
Logo for the Kamloops Chronicle/via Kamloops Chronicle Facebook
A new community newspaper in Kamloops is out with its first edition on Friday.
Launching October 25th, the one-year anniversary of Kamloops This Week’s final edition being rolled out, the Kamloops Chronicle is being touted by its founder as a possible successor to KTW.
Officially being published by the non-profit Kamloops Local News Society, the Chronicle is the brain child of former Kamloops City Councillor Arjun Singh.
Singh says he came up with the idea of reviving a local newspaper after the former staff of Kamloops This Week were unable to finalize an agreement to revive the paper earlier this year.
Saying the initial start-up costs have not been as onerous as he would have expected, Singh says the Society is financing part of the launch through $10 monthly donations from supporters.
“We will have advertising,” said Singh. “What we really want to do is put it in front of the community, [give people] the opportunity to support the paper, become more engaged with what the paper is doing. Hopefully that will really make a sustainable model.”
Singh says their goal is to provide community content through a variety of contributors, while also getting elements into the publication which newspaper readers would be accustomed to seeing.
“We’ve got a pretty good roster of folks. We’ve got some columns we’re putting in there,” said Singh. “Hopefully obituaries back in the paper. Event listings back in the paper.”
Launching as a monthly publication, Singh says their goal is to eventually distribute it on a weekly basis, which he says will include content produced exclusively for Kamloops Chronicle readers.
“We really want to have a core of professional journalists supporting us as freelancers, and then as we get back into more regular operations, hopefully then have them come on as paid staff,” suggested Singh.
Around 20,000 copies of the first-ever Kamloops Chronicle are going to be available at dozens of locations around the city — free for readers — starting Friday and through the weekend.
While the Kamloops Chronicle is being marketed as a physical newspaper, Singh says they will also have an online component of the operation as well, with kamloopschronicle.com active, but being used in advance of the paper’s physical launch as a portal for gathering $10 monthly donations.