Chattanoogan.com was launched 20 years ago Sunday, in the infancy of Internet news, as a full-service online newspaper for Chattanooga.
Publisher John Wilson said, "Thanks to our faithful advertisers and readers, we have been able to stay in business and provide a strong news source and community forum for Chattanooga.
"As we said at the beginning, the Internet offers some huge benefits to news publishers, including the ability to quickly post stories without having to wait for the evening news or next day's press run. It also offers unlimited space for stories without any sort of word count.
"We also determined not to use annoying ads, sponsored articles or to charge the reader for content.
"Another commitment was, on the news side, to write stories 'down the middle' and without bias so the reader would not be able to tell if we favored one side or the other."
Mr. Wilson said steps are continually being made to try to improve the online site, including the recent addition of a separate Prep Sports section and upgrading of the Obituary pages that now feature thumbnail photos on the section page for Local Obituaries and Area Obituaries.
Question and answer with John Wilson:
Q: What led to the founding of Chattanoogan.com?
A: I had worked for the Chattanooga News-Free Press for over 27 years and fully expected that to be my full career. However, in 1999 the News-Free Press was merged with the Chattanooga Times, our longtime competitor. There was suddenly "nobody to scoop" and it was kind of boring.
Also, the new out-of-town management at the combined paper was not interested in keeping around the higher-salaried, longtime employees. We found out in various ways that our days were numbered. And there was not the old "family" feeling and approach at the merged entity as in the good-old days with Mr. Roy and his family.
Q: So what did you do next?
A: After I was told that I was not a very good writer and no longer would be on my beloved county courthouse beat, I knew the die was cast. For me, it was the newspaper business all the way, but it was also Chattanooga all the way.
Fortunately, this was right at the time that the Internet possibilities first began to open up. We were one of the last families to get a computer, and I had to have help at work getting onto email. But here was an opportunity to compete and be able to go to the courthouse again as a reporter. It had been awful the few months that I passed by the courthouse and my friends there and knew it was no longer my "beat."
Q: What did you do next?
A: I started to look for someone with a computer background to help me. I got in contact with Chris Cairns, a family friend who was computer savvy, and we started developing the idea of an Internet newspaper.
Q: What did you have to go by?
A: There was almost nothing out there of the online-only newspaper variety, so I had to start inventing our local model. I felt it would be a good idea for it to have something of the look of a print newspaper people were familiar with. So the design included a main story at the top left with a prominent headline and some text underneath. There was a secondary lead story under that as well as a main color picture in the middle. We included a weather link on the top right. There were also links for many different sections. We also provided links for TV, movies, etc.
Q: What were some of your aims?
A: We wanted to get the news out quickly. The daily print paper started their own website just after us, but they were only updating it once a day. We wanted to post a big story as soon as it happened. We felt people did not want to wait until the newspaper hit the porch the next morning. They would want to read it right now - especially the juiciest stories and the ones that affected them most, such as a tax increase or approaching storm.
We also wanted to focus on Local, Local, Local. We have followed in the trend of Mr. Roy, who welcomed as many stories and pictures possible of local people. We have also stressed local sports coverage. We also added UT sports reports by Vol veteran Dan Fleser to the regular Sports section.
We also post obituaries as quickly as they come in - not waiting until the next day so the family and friends can be notified immediately. We have added a $30 charge for local obituaries to cover obituary staff costs, but that is far less than is charged by print newspapers. There is no per-word limit. They can be as long as the family wants, and we encourage long ones filled with personal information and tributes. Our obituaries are always there for the reader to see. It is not a situation where you click on the obit and it quickly disappears because you have not paid for an online subscription.
Q: What did people think of the idea of an online newspaper?
A: A number of people have said they didn't tell me at the time, but they really felt it would never make it. They felt Chattanoogan.com was doomed to a quick demise.
Q: But how did it work out?
A: We never advertised ourselves other than word of mouth, but it started to catch on. More and more people found out we were there. People would tell their co-worker, family member or friend, "I saw it on Chattanoogan.com." Then they would start checking us every day or many times a day.
At first it was quite common to run into people locally who had never heard of us. Now that is much more infrequent, thankfully.
Q: How did you design your system of ads?
A: Ed Sunder and the guys at 3HD came up with several types of banner ads as well as a very effective rotating system of the ads. We now have large 728x90 pixel and 468x60 pixel spots, a long row of 180x60 pixel ads that get an incredible amount of views and hits, rich media (Power-Point type) ads within the stories, as well as skyscraper banner ads on the right side.
Q: How have you gone about selling the ads?
A: From time to time, we have solicited advertisers, but by and large they have come to us. We have not had an ad salesperson for a long time. Those who want to advertise with us either call or send us an email. Our philosophy is to make the newspaper so interesting and so often updated that Chattanoogans check it and recheck. Advertisers want to be where there are so many Chattanoogans focusing their attention.
Q: Does an advertiser sign a contract?
A: No, we want to make it as simple as possible for both us and them. You can choose to advertise by the month or get a discount by signing up for a year. You can cancel the ad at any time by just emailing to let us know.
Q: Do the banner ads link to the website of an advertiser?
A: Yes, they all click to their website. Also, we can make up a page of information and pictures if the advertiser does not have a website.
Q: Where are your offices?
A: For the first few years, we were at the Business Development Center in North Chattanooga. But we found we were using the office less and less often. Almost all our contact with our readers and advertisers is via Internet so our computer is our office.
Q: Do you have deadlines at Chattanoogan.com?
A: In our original press release, we said there would be. But when we got going, we quickly found that we were adding new stories throughout all our sections constantly. The "deadlines" quickly went away.
Q: What are your thoughts on the past and future of newspapers?
A: I have always loved newspapers. When I was a little boy in Laurens, S.C., I went door to door selling the Maplebrook Gazette to neighbors for a nickle. Then I sold the Grit and delivered papers in the morning for the Greenville News and in the afternoon for the Greenville Piedmont.
I expected to get a reporting job with a little weekly out in the country. But Lee Anderson was kind enough to give me a chance at the Chattanooga News-Free Press after I graduated from Covenant College in 1971 and returned to Lookout Mountain to be in a wedding.
It was great when Chattanooga had two print newspapers. I loved seeing what the competition had (except when I had been scooped) and it was always a thrill to see our own paper roll off the big press in the afternoon and be able to snatch up one of the first copies "hot off the press."
But technology has brought sweeping changes. It now appears that the Internet newspaper is the wave of the future.
John Wilson