Sunday, May 19, 2024
Houston
FROM MY FRONT PORCH
Sam Houston is the publisher of the Hood County News. He is also an actor, author, playwright, performer and entertainment producer/promoter.
It is my sincere hope that everyone enjoys the larger, more inclusive Hood County News. Our staff is tremendously excited to move to a once-a-week publication because it will allow us to provide more and better coverage for our readers. Additional pages will allow us to keep you abreast of what is going on in the community we all love. Please remember to go online to the hcnews.com website for breaking news, daily.
We all know there is always something going on in Granbury! The HCN has added a variety of information to the expanded paper, including a community business page to report news such as building permit numbers, new developments, businesses coming to town, sales tax allocations, and ribbon cuttings. We will be having reports from the Granbury Chamber of Commerce about the Women in Business group and the Young Professionals, as well as recognizing the anniversaries of long-time local businesses.
We are adding more coverage of our schools, a column on “gaming” and more features on your neighbors, friends and folks who are a part of our community. We will even have a “Folks Around Town” segment that will introduce you to one of your fellow citizens.
Once a week allows us to produce larger, more in-depth stories like the Growing Pains series, which is making its first appearance in today’s paper. We will have even more photos and in-depth stories as we roll along.
If there is something you would like to see covered, feel free to send me an email and share your thoughts. I always enjoy hearing from readers. We are YOUR community newspaper, and We COVER YOU!
HCN staff award, recognition
The past weekend I attended the Texas Press Association Convention. The information I was able to absorb in those three days will serve me well throughout the year. Learning and listening to other professionals is very much a positive and helps our paper move forward to achieving our goal of being the best community newspaper in the state.
An exciting portion of the convention is when the statewide awards are presented in the various newspaper categories. It is my great pleasure to announce the Hood County News staff was singled out to receive the following awards:
Mary Vinson 1st place Feature Photography
Hilary McAllister 1st Place Layout
Kathy Cruz, Ashley Inge 1st Place Feature Writing
Ashley Inge 1st Place Headline Writing
Congratulations to this dedicated group of newspaper professionals! Their work is exemplary, and their recognition is well deserved. I am proud to be associated with each one of them.
I have been preaching for several years that the newspaper industry is not dying, it simply needs to restructure and refocus to provide the community information people want in an impartial and objective way. The newspapers that do so have success and thrive. The HCN has seen ever-increasing numbers in subscriptions as well as advertising sales. People want and need a good community newspaper to inform them and promote their businesses and services. We will never stop filling that role.
Recently the TPA had an independent survey conducted of 1,000 random people across Texas. It turns out that 85% of Texas adults read a newspaper at least once a month, and 9 out of 10 said newspaper advertising is important. Important because 60% of those readers use newspaper ads to guide them on which brands and services to purchase. Newspapers are the leading source, with TV at 58%, radio at 33% and social media at 32%. If you think newspapers have lost their effectiveness as an advertising media, you are mistaken.
Enjoy your Hood County News. We are here for you and will be for a long time to come. We will keep evolving, keep getting better and keep leading the way. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your lives.
Thought for the day: Rudeness is a weak man’s imitation of strength.
Until next time … I will keep ridin’ the storm out!
sam@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 260
