Bizman to start 2 neighborhood newspapers
Beginning at the end of the month, residents of Germantown and Mount Airy coping with the recent loss of two longtime community papers will once again get their weekly dose of local news.
Beginning at the end of the month, residents of Germantown and Mount Airy coping with the recent loss of two longtime community papers will once again get their weekly dose of local news.
On April 30, the first print editions of the Germantown Chronicle and the Mount Airy Independent - a double venture started by a Mount Airy businessman - will hit their doorsteps throughout some Germantown and Mount Airy neighborhoods.
Jim Foster, publisher of the two papers, said that the closures of the Germantown Courier and Mount Airy Times Express - formerly owned by the Journal Register Co., based in Yardley, Bucks County - were setbacks to the community.
"People in the Northwest lost a critical lifestyle in that community," he said.
Motivated by the February closing, Foster, 66 - who runs the West Johnson Classics and Railroads Collectibles, on Johnson Street in Germantown, and is a longtime Mount Airy resident - rounded up enough financial support to launch the privately run entities. He did not provide specific dollar figures.
Foster said that he is unperturbed by a struggling economy and the dark cloud looming over some newsrooms several times the size of his outfit. "These papers can pay their own way," he said.
They've had an online presence since March 30, he said, although no ads are sold on their Web site (germantownpapers.com).
But he's confident that local businesses will keep the papers afloat. When the Journal-Register papers folded, "the loudest voices in the community came from the advertisers," he said.
Foster said that there will be similarities to the now-defunct papers - most of his staff were employed at the Courier and Times Express, including editor Karl Biemuller - but aims to provide more professional and more interactive editorial content.
"We're going to do a better job communicating news, attending events," he said. "The people can learn through our papers about zoning and legislation before it happens. They can still participate in the process."
Both papers, located at 5275 Germantown Ave., will share a newsroom staff of a handful of people.
The weekly publications will be distributed for free to 32,000 people throughout Germantown and Mount Airy and to 1,800 households in West Oak Lane, an area that also lost its paper. *
