Blog
Hannah Chronis, managing editor of Carolina Weekly Newspapers, was kind enough to sit down with me to discuss her South Charlotte newspapers; how she earned the top editorial spot; and her thoughts on the industry in general.
Q: Hi Hannah! Tell us a little about Carolina Weekly Newspaper.
A: Our goal is to serve our readers by providing thorough and effective coverage of hyper-local community and civic news. So at our three weekly publications — South Charlotte Weekly, Union County Weekly and Matthews-Mint Hill Weekly — and our monthly publication Pineville Pilot, we’re getting back to the basics.
Q: How did you get the gig?
A: I actually started as the sports reporter here. Mind you, I didn’t have a ton of experience in sports, but if you’re passionate about newspapers, community journalism and you’re a good writer you can figure it out. I might have had some help from my husband to make sure my sports lingo and analogies were on par. I did that for 1.5 years and then we had a change in management, which led to a change in our organizational structure. They chose me for the managing editor position.
Q: That is awesome! And you’re managing ALL four publications? That seems like a lot.
A: Yes; it’s a lot of work but it’s necessary. Given the nature of the business, and with our audience in mind, we have to be hyper-local to make sure that the news is as relevant as possible. It wouldn’t work doing just one South Charlotte paper. We have been talking about possibly tweaking our territories a bit though.
Q: Tell us about your digital strategy.
A: Daily newspapers are struggling, but weekly community publications are still going strong. People still like to pick it up and cut out pictures of their kids and post them to the refrigerator. We understand we need to expand our digital presence because everyone consumes their news differently. It’s a challenge for a small staff like ours, but we’re heading in the right direction. We just unveiled a new website this month that we think will help tremendously. You’ll find things there that you won’t in print. We’d love to hire a full-time person to focus on all things digital and do more with our social channels and potentially start an email newsletter.
Q: Do you work with quite a few PR folks?
A: You’d be shocked how often I get pitched news that isn’t relevant to our readers. There are a handful of folks that cold call and follow up a bit too aggressively as well. I get 30-40 emails a day that aren’t relevant.
With that being said, I really value the way you and I have been able to work together. The great thing about the way you run your business is, if I reach out to you you’ll be sure to get back to me quickly with what I need, and you have a good feel for what we’re looking for. What you do is so important to us. We wouldn’t be able to put out a quality paper if it wasn’t for PR agencies. I love getting press releases with all the information needed to write a quality business brief with a photo. That makes my job easier.
A huge thank you to Hannah for speaking with me! If you’d like to contact her she can be reached at hannah@cmgweekly.com, and be sure to mention her Pivot PR Q&A.
Blog
For those of you who subscribe to Charlotte Agenda, you know the staff does a series called “Cribs” where they go to local businesses and explore their work space. In addition to some good information about the companies they also include interesting photos that showcase what’s in the refrigerator and any unusual people or things in the office. We liked the idea so much that we decided to check out Charlotte Agenda “Cribs” style. Take that, Ted!
About Charlotte Agenda:
- Why they exist:
Charlotte Agenda exists to make Charlotte the smartest, most human city in the world.
- What they are:
User’s guide to Charlotte.
- What they do:
They publish 5-10 stories a day on a website and send a handcrafted newsletter early each morning around 7 a.m. (sign up). They also do original reporting straight to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat. How large are we as of 4/6/2016?
- Monthly Unique Visitors: 250,000+
- Monthly Pageviews: 1,000,000+
- Daily Newsletter Subscribers: 13,500+ (55%+ open rate)
- Instagram Following: 40,000+
- Organic Facebook Reach: 600,000+
Pivot PR Observations:
They are located off of Cedar Street just behind Panthers Stadium. –discrete except for their portable drinking hole outside the front door.
The first thing you see when you walk into the office is a nice lounge area where team meetings, chats with guests and in-house events are held.
The plan is to display this sign proudly on the wall, but right now it makes for a heck of a coaster.
Apparently they had a polaroid camera in the office and visitors got their picture taken. We at Pivot PR were not as fortunate as these folks. Our recommendation is to bring it back!
Pivot PR VP Trish McGuire grilling Editor-in-Chief Andrew Dunn. You see, PR and media folks can get along.
We visited late afternoon. Must be nice to work at Charlotte Agenda because 3 out of 5 were out (maybe they knew we were coming.)
Apparently they recently had a party which depleted their stock in beer. Not too bad if you ask me!
Blog
I recently sat down with editor-in-chief Scott Jensen to learn more about his media company, Charlotte Stories.
Q: Hi Scott! Tell us a little about Charlotte Stories. 
A: We’re a daily newsletter that focuses on local news. We’ve got 13,000 email subscribers, several social media outlets specific to Charlotte areas (Charlotte, Lake
Norman, Concord, Rock Hill, Huntersville and Gastonia) and we average nearly 25,000 views on our website a day. Our audience is comprised primarily of late 20s and 30s business professionals in Charlotte, but we’re expanding that. We want to be more diverse and reach other groups such as the refugee, music and African-American communities.
Q: Interesting. How did you get into the business?
A: It all started years ago when I was building Facebook pages that were branded for different cities. I had 60+ at one point, then I started Global Flare, similar to BuzzFeed but for local news. It was a lot to juggle and realized I really should start focusing on Charlotte. I started looking at domain names and found Charlotte Stories and I knew that was the perfect name.
Q: What makes Charlotte Stories different from its competitors?
A: There is a lot, but generally speaking some of the others do more features and we cover more hard news. We’re also more inclusive to several types of news, and surrounding areas, where competitors feel more narrower and blog-ish. We also put more of an emphasis on video, and I’d like to do more events.
We really take into account what people want and what is trending. We make a conscious effort to understand our audience and bring them interesting and different news they wouldn’t find elsewhere.
Q: What was the biggest story you broke?
A: Do you remember the post Super Bowl interview with Cam Newton and how a Bronco player was whispering in his ear behind the curtain? That was us — 3.3 million views in under two days! I knew there was a story behind that story and that Charlotte needed to hear it, so I started doing some research online and found a video of what another Panthers player had posted via Twitter.
Q: Do you work with many PR folks on the “earned” side? What about advertising?
A: We love to work with PR folks and encourage them to pitch us fun and different types of stories. We’ve got a handful of advertisers now but we’re looking to add the right partners. Everyone has their own unique needs and, if interested, I’d encourage them to reach out to me directly.
Q: Tell our readers something interesting about yourself.
A: I’m a licensed real estate agent and I earned my undergraduate degree in pastoral ministries.
Q: Where do you see Charlotte Stories in three years?
A: I’d like to take over news in Charlotte! I want to rebrand our city and help it find its identity.
You can contact Scott at scott@charlottestories.com. Introduce yourself and tell him Drew at Pivot PR sent you!
Blog
Editor of Business North Carolina, David Mildenberg, was kind enough to sit down with Trisha and me to discuss the Charlotte-based magazine, the journalist-marketer relationship and how he sees the news industry evolving. Since you’re in Charlotte and may have some interest in landing your organization in Business North Carolina, we thought you’d be interested in our Q&A below…
Q: Hey David! Tell us about Business North Carolina.
A: Nobody else does what we do. Our job is to explore what’s happening in our state, focusing on people and companies from small towns to big cities. That sets us apart from the magazines that cover business from a national or international perspective. And it separates us from local newspapers and business journals. Our job is to produce quality, in-depth journalism; dig into stories behind the news; then deliver what we uncover in a manner that, though at times may be provocative, is always fair, accurate and thorough. Unlike some business magazines, we do not speak for any special-interest group or espouse a specific viewpoint. Our job is to reflect reality and, in doing so, entertain and enlighten our readers. On the business side, we are owned by a holding company based in Southern Pines that operates The Pilot newspaper there and monthly magazines in Greensboro, Wilmington and Southern Pines.
Q: Exactly. I certainly think you do a great job in going deeper and giving your readers the whole story.
A: That’s certainly our model. We try to go deeper than everyone else. We also think it’s very important to put context around and understand the history of something to truly make it interesting. There are a lot of folks who care about, and are passionate about North Carolina.
Q: Your readers primarily consume your stories via print, correct? Talk to us about your print/online strategy.
A: It’s true; thankfully, many do read print still. Some even prefer it over squinting at a phone or screen. Of course you can find our stories on our website and we just started DevelopCLT.com, a weekly newsletter about the Charlotte area’s commercial real estate industry. We want to write blogs and stories that provide a broader view of issues and the people active in CRE. That industry is really misunderstood. It’s such a large and important part of what’s going on in our state. I hope your readers will sign up for the free newsletter.
Q: How do you keep your finger on the pulse of so much news happening in the state?
A: We read as much as possible, but we also travel quite a bit meeting with interesting folks all around the state. The issues in Raleigh and Greenville, where individuals may be more interested in politics and have ties to Virginia, are so much different than what’s going on in cities like Greensboro and Charlotte.
Q: What does your staff look like?
A: We really have an amazing editorial team. We’ve got two great editors in Allison Williams and Cathy Martin and a veteran art and production director, Moira Johnson, who has been part of BNC for many years. We also rely on freelancers around the state, mostly notably Ed Martin, an award-winning journalist who has focused on the issues of our state for years.
Q: Tell us about your interaction with marketing and PR folks.
A: I sure have had a lot in my past! We’re really looking for great ideas. It’s important to understand the mission of our publication and present great hooks. I don’t believe in the antagonistic attitude where some editors won’t even take calls. There’s a place for both of us, and, there are fewer journalists these days which is all the more reason to work with communication folks.
A huge thank you to David for speaking with us! You can find Business North Carolina’s media kit here and you’re welcome to pitch him at dmildenberg@businessnc.com.
Blog
I recently had a chance to sit down with co-host Corey Inscoe of The Good News Is, a weekly podcast with a similar mission to CharlotteFive (C5) where Corey is an editor. C5’s mission is to get you Charlotte-smart with fast, fun, interesting and useful news about the city.
Q: Corey! Thank you for sitting down with me. We’ve been working with you at C5 for awhile now, but tell me more about The Good News Is and how it complements the newsletter.
A: Absolutely. The Good News Is podcast is powered by OrthoCarolina and is technically an Observer product – not just a product of C5 – but it does live on our website and have a similar mission to C5.
Each week, Sarah and I hope listeners come away from the 20-30 minute podcast feeling like they know more about Charlotte than before they listened. It’s a mix of news, upcoming events, food & drink, trends, etc. And we bring in a guest each week to dive deep on one subject. So far our guests have talked about everything from breweries and development to the Panthers and a group of guys who survived a rock fall.
Q: That sounds really cool. There’s nothing quite like it in Charlotte, right? How do you differentiate yourself? What other topics are you covering? Who is your audience?
A: More Charlotte podcasts have started popping up recently but the vast majority focus on a very specific topic: dating, beer, sports, etc. We take a more general approach talking about anything and everything going on in the city, from the Panthers to all of the apartments being built. And we want to be timely. We want to talk about what’s happening in Charlotte that week, whether it’s something like the City Council’s LGBT ordinance vote or the St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl. We want to talk about things that matter to Charlotte.
Our audience is anyone who lives in or around Charlotte and cares about the area. We want to offer a little something for everyone.
Q: Tell me more about your co-host and the type of interviews you do.
A: Sarah Crosland is amazing. She’s the executive editor of the Observer’s magazine division, but she’s also an expert on Charlotte, especially its dining and food & drink scene. She is so well connected in Charlotte, which helps us land great guests, and she has a deep knowledge of the city. She’s also just really smart, funny, interesting and fun to talk to. Same goes for our producer, Richard Brooke, who has done a great job shaping the podcast and helping us get some amazing guests. We have a great team. Recording the podcast is definitely one of the most fun things I do all week.
As for the interviews, we just want to talk to interesting people. CIAA commissioner Jacqie McWilliams (a great get by Richard) was one of my favorite guests because (1) she’s an impressive woman in a male-dominated field and (2) I learned so much about the conference, the tournament and their connection with the city. We usually try to get a timely guest – like Rich and Bennett the week before the St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl – but really we just want interesting people who can teach us something about the city.
Q: How can Charlotteans get involved? Are you open to pitch ideas? We’re sharing your answers with Charlotte marketing and communication professionals so I want to make sure they know how to engage.
A: Absolutely. You can email us at thegoodnewsisclt@gmail.com. We’re on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram: @TheGoodNewsCLT. You can reach us at any of those places if you have ideas for show topics or guests. We’re always looking for new ideas. I’m also on Twitter @CoreyInscoe if you want to reach out to me specifically.
Q: Staying true to C5 form, here’s my fifth and final question. What else would you like us to know about C5 and The Good News?
A: Since we’ve mostly been talking about the podcast, I’ll start with that. I’d love for people to give the podcast a listen and if they like it, share it with a friend. And give us feedback. We have a lot of fun doing it and we’d love to know what you think.
As for C5, same thing; if you like it, share it with a friend. Our goal at C5 is to make you Charlotte-smart: more knowledgeable about the city and people in it. And we want to have fun. We’re always looking for new and interesting stories. Charlotte has so much to offer — it’s growing, it’s being shaped by passionate, smart people, and there’s no shortage of things to do and discover every single day. I truly feel lucky to be in a position to write and talk about the city right now.
You can listen to The Good News Is on SoundCloud or subscribe to it on iTunes orStitcher. You can follow the podcast on Twitter and Instagram (@TheGoodNewsCLT) or on Facebook. You may reach them via email at thegoodnewsisclt@gmail.com
