By Sean P. Ray | Managing Editor
The Northside Chronicle has been making a major occasion of our 40th anniversary. And why shouldn’t we? It’s a significant accomplishment, one which deserves to be celebrated.
I often make the humorous observation that The Chronicle is the youngest newspaper I’ve ever worked at. Both of my previous professional news positions were at papers with ages in the triple digits. Indeed, many of our fellow newspapers in Pittsburgh boast ages far beyond ours. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is about two centuries older than us.
Yet, 40 years is also beyond the age of most businesses. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2020, only half of all businesses last five years or more. While we are a nonprofit and not a business, we only transitioned to one last year. The Chronicle was a for-profit business for most of its life.
So how did we last so long to reach this milestone? It’s only ever been thanks to you, our readers. Without you picking up copies of The Chronicle each and every month, we’d never have been able to attract businesses to advertise in our pages. Without those of you who have chosen to subscribe, we would never have the solid continued support to carry us through the lean times. And without you sharing your copies or spreading word of mouth about The Chronicle, we would never be able to attract new readers to keep us going.
The Northside Chronicle is your free community newspaper, Northside. We are here for you. To report on the good times. To report on the bad times. To report on all the times in between.
Just know that we cannot do any of this without you. So while we’re celebrating our 40th anniversary, you should be celebrating too. Because this is your accomplishment. You kept us open, you kept us able to release our news for free and you ensured that the Northside did not become a news desert. We are the only newspaper entirely dedicated to the Northside and we are proud to be able to showcase this neighborhood that perhaps does not get the attention it so rightfully deserves.
As we move forward, we ask you to continue supporting The Northside Chronicle anyway you can. If you’re not already a subscriber, please consider doing so. It’s a great sign of support and helps us out in so many ways. Even if you don’t want the physical paper delivered right to your door, a digital subscription gets you access to our e-edition on our website and helps us out just as much.
If you are already a subscriber, we only ask that you help encourage other people to subscribe. A great way to do that is through a gift subscription, available for purchase on our website. Give your favorite person a taste of The Northside Chronicle for anywhere from one month to two years, and they might come to love us just as much as you do.
If you’re a local business owner, The Northside Chronicle offers some very inexpensive ways to advertise your business. Print ads are not as easily ignored as web ads, and paying just once gets you an advertisement for an entire month, as well as permanent placement in that issue’s electronic edition.
Finally, we do also take donations, and as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, any donations are tax deductible. Donations by check can be mailed to 3925 Perrysville Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15214 and should be made out to Northside Chronicle Community Media. We also have a donation button on our website.
Beyond all else, we hope you continue to read your Chronicle. So long as the Northside continues to support us, we’ll keep doing what we’re doing. Let’s hope we can make it all the way to another 40 years in operation.
