When the Cobden Sun closed, it left me feeling empty. I don’t get out much and reading the Sun kept me in the local loop.
Producing a “paper” paper is prohibitively expensive and there just wasn’t enough advertising dollars to keep the Sun rising every week. I was already a digital subscriber to the National Post, Ottawa Citizen and NY Times and it dawned on me, why not a digital local newspaper.
We live in Whitewater Region. Renfrew County brands itself as the Whitewater Capital of Canada. Why not Whitewater News?
Ideas are cheap but implementing them isn’t. I tracked down Connie Tabbert to be the editor and lured her with long hours with little pay and Whitewater News was born with the first issue published and going online on June 12, 3013.
It now has more than 3,500 online subscribers, sells about 170 copies a week and it fills the local news void.
And, it is following the tradition of the former Cobden Sun, it is still not profitable and probably always will be.
But thanks to Connie’s continued devotion, it will continue to be a great local “paper”. She deserves everyone’s thanks.
Happy Anniversary Whitewater News!
