BY LAWRENCE SOBCZAK
and CHRISTOPHER ROSE
Can you believe it? The Record is 10 years old this week!
Our first newspaper was published on Dec. 1, 2015 in response to The Armada Times and The Romeo Observer closing their doors that prior summer.
In 2015, we started out as a mini-broadsheet newspaper published twice a month as we ramped up our operation. Soon we were publishing every other week on Wednesday. The next step, as more advertisers and subscribers joined on board, was publishing every week by the end of April 2016. Next week began publishing as a full broadsheet newspaper, the size you’re reading today, in 2017.
Money that is spent on subscriptions and advertising in The Record is immediately returned to the community in the form of salaries and expenses paid to local people and businesses.
As you may already know, The Record is a locally owned business. We are not a faceless and soulless newspaper owned by a private equity firm in Denver.
You see our staff at work every month including our reporter Stacy Sobotka attending countless meetings and events. She’s the bulwark of this institution as well as the local exercise of the First Amendment and democracy by keeping the public informed about the activities of their government.
Of course, there is Mike Nicley pointing his camera and using his superb photographic skills to capture sporting events and the tide of local events such as parade and fairs that makes living in northern Macomb and Oakland counties so special. He started out by contributing sporting photos to The Romeo Observer and has continued through the founding of this newspaper.
You might get a friendly “hello” and sincere questions about how your family is doing from our delivery driver Angela as she brings newspapers to stores and your neighborhood post office.
There are local people behind the scenes like our copy editor, Nicholas Wyllie, who helps compile information and build the newspaper layout each week, and Jan Wyllie, who builds ads for us.
By the way, Jan, who is Nick’s grandmother, has been selling and building ads for local newspapers for nearly 60 years, working at newspapers such as the Port Huron Times-Herald, The Richmond Review and The Romeo Observer. Incredible!
We have had a string of dozens of contributors over the years. Some may contribute items for one issue or several issues. Some contribute for month or even years.
Others, such as Richard Berringer, one of the museum curators at the Romeo Historical Society, have been contributing almost as long as The Record has been published.
The steady stream of contributors over the past decade has been vital to this newspaper’s mission to tell the story of community since we cannot have eyes and ears everywhere, all the time. We thank everyone who has participated in the newspaper in this way.
Our mission is to tell your story.
If you ever have a news tip, please share it us at publisher@myrecordnewspaper.com.
We are particularly interested in sharing engagements, wedding announcements, anniversaries, milestone birthdays and other accomplishments.
So, what’s in the future for 2026?
Among other things, The Record is forming a partnership with Romeo High School and the journalism program at Oakland University.
We are working to develop the next generation of journalists to continue this newspaper into the distant future.
What can you do to ensure at least another 10 years of this newspaper?
Spread the word.
In this week’s edition, we have enclosed a payment envelope which can also be used to buy gift subscriptions for your family and friends. Don’t worry, if they already have a subscription, we will extend it by the amount of your gift.
If your subscription has somehow lapsed, now is the time to renew it by returning that envelope.
If you have never subscribed before, now is the time to do it.
For a limited number of new subscribers, we are offering a pair of adult tickets to Holly Dazzle, the Christmas-themed village built on the grounds of the Renaissance Festival near Holly. See page 6 for more details and a subscription form.
Support our advertisers. They play an important role in bringing this newspaper to you each week. Let them know that you saw their ad in The Record.
We sincerely thank everyone that has made these first 10 years possible. Here’s to the next 10 years!
