Long time BronxTalk host, Gary Axelbank, a veteran newsman who spent more than two decades leading many televised discussions of Bronx issues, launched a new website devoted to a variety of Bronx-specific news.

Several dozen guests from organizations such as BronxWorks and SoBro, gathered at Bronx CoWorks, a shared office space at the Third Avenue HUB, providing a setting for start-ups and small businesses.

In mirroring the concept of a daily newspaper, thisistheBronX.info will also collate content from multiple publications around the Bronx, allowing visitors to read a range of borough-related stories from different news sources.

“Part of the reason for poverty in the Bronx is a poverty of information and if we could provide people in the Bronx with good information, they can do better, they can fend for themselves, they can empower themselves in many different ways,” said Axelbank. “And so part of this is to use the resource that I have developed over many years to help people in the Bronx do better, which is my hometown.”

This interactive website will allow all visitors to post photos or pictures of their artwork, publically promote an event and get a free listing for a business or group organization. To ensure that all interests are covered, the website will load information in two different phases. The first phase, which launched on May 17 will display features such as breaking news, restaurant and nightlife, as well as arts and culture. The second phase will be implemented in the fall and will feature resources for families, government and communities, education, health care, housing, and careers.

“Before thisistheBronX.info, anyone interested in the Bronx would need to check many different sources for information about the Bronx,” said Axelbank.

Axelbank has been in the media business for more than four decades, working in the radio markets of Maryland and Delaware. He worked alongside unknown shock jock Howard Sterm, who was then a program director at the former WRNW.

In 1994, BronxNet began airing BronxTalk, a program that explores Bronx issues and happenings through a myriad of guests that include politicos, artists, community stakeholders, and educators.

With nearly 1.5 million residents living in the Bronx, Axelbank sought to create a space that would accurately represent the borough and the people who live in it.

“We’ve been fighting an image that’s been accurate in some ways; we do have crime, we do have drugs, we do have poverty…but when you take a step back, there is so much going on in the Bronx that is positive, that is unique, that is different from anywhere else,” said Axelbank. “I hope [Bronxites] will go to the site and say, “Oh wow, this is the Bronx!”