Daily Voice (American hyperlocal news)
Private | |
Type of site | Local news |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
| Area served | Fairfield County, Connecticut Westchester County, New York Rockland County, New York Putnam County, New York Dutchess County, New York Sullivan County, New York Orange County, New York Ulster County, New York Passaic County, New Jersey Bergen County, New Jersey |
| Founder(s) | Carll Tucker, Chair |
| Key people | Carll Tucker, CEO Zohar Yardeni, CEO Travis Hardman, COO Ted Yang |
| Services | Online community news |
| Employees | 44 (mid-2010) 100 (mid-2012) |
| URL | dailyvoice |
| Launched | 2010 |
| Current status | Active |
Daily Voice, formerly Main Street Connect, is an American
Founding and initial history
The company was founded in 2010 by Carll Tucker, a veteran of the community news business with Trader Publications (sold to
Main Street Connect first appeared as town-centric news sites in Fairfield County, Connecticut, named "The Daily [Town]", such as the first one, The Daily Norwalk for Norwalk, Connecticut.[6][8] Ten such sites were in operation by the end of 2010,[9] and Main Street Connect had 44 full-time employees as of mid-2010.[10]
The franchising structure of Main Street Connect was explicitly likened to that of the McDonald's fast food chain.[4][7] It was intended to work via a local group hiring journalists to cover a community, with the national entity supplying a framework for website technical hosting and support, working capital, and guidance related to fundamental business strategies.[4][11] There was to be no start-up fee, and Main Street Connect would get 17 percent of a site's revenue.[10] The eventual goal was to provide an attractive platform for national brands to advertise on, and to support a higher advertising rate than local websites can typically charge and one that it closer to the level that used to support local print newspapers.[4] The company's target for 2013 was to have 3,000 sites operating with some 10,000–15,000 journalists involved;[7][10] existing community newspapers were not seen as potential franchisees.[7]
Main Street Connect's start coincided with a renewed interest in local advertising among national companies.
Subsequent developments
In February 2011, Main Street Connect announced that the one million mark in visits to their websites had been passed,
In October 2011, Tucker was succeeded as CEO by Zohar Yardeni, formerly of Thomson Reuters and experienced with financial and information start-ups.[16] Tucker stayed on as chair of the company.[16] Main Street Connect also obtained $7 million in second round funding at this time.[16] Total sites in October 2011 numbered 52.[16]
In May 2012, the company rebranded themselves to become Daily Voice.
In March 2013, Yardeni suddenly resigned.[19] The company underwent a major downsizing, closing all 11 of its Massachusetts sites and laying off those employees.[20]
During 2018, the Daily Voice operation was taken over by Cantata Media, based in Norwalk, Connecticut.[21] In 2019 Cantata Media formed an alliance with Westfair Communications, the publisher of the Fairfield County Business Journal, to form a subscription-based website, Daily Voice Plus, that would feature material from both organizations.[21]
See also
References
- ^ Daily Voice official site
- ^ a b Kaplan, David (June 1, 2010). "Hyperlocal Network Mainstreet Connect Raises $3.97 Million First Round". PaidContent. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
- CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
- ^ Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
- ^ Kirchner, Lauren (July 13, 2010). "On Hyperlocals, Hyper-hiring, and Hype". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
- ^ Mediabistro.com. Archived from the originalon January 28, 2013. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
- ^ a b c d Fitzgerald, Mark (July 2010). "McHyperlocal: A Plan to Franchise Community News". Editor & Publisher. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
- ^ a b c Krasilovsky, Peter (May 4, 2010). "NY-Area's 'Main Street Connect' Takes Aim at Hyperlocal (Too)". BIA Kelsey. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
- PBS. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
- ^ a b c Oliver, Laura (July 7, 2010). "'We're helping to rebuild a profession': Hyperlocal network founder aims for 3,000 sites". Journalism.co.uk.
- ^ PBS. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
- ^ a b c Behling, Ellie (March 16, 2011). "Main Street Connect goes after Patch". eMedia Vitals. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
- ^ "Main Street Connect Passes 1,000,000th Visit" (Press release). Editor & Publisher. February 9, 2011.
- ^ "Main Street Connect Announces 31 New Sites in Westchester County, N.Y." (Press release). Editor & Publisher. March 3, 2011. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
- ^ Tartakoff, Joseph (May 19, 2011). "Hyperlocal Network Main Street Connect Buys CentralMassNews". PaidContent. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
- ^ a b c d "Main Street Connect Raises $7 Million and Appoints Zohar Yardeni as CEO" (Press release). PR Newswire. October 31, 2011.
- ^ Staff Report (May 25, 2012). "We're Now The Daily Voice, Norwalk". The Daily Voice. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
- ^ "Contact Us". The Daily Voice. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
- ^ Ferrari, Jerrod (March 4, 2013). "Daily Voice closes Mass. sites, lays off some in Connecticut and New York". The Hour.
- ^ Bird Jr., Walter (March 4, 2013). "Daily Voice shutting down Mass. sites". Worcester Magazine.
- ^ The Stamford Advocate.