Commence Volume 26 of Historic City News in St Augustine

Michael Gold, Founding Editor
Historic City News | St Augustine, FL

As we begin our 26th year of publication, I want to look back in satisfaction and look forward with renewed hope; as we rebuild our brand and commit to our nonprofit platform for the benefit of both advertisers and citizens of my hometown.

Frankly, we have done a lot of good for the community and its leaders over the past quarter century.  And, honestly, we made some regrettable mistakes along the way.  We were first-to-market with a workable model that provided daily delivery of local news — exclusively through a digital format.  It’s hard to imagine today just how foreign my idea was to local businessmen at the change of a millennium.  St Augustine after all was still a “sleepy little town”.

Our major competitor in the local advertising market was The St Augustine Record.  They had just made a significant investment in two Heidelberg printing presses that occupied space the size of a small commercial warehouse in their new multi-use plant on State Road 312.  They made an impressive statement to anyone who toured the new facility, including me.  I got laughter in response to my idea from the department editors who had spent their entire careers printing their content in an “ink-on-paper” environment.  Ink they purchased by the barrel and paper they purchased by the railroad boxcar.

Of course, today we know the level of consumer demand for instant communication in a digital format.  My idea may have been flawed by the tired and overworked standards of the old-timer’s at The Record, but I got the last laugh.  My significantly lower cost of entry into digital publishing gave me the advantage as Morris Communications eventually succumbed to bankruptcy. The utter weight of mounting production cost, plant and facility financing, and the momentous payroll expense required to operate the highly technical Heidelberg printing presses, finally brought the hundred-year-old newspaper to a screeching halt.

The printing presses were sold during The Record’s bankruptcy. The “new” Record buildings ended up being sold to the University of St Augustine for Health Sciences, who today occupies all the space.  Historic City News survived the COVID pandemic as well as a year-long concerted effort to shut us down during the racial uprising led by Gainesville minister Ron Rawls, Black Lives Matter, and the New Black Panther Party.  If I had only known then what I know now, things might have turned out differently.  Live and learn … and I have done a lot of that.

So, what does the future hold for Historic City News?  Are we going the way of printed newspapers and the dodo?  I don’t think that’s very likely.  We pay all our publication costs monthly.  We have paid all our bills.  We have accumulated no debt.

As we experiment with our new website’s look and feel, we have hired subject matter experts who have specific skills.  This method has proven very reliable.  Using an agency who screens these freelancers for us gives us the ability to avoid renting office space and limit our payroll expense.  Volunteer contributors and paid writers work from the computer at their home.  Sales calls are handled by e-mail, voice mail, and online.

Let us know what you think about how we are doing our job. And, be sure to share any fresh ideas for things you see that can be improved.  Use our contact form anytime.  Have a very Happy New Years!