Okay.. Need a sounding board.

Hi, Pete;

Why the heck do you want to chain yourself to a news schedule!?

[My short bio...
award winning journalist with background in big city dailies, monthlies and
major market radio. Left that career in favor of pursuit of fun.
Long-time small town resident.
and so forth...]

My take, off the cuff, based on accumulated years of experience,
observation and opinion:

Do this, or something similar, only if you really love people,
communication, and routine.

The 2 weeklies and (presumably) major daily papers are interested in
only one thing: Revenue from subscriptions and advertising.
And so are you
Except you also like to see people feel good and smile

Forget subscription revenue.
Only the Wall Street Journal makes any money from subscribers.
Most weeklies are freebies.

Forget the online, citizen blogging, real-time updates, etc.
Dollars to donuts sez the demographics ain't there in East TN County X.
Plus, people are passive (lazy) and other media is more convenient.

However, based on (my) Scientific Market Research, conducted in hundreds of
diners, pot-lucks, church socials, taverns, 4-H, etc -

What people want is to see their NAMES in PRINT.
Weddings, awards, births, deaths, reunions, car wrecks, fires,
divorces, new businesses, obits, newcomers, city council minutes,
crime reports, the dirt on the mayors, neighbors, police, et cetera.

Guarantee advertisers a twice-monthly distribuiton of [somenumber] of
local interest broadsides...

Publish an honest-to-goodness smudgey (cheap) large format (big type)
newssheet with b&w pix and local 'gossip' about who married,divorced,birthed,shot whom.
And the pleasanter stuff like church raffles, car shows, heart walks and so forth.
Put EVERY NAME in BOLD print!

Give it a goofy name...get suggestions from barbers and hair dressers.
The East Tennessee Nearly News.
The X County Bragger.
Something memomrable, even if dreadful.
Awful trumps Art everytime.

You can get this printed free, high school students will intern for free,
laying it out on your PC won't take any more time than going online...
instant publish to the web if you want (you may snag some Adsense revenue).

Give it away at every coffee shop, corner market, diner, pub, barber, vet,
etc.
Publish eight times in a row, then take a month off.
Folks will be calling you at all hours wanting to know when the next Regional Rag
will be hitting the stands.

And the secret to a comfortable income with this...?
Fair charge for business ads, and Your Own Affiliate/PLR products
get to ride along for free! (Hot sellers: Health, Credit, Weight Loss, Smoking Cessation)

Have fun!

Best of Success,
Stephan

Thanks so much for all of your input!

Got some great ideas. Now, I'll sit back and look things over to see if any of it sinks in.

Pete

PS: I'm gonna retire, 'cause I want time to follow other areas of interest. Like working on my house, fishing, going to the flea market, etc. Don't worry, it's only until the new Lowe's gets built and I don't have to drive 110 miles a day to work, spend $100 a week on gas, and come home worn out from schlepping major appliances around all day long!

Money! Online pubs need a lot of offline advertising. My daughter has worked in radio and tv and I see how much it takes them to advertise offline. AND they are the big time markets......

If I were you I would concentrate on some sort of niche markets......

Bands that are playing in your market, festivals, flea market promotions, yard sales, special events or FSBO cars, FSBO houses, FSBO house hold items etc.... Or anything else that is missing/undercovered in your local paper.

then build off of that.

One local website that is doing really well is:

http://www.4sale4u.net/

later......
Pappy

Michael,

I think you have a different definition of "retirement" than Pete does.

I think I have a different definition than both of you but I'd love to hear how both of you, or anyone else here, defines it.

It's an interesting word or concept that means a lot of different things to different people.

Jim

Jim,

A couple Quick thoughts on "Rehirement" and "free-tirement"

Some People don't Slow down Soon enough and Unfortunately even for young people like yourself their Health gets Zapped! and they now must Live in a very Different way of Life and Lifestyle...

And the Answer to some of the Problems (copied from the following articles) which Holds the Solution for Many in Today and Tomorrows World.

"Rehirement" and "free-tirement" are two of many new buzzwords coined to describe this third stage of life. Retirement will be a cyclical blend of work (at what you want and on your own terms), education, and leisure, rather than a steady diet of Saturdays and a spot on the sidelines. This is as much a financial necessity as a psychological one. Very few people can afford to live well on a fixed income for 15 or 20 years. And a few extra years of earned income, even from a part-time job, can let your retirement savings compound over a longer period of time. "Drawing down even a little less upfront can have a huge impact on how long your money will last," says Harold Evensky of money managers Evensky, Brown & Katz in Coral Gables, Fla. Work for 10 extra years, for instance, and you will need one-third less to retire on. You'll not only be adding to your retirement account--you'll also be reducing how long the account will have to last once you retire.

Today's retirement journey. Sixty-five became the magic number for retirement when the world was a different place. In the late 19th century, ...

6 Informative articles in Related News that Might Also give Some a few Good business ideas along those Good ol' Retirement years...
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech...14/14intro.htm

Unless of course you Live a "Frugal Life" and become a Millionaire in Today's World...

A Billionaire in Tomorrow's World...

Phil

Jim,

Thanks for asking.

When Pete wrote "I'm looking at ways to build a bit of an extra income since I'll go into retirement in a couple more weeks" I took that to mean... he'll be retiring from his Job and going onto his Pension and would thus need the Extra Income. And I answered based on That. Based on what I thought Pete meant as figured by his qualifying sentence.

I don't believe in Retirement (ceasing work and then living off of investments or pension money as defined by the dictionary and expressed on the Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement). But I do know Most people in this country view it as ceasing work at 65 and living on the pension or retirement fund for the rest of their lives. And Early Retirement means the same as above but earlier than 65.

Any other definition just muddies the waters of the words we use to communicate and leads to ineffective communication.

Michael Ross