Superior Chronicle Begins 4th Year of Operations

The Superior Chronicle officially launched on December 1st, 2007. The graphic above was our first title banner. 

IRONWOOD, MI - Thursday, December 2, 2010 - On November 30, 2007, we purchased our domain name; leased server space; and created the original layout for the Superior Chronicle. One day later, we officially launched Ironwood's first online newspaper.

"I had been kicking around the idea of a local Internet news service for some time," Chronicle publisher Jim Albert said today, "To be honest with you, I didn't like the way our local newspaper was reporting the news. I'd read their coverage of meetings I attended and I couldn't figure out where they were getting their information. I wanted to create a publication that people could read and trust what they were reading to be honest, respectful, unbiased, and truthful."

From the very start, the Chronicle was very well received by the public. During our first month of operation, the Chronicle gathered over 71,000 hits.

"It's amazing how many people read the site. I can't go anywhere without someone commenting on a story or a letter that has been posted on the site." Albert said.

"It was a funny thing," Albert said, "We were in a very odd situation. In order to sell ads, we needed to develop readership. I remember our salesman saying he felt awkward selling ads to a site nobody's heard of. He told me we needed more content to attract more readers. So the real problem was, how do you let people know you have a new website and how to do get them to visit it? We couldn't exactly advertise in the Globe!"

After our first year of operations, the Chronicle gathered over 2.1 million hits.

"I don't really know what the secret was. And I'm not exactly sure there even was one. We tried our hardest, with our very limited staff, to accurately report whatever we were reporting. I've said this again and again, I'm no writer. But whatever we were doing in the early going was working. I think people like the ever changing content. We never set deadlines and we never 'go to press.' The fact that new news can be posted at any time created a situation where people were checking our site several times a day."

As of this morning, the Chronicle has received a total of 29,866,657 hits.

"I guess we're averaging over 27,000 hits per day or something like that. If you would have told me we would be doing numbers like that three years ago, I'd tell you were crazy. I get emails and letters every day from all over the globe. Former residents and military personnel stationed overseas are regular readers. We went from 2 million hits our first year to 10 million our second and 17 million our third. You can't ask for better growth than that. I am forever amazed at how many locals have not only heard about the Chronicle, but are also regular readers."

Albert told the Chronicle that 'big plans' are in the works. He said he is in the process of finalizing plans to launch The SCORE (Superior Chronicle Online Radio Experience) on the site. "The addition of online news, weather, sports, music and entertainment (including talk radio) will be a great addition to the site." Albert said. "Of course, before that can become a reality we need to do a lot of hiring. We'll need DJ's, news personnel, and radio hosts."

Another plan is to increase the Chronicle's coverage area. "We need to expand our coverage. We aren't doing the job I would like to do. Once again, we will need to increase our payroll. We need more writers, photographers, videographers, and sales people. I would like to start covering Hurley, Bessemer, Wakefield, Mercer, Marenisco, etc. We just don't have the people at this time. Our readership is growing much faster than our staff is. Perhaps that's a good thing in some ways, but I would really like to serve the community better. As always, I encourage people to send us stories and photos. If everybody did a little bit more 'self-promotion' we'd be able to get their word out much easier."

"If you like to write and take pictures or if you have sales experience, let us know. We're hiring." Albert said.

For more information contact us at news@superiorchronicle.com.