Editor Matthew Stadtmiller at the Twin Town Times office today.
His waistline seems to have gotten larger over the last couple of years and he hopes the Twin Town Times will as well in 2017.
We are nearing the end of our 3rd year at The Twin Town Times.
Our newspaper was born out of the idea ‘Surely we can do better.’
I think the proof is in the pudding. We have done better and we will continue to strive to do better.
It’s strange that a newspaper would start up in the current media climate. Old mastheads continue to struggle with change and the transformation of traditional print media mixed with online content.
One thing will never change with us. People want to read stories about their town and the issues which affect them. We have a responsibility to communicate to our readers what is happening in their town or village. We also have to help strengthen our communities by offering cost effective advertising to businesses in print and online and by bringing together volunteer organisations, schools, clubs and groups to promote them, to help ensure their longevity.
We are still printing 800 copies a week and more on special occasions such as Anzac Day and Christmas editions. A great number! With an average of 2.5 readers each paper, our print readership can be estimated at around 1800 readers a week. We break more scoops and we are first online. Our sales continue to be very strong not only in the Twin Towns and the surrounding villages but also in our neighbouring towns. We sell nearly 100 papers across Young, Boorowa and Cootamundra combined. We have over 3000 legitimate Facebook likes. We don’t pay for ‘Likes’ like other media companies do. Why? It’s not the right thing to do. We don’t fudge our numbers to fool the general public.
Our online content continues to attract a large number of hits each day, week and month. We have now attracted well in excess of 250,000 website hits with a huge increase in 2016 from previous years. We now employ 6 people locally, not one.
6 jobs which didn’t exist before 2014.
We continue to pay rent at 10 Neill St Harden and keep the doors open to another shopfront in our town. A town in which we are superbly proud to call home and forever will be. We, like all of the other businesses in the area continue to do their best to provide the services needed to build communities and make them stronger.
We will continue to investigate the stories which matter to you. We won’t change our principles to get more advertising. We write without fear or favour. Many have probably noticed this in regard to Hilltops Council issues. Our advertising income from council has been reduced dramatically since the forced merger. Like other local businesses who will be affected in the future we won’t let it worry us. We will continue to fight for our share and refuse to write unnecessary fluff pieces with only the bottom line in our sights. Sorry, maybe I was brought up too well, but it goes against my principles and those we have instilled in the Twin Town Times ethos.
Everyone loves an underdog and that’s what we are. We are the independent paper which goes up against the might of Fairfax Media every day, week and month of the year. Why are we winning? This is our town’s paper, we want it more. You want it more. We do the best we can each week for you. It is as simple as that.
The Twin Town Times will not only continue to deliver news about our towns and surrounds, we will also be expanding our newspaper more often than not to 20 pages in 2017.
We have often made the decision to make pics and text a little smaller than is normally expected in a newspaper, in an attempt to fit as many stories as we can in to the weekly edition. We will continue to cram as much information in as we can, however, we will also publish larger papers more often in 2017. Some of these stories will focus on regional issues, especially ones which affect our readers .
We ask one more thing of you, our valuable readers and advertisers. We ask it quite often and we want to ask again.
Help us continue to provide a comprehensive newspaper in 2017 and in to the future. Give us a call, send us a tip off, write us an email, take a great picture and tell us about it. If something great has happened in your business we want to know. If you would like to advertise your business use us. Drop in and say hi at 10 Neill St Harden. We all know there is only one paper in the twin towns and that’s us. We thank our readers and our advertisers for their continued support.
With 7 print editions to go we will be doing our best for you and will be rearing to go for our 4th year in 2017. Remember, help the home team out and not the enemy.
Over the Christmas break you can find out what is happening by logging on to our Facebook page or our website at www.twintowntimes.com.au As always ‘In For The Long Haul’
Thanks again the staff at the TTT your local paper.
We are your number 1 newspaper and couldn’t do it without you.
