In 1996 I realized that I did not need the corporate media. I turned off my radio and cancelled my subscription to the newspaper. I remained completely uninformed about what the corporate media insisted was important. You know, I didn't miss a thing. Alternative media can fully replace the corporate media for your everyday information needs.
Alternative media is local.
The best sort of alternative media is a mailing list. Mailing lists are easy to maintain and easy to post to. You probably have several community groups who support a mailing list. Alternative media needs no news hooks. The corporate media tries to be relevant by hooking news stories to current events.