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