June 2014

[Submitted by Don Anderson, General Manager, Sarnia Lambton Business Development Corporation]

The launch of a new weekly newspaper is headline-grabbing news in Sarnia.

“Our new publication seems to have created a real buzz in the community,” said Daryl Smith, General Manager of The Sarnia Journal.

And that’s exactly what Smith and his partners set out to do.

Smith is a former publisher of The Observer, the daily newspaper in Sarnia.  George Mathewson was its News Editor and Paul Brown the former Advertising Manager.

“I was planning on doing something entirely different, but then I started getting calls,” said Smith.  “I had countless people tell me that Sarnia needed a new, intensely-local publication.”

It was a call to action that Smith couldn’t ignore, remembering the days when everything that happened locally found its way into the newspaper.

“People want to know about the good things happening in Sarnia,” said Smith.  “People here are very loyal – they want to shop locally and buy locally.  It’s one of those communities where people grow up and want to stay here.”

The business community has rallied around the new publication.  For financing, the partners found a willing partner in the Sarnia-Lambton Business Development Corporation, one of several federally-funded community futures development corporations (CFDCs) in the Western Ontario Community Futures Development Corporation Association.

“They really are our source of cash that helped us get started,” said Smith.  “They were willing to take on the risk, although our experience in the industry helped.”

“We launched March 6 and we took a bit of a leap of faith, publishing a 20-page paper,” Smith said.  “Our fourth edition was a 24-page edition – a larger paper made necessary due to the amount of advertising.”

The feedback has been universally positive.

The Sarnia Journal is a full-colour weekly distributed free to homes in the immediate Sarnia area.  “We have five full-time and seven part-time employees, and each week we bring 30 students into a mail room so they can fold papers and prepare them for delivery,” said Smith.

Hard-won experience in all departments has underpinned The Journal’s early success.  The three-member editorial team is comprised of award-winning journalists who know the community inside out.

 “We have such an experienced staff; we’re not new to the business,” said Smith.  “That means we’re not making the mistakes newcomers to the business make.  People know they can trust us.”

The community understands the enterprise is local through and through; the only task not done on-site is printing.  Being local was a key component of the venture – and a central focus of the business plan.

“I spent a year before we launched laying the groundwork,” said Smith.  “One of the ways that the Business Development Corporation helped was in building the business plan.  They really challenged us and actually improved the business plan.  They are exceptional, experienced, helpful people.”

CFDCs offer a range of programs and services supporting community economic development and small-business growth.  They are community-based, not-for-profit organizations staffed by professionals, and are each governed by local volunteer boards of directors familiar with their community’s needs, concerns and future development priorities.  (For more information, visit wocfdca.com)

For Smith, his partners and the talented staff, The Sarnia Journal is a labour of love.

“I enjoy the competition,” Smith said.  “But the other side is that we each derive satisfaction in seeing the benefits of being part of a community newspaper, of being part of the community.”

For more information, drop into The Sarnia Journal’s 1,500-square-foot location at 575 Murphy Rd. (Unit 4), call 519-491-5532, or visit thesarniajournal.ca

Photo:  The partners who launched The Sarnia Journal with help from the Sarnia-Lambton Business Development Corporation are all smiles as bundles of the first edition are unloaded at their Sarnia offices.  From left are:  Sales Manager Paul Brown, General Manager Daryl Smith and Editor George Mathewson.