Who we are
By Curtis Robinson
The Portland Daily Sun
Welcome to the first issue of The Portland Daily Sun, and please realize that first issues of newspapers are much like first dates: You want to say enough about yourself to seem open, honest and at least vaguely interesting. You want to tell enough of your story to warrant future attention, but not so much that the other person realizes what a self-absorbed ego-zombie you can be sometimes.
Alas, success can be elusive.
And writing this on a murky Sunday before the Super Bowl kickoff, there’s already that “too much coffee, rambling on a bit” feeling. But we do have some explaining to do, being a new daily paper and all. Thus, it seems that a “frequently asked questions” format might work here because (A) it works and (B) I already did a draft for last week’s prototype, and did I mention kickoff looms?
OK, no doubt I’ll forget something, but feel free to give me a call at (207) 699-5802 and I’ll ramble on a bit more.
The FAQs:
• If you’re free, how do you guys make money? Well, most revenue for all newspapers comes from advertising sales that subsidize the per-paper cost. We just work on the model, like broadcast TV and nearly all Internet sites, that people want free news and that advertisers want to reach that readership. Media gurus sometimes assert that free dailies are the “transition” from traditional print media to online-only news — which sounds okay, except that free dailies did well before the Internet.
• When do you publish? The Portland Daily Sun will be distributed in the mornings, Tuesday thru Saturday
• Uh, but it says “daily?” Good point; you ever consider a career in copy editing? In newspapering, you’re “daily” at four issues per week, and “weekly” below that frequency. It’s a national trend to drop Monday editions — they are the weakest advertising day of the week — and Sunday papers are a whole different animal. We’ll be offering an expanded entertainment calendar and other Sunday-style features in our Weekend Edition on Saturday.
• What sections, like “business,” will you have? Well, the business section will be published on Wednesdays, and other sections will be developed over the coming weeks. The Daily Sun is, and always will be, a work in progress. Expect local columnists and special sections to appear in the next week or so.
• Where can I get the paper? We’ll be distributed at bright red racks easily visible underneath whatever snowfall or ice storms befall us. We’ll also be available at many shops, coffeehouses and other places where you’re probably long accustomed to picking up free publications. If you have a location to suggest, call (207) 699-5801.
• What kind of paper will you be? Depending on tone of voice, this means “will you finally offer an alternative to the liberal elite around here” or “will you be just like those conservatives who publish the Whatever?” Trust me, we just want to write and photograph interesting stories that matter. Our story lists focus on Portland, with the realization that our population is about 63,000 but that another 200,000 or so people work and shop here daily. We’ll cover the usual newsmakers — city council, school committee, county government, the variety of non-governmental agencies in the community. We’ll also carry Associated Press stories, comics, puzzles and an array of local columnists — and all in an easy-to-read tabloid format.
• You guys looking for writers and photographers? We are, but the full-time reporting positions are filled. We are looking for freelancers for both word and image, but if you inquire we’re just going to ask for work samples so why not just email your stuff to curtis@portlanddailysun.me? • Will you be offering introductory ad rates? Oh, yes. But not for long at these prices, as they say: How does $1 per column inch grab you — that’s $80 for a full-page ad. It’s only introductory, for the first month, so you early movers will have a good boost in the middle of winter. Nothing wrong with that.
• So, are there other free dailies being published? Actually, they have been around for decades and now, with the demise of larger regional papers, are becoming a trend in newspapers. Free dailies have recently launched in Vail, Colo., and in the San Francisco area and across the country. We’ll leave it to Wikipedia and others to elaborate on the history, but the owners of your Portland Daily Sun have been in the free daily business since 1989.
• So (and this question is not just from a certain editor’s mother) have you guys lost your mind, what with the recession and all? We hope not -- historically, free dailies do well in economic downturns because they offer great advertising value (re: cheap) at a time when locally serving business are looking for deals.
• Who are your usual advertisers? We sometimes find the term “mom and pop” shop a bit demeaning, but owner-in-the-store kinds of business tend to flock to free daily papers. Free dailies tend to reach a much wider swatch of the community than either alternative weeklies or traditional paid-readership dailies.
• What makes you different from the other papers? Okay, you may have noticed that Portland is not exactly devoid of printed news products — most are either weekly or monthly -- and most state and national newspapers are available hereabouts. Free daily newspapers combine the attributes of those publications — the youthful readership of the alternative weeklies, the community focus of the neighborhood papers, and the ancient wisdom and fine common sense of the remaining traditional daily newspaper readers, God love every single republic-saving one of them. The combination becomes a powerful way to communicate with the entire Portland community, including residents, those commuting into town for work and our many visitors.
• What’s your, well, “slant?” This query takes a variety of forms, but usually addresses politics and who will have access to our pages. We intend to be wide open to the array of voices that make Portland, well, Portland. But our news coverage will, we hope, be as unbiased as we can be without wringing the last vestige of humanity from our writing. I suspect many of you know what that means, and we’re confident you will help correct us if we stray from straightforward communication.
• So, who are you guys? Fair question. Actually, we are a crew of fairly experienced journalists and marketing professionals, even if we do smile at ourselves when we say that out loud. Our current everyday core staff
Curtis Robinson: editor and one of the owners, has more than 25 years of journalism experience (I started really, really young), ranging from working with gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson to editing daily papers in California and Colorado. He is a resident of Portland, as the attentive reader has no doubt noted, the bylined author of this story who is now writing about himself in third person, which is a bit awkward but oddly intoxicating. He has family ties to Portland, including at least one cousin-in-law who has held elected office.
Michelle Morel, our sales manager, is a Vice President, new business strategist, Lapchick Creative and a former sales manager of WBLM radio. She is a Portland resident.
Richard Bellafiore, sales representative, worked for 14 years at the Portland Press Herald and is a lifelong sales professional. He is a Portland resident.
Lauren Kulberg is a sales representative with a strong marketing background. She is a Portland resident.
David Carkhuff: reporter and keeper of the soon-to-be famous Sun calendar, has more than 15 years experience at both free daily papers and in the traditional daily news arena. He is a Portland resident.
Casey Conley has more than a half-decade of experience covering local police and governments at papers in New Hampshire and Tennessee. He is a Portland resident.
Mark Guerringue and Adam Hirshan are co-owners and business gurus for our paper. They are publishers of three free dailies in New Hampshire, in Conway, Berlin and Laconia. Despite their youthful ways, they bring 40 years of free daily publishing experience to our efforts.
• How do I get news into your paper? See the related story on this page.
So, there you have it, pretty much. Welcome to a certain kind of adventure, and trust that we will make our share of mistakes; but they will be mistakes of the head, not the heart, and we will move swiftly and fairly to address our shortcomings.
Clearly, this won’t be the last time we publish long screeds explaining ourselves.
So sit back, save your quarters for the parking meters and hopefully this has not been too painful a first meeting. And, like that first date, we hope to see you again soon — if it’s not too forward, how about breakfast tomorrow?
Curtis Robinson is editor of the Portland Daily Sun. Early in his career, he was paid by the word and still bears the scars. His usual column will appear on Tuesdays.
