The Beat goes on

Welcome to the first installment of Biz Beat for the Main Street Journal. If you ever read my previous business column for another news outlet, you may remember I ended every column with “until next week, same biz day, same biz page.” For those who don’t know, that is a reference to the Adam West “Batman” series from the '60s. Due to a stunning twist which might baffle even the Riddler, this week I find myself in a very different biz day and biz page. 

For the inaugural issue of Biz Beat, I’m going to go a little more personal and focus on a business that is generating a lot of excitement around town. I'm quite thankful for that, because it’s the business that currently employs me and several of my friends, the Main Street Journal, a part of Main Street Media. 

I’ve said it in my personal column, but I’ll say it again here, I give thanks to God for the way everything seemed to fall into place perfectly for me in what was a very difficult time. (Did I mention it all happened on my birthday? I probably have a time or two). 

So many people have reached out to me and my co-workers who suffered the same fate personally and on social media. Thankfully, my friends Caden Hurley and Rob Nunley have made this leap with me, joining Jeffery Simmons who had preceded us in making the move. I told Rob recently, “I really didn’t know this many people liked us.” It’s turned a heartbreaking situation into something surprisingly positive. 

And I want to express my great appreciation to Main Street Media owners Chad Graves, Scot MacDonald and Mark Mabry. They’ve made a sizable investment and are taking a risk on us journalism refugees in an attempt to preserve local, thorough, unbiased and accurate news coverage for the community we love. 

It is no small undertaking and, in this world where traditional media is changing greatly, is far from a sure thing. The Main Street Media trio is to be commended for their ambition and dedication, and I think I speak for my colleagues when I thank them for giving us a safe place to land when we were thrown out of the nest without a net.

To make this effort a success and ensure it lasts, we are going to need your help - a lot of it. Launching a quality online news organization is not cheap. And, if we are to add a print product, that will add even more expense. To make sure this venture lasts, we need you, the community, and local advertisers to help us.  For all the people who bemoaned the events which happened on College Street on March 10, a birthday I will certainly never forget, many have asked - why did this happen? What can we do? 

As Jeff has pointed out on his WBMC  97.7 show Simmons Says, the answer is simple. Don’t take local journalism for granted.  Please subscribe to the product, advertise your business and maybe think twice before going on social media to run down news sources as a kind of sport. I promise, even when we might mess up (and we will), we’re doing all of this with a true love for the community we live in and a passion for keeping our fellow citizens informed.

The role of a free press to hold leadership to account is a vital part of what makes America great, and its importance cannot be overstated. The fact that so many communities are losing that presence is a truly disturbing development. 

I hope you’ll join me in again thanking Chad, Scot and Mark and supporting their efforts in getting the Main Street Journal off the ground and helping us see how high and far it can fly.

If you read this column, you’ve obviously found our page www.mainstreetjournal.llc and I thank you for being here. Please share our site on social media and let your friends know about what we’re building here. 

After nearly 28 years in one place, this is all a little scary but exciting. Come back next week as I move back outside of my own office and return the focus to other business news around the county, hopefully with a sponsor for the column. See you then.