As newspapers' online presence matures, many still struggle with monetizing it. Often, an outside perspective is where new ideas are born. They disrupt the norm and reveal new monetization opportunities.

That realization is how Ryan Johnston, a former commercial real estate professional, and Ryan Heafy, a former engineer, envisioned 6AM City. Its 24 editions (currently) in most regions of the U.S., joins Axios Local, Patch, WhereBy.Us and other news disruptors in the local digital newsletter space.

In one sense, 6AM City integrates news and social media in a new way, and in another, it may be a precursor of a local news platform that could reside in the Metaverse.

In this 117th episode of "E&P Reports" Publisher Mike Blinder speaks with 6AM City CEO Ryan Johnston about the growth of this local news "disruptor" that now publishes newsletters 5 days-a-week in 24 U.S. cities.