posted 01/10/12 11:53 AM | updated 01/10/12 04:00 PM
Views: 3399 | Comments : 5 | News, etc.

New ownership readies a revamped Capitol Hill Times

By jseattle
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Starting soon -- likely in February -- a revived Capitol Hill Times will begin publishing new weekly editions, CHS has learned.

"Our plan is to revamp the paper and make it relevant again," new editor Stephen Miller told CHS. Miller said RIM Publications recently acquired the Capitol Hill Times and is planning a re-launch that should go to the printers for the first time by the end of this month.

The long-time neighborhood newspaper has gone through rough times in recent years after being snapped up in an acquisition designed to keep its former owner Pacific Publishing afloat. Pacific retained operational control of the paper but, like many in the dead tree end of the business, struggled and eventually canned its dedicated Capitol Hill staff in favor of a centralized approach that syndicated much of its content across its Seattle properties. Last week, Pacific announced it would shutter its South Seattle Beacon and North Seattle Herald-Outlook brands to concentrate its efforts on the City Living publication.

RIM acquired the Capitol Hill Times brand and apparently the paper's archive of content in a recent deal for undisclosed terms. It began advertising a search for interns for its Capitol Hill publication in October. Editor Miller, a 14th Ave resident himself, said the revamped Times will boast writers from the neighborhood while keeping some of the familiar voices from the old Capitol Hill Times on board.

Miller also said a revamp of capitolhilltimes.com is planned. As for competition with CHS, Miller said he hopes to find ways for the two publications to, if not work together, co-exist and possibly complement each other.

"You guys do a good job here," he said of CHS's years covering Capitol Hill. "I'm envious of your readership. The area is large enough and interesting enough for another voice."

RIM Publications is a Bellevue-based company. It also operates newspapers in communities including Eatonville and Monroe as well as the Sun Weekly in Hawaii and the Oregon Legal Journal, according to this report on the company's recent acquisition in the bustling burg of Kuna, Idaho, population 15,210.

1:14PM - UPDATE - While we're discussing the Capitol Hill local media landscape, we should document our own business structure and status, mostly documented on our About Us page.

CHS is published by Capitol Hill Seattle, LLC, an independently owned small business headquartered here on Capitol Hill. The site was started by Justin Carder (jseattle) in January 2006 as a neighborhood blog covering a small area of northern Capitol Hill and has since expanded to cover all areas of the Hill as well as occasional reports from First Hill and Montlake. CHS also operates the Central District News as part of the small but spirited start-up Instivate, Corp. The 1-1/4 person company is the creator of the Seattle Independent Advertising Network among other wonders of modern technology. The editorial venture is supported by a small (but spirited!) full-time staff, a roster of paid freelance contributors and the serendipitous magic of community-created posts. In its six years or so of activity, the site has amassed an audience of more than 100,000 visitors a month. The venture is 100% advertising supported and has provided advertising services to more than 300 Capitol Hill and area businesses since 2008. You can learn more about advertising on CHS here.
1:35PM - UPDATE - We'll also take this opportunity to document two (likely temporary) advantages held by newspapers. Given the likely decay in these business advantages, the soaring cost of paper and the waste associated with the business, the probable elimination of these elements represent yet another reason you're unlikely to ever see a printed CHS.

First, a provision was stripped from a bill last year that would have eliminated the need for Washington municipalities to pay dead-tree publishers to print legal notices. Even with the stripping, the direction in the rest of the country is to eliminate regulation and costs associated with these notices by allowing cities and counties to post the information on their own government sites. CHS would gladly feature relevant notices for free, by the way, should they be made available at some point in the future.

Second, in a somewhat backward looking effort to prop up the media business, print newspapers currently enjoy a tax rate that is a fraction of most other Washington State industries. But with even newspapers calling for an end to the tax break, this is another area where printed newspaper revenue is likely to decay in the near future.
9:39AM - Meanwhile, other entities continue to sniff around the community "hyperlocal" news opportunity at grander scales. AOL's Patch chain has yet to expand into Seattle but television station KOMO continues to maintain a system of low investment "neighborhood" sites including an effort to provide coverage of Capitol Hill. According to sales representatives, the KOMO effort is attempting to utilize audience affiliation with specific neighborhoods to sell targeted advertising across all of its web properties.
10:13AM - RIM Publications is owned by lawyers Stephen Routh and David Fennell. They also founded Northwest Trustee Services, Inc., "the largest provider of non-judicial foreclosure services in the Western United States," according to the company site.
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A good start...
Would be to remove the banner shot from QA (our nemesis) on their home page and replace with a shot of Capitol Hill, or at least something from the hill. Hard to take a site about the hill seriously when the opening page is a picture of something else. But what do I know.
Comment by A Neighbor
4 months ago
RE: A good start...
"our nemesis"

...that was awesome.
Comment by Robert
4 months ago
RE: A good start...
Reminds me of the Tukwila commercial from 5-6 years ago that featured the Space Needle.
http://ro-ket.com
Comment by Robert Ketcherside
4 months ago
Pro-CHS
I'm not sure a neighborhood newspaper is needed anymore, now that CHS is providing news on a daily, and sometimes hourly, basis....and also a very lively comment section. I wish the Capitol Hill Times well, but can't help but think the effort is doomed, for lack of advertisers. I'd be interested in others' opinion on this.
Comment by calhoun
4 months ago
RE: Pro-CHS
You can't wrap a fish in CHS.
http://ro-ket.com
Comment by Robert Ketcherside
4 months ago