see art editor Gerald Marzorati.

[41] The next week, the Times reported in their national edition that despite growing circulation, the paper had needed to increase advertising by six pages per issue, which the owners did not believe was possible.

Page described the poor physical condition of paper's office; a "plaster oven" in the summer, "drafty and underheated" in the winter, infested with "rats the size of dachshunds", and equipped with unreliable telephones and typewriters.