No New News from the Old Town

I haven't seen my hometown for almost 30 years. No doubt if I visited I'd be disappointed. The places I cherish in my memories would be gone... or worse, they'd still be there but not at all as I remembered. 

For example, in 1958 our church added a new wing. It was an ambitious project, with 8 classrooms, a chapel, a casual meeting room, and 4 offices. We called it 'the new building.' I hear the 'new building' has been replaced because it's 'old.'

Changes aside, it's nice to keep track of the old stomping grounds. For several years I've read the hometown paper online. Sometimes I'll see a familiar name, street, or business mentioned. It's a good way to stay connected to one's roots.

It's a miracle the newspaper still exists. The town is on the state border, across the river from a mega-city with a much bigger and better-funded newspaper. Even back in the day, the small paper struggled for readership against its stronger rival.

Back in the day, the Saturday issue was especially puny. Everybody put their efforts into the Sunday paper, so the Saturday paper, rolled up for 'front-porch' delivery, was a small roll indeed. Dad and I nicknamed it the 'The Saturday Evening Stick.'

The online edition today is also fairly lean. People don't read and write as much as they used to (I'll be blogging about that soon.) Still, it's local news that can't be found anywhere else.

Recently I had an unpleasant shock. The hometown newspaper 'went subscription' on me. I can no longer browse through the paper unless I pay. Quite a few of the big newspapers have tried this method. It isn't working very well for most of them because:

1. People expect online information to be free. They already pay for their Internet, why should they also pay for every site they happen to visit?
2. There's a lot of 'hackery' going on out there. People realize that every time they enter an account number to make an online purchase, it's a new risk. Shoestring businesses can't afford the kind of security that Amazon can.
3. Subscribing to anything is an invitation to be spammed. Businesses who collect subscriptions make additional money selling their subscription list. I agree with the actor in the Monty Python sketch. "I don't like spam!" 

I wouldn't mind paying a subscription fee. I'm no cheapskate. I understand the financial difficulties the newspaper must have. Classically, papers made money through advertising, but why would hometown merchants pay to advertise to me? I'm half a continent away.

There just has to be a better way. I need to investigate options while there's still a paper to subscribe to, because no news is not good news.