Calgary is changing, and boy is it an exciting time!
The evolution of Calgary’s economy is part of the larger narrative that our city is growing, innovating and in many ways just beginning the maturing process.
It’s no different when it comes to the media landscape – and not just in Calgary.
People have become disconnected from and discouraged by the barrage of information they see daily. They don’t know what to trust, where the information is coming from or what partisan or activist brush it’s been painted with.
So, independent journalism has emerged. People who care about the fundamentals of journalism and storytelling and how important that is for creating a positive sense of community. Not one where we’re at odds.
I applaud the path that’s been plowed before me; Mike Bell with The YYScene, Jeremy Klaszus and The Sprawl pop-up journalism and most recently Doug Firby and Mario Toneguzzi with Troy Media’s calgarysbusiness.ca.
We’re all forging ahead together in an uncertain media world. And each of us is different – not only from the more traditional media, but from each other.
LiveWire Calgary will be providing you daily news and information – stories about your community and the civic issues that affect them. There will longer stories, shorter stories, investigations, breaking news, audio, video, photos, community contributions, partner content and more. We will compete with the current daily news sources for your attention, and we want to do a better job of attracting it and keeping it.
I’ll admit, today’s launch isn’t a perfect product. There are some flaws that we’re working on. But we’re constantly going to build, measure and learn. We’ll continue to improve and innovate along the way.
A thousand times, thank you.
None of this would be possible without every single person I met with after leaving my 10+ years at Metro Calgary (now StarMetro Calgary). Not one person discouraged me. Not one person said it couldn’t be done.
In fact, in this age of media disconnection, almost everyone I met with asked how they could help or how they could be a part of it.
That tells me something they wanted was missing.
And now, with the launch of LiveWire Calgary, I want to say thank you. Thank you so much for helping me make this possible.
There’s too many of you to list, but it’s everyone from our 40 Patreon supporters to those providing marketing, web and business guidance – free of charge. And everyone in between.
I will leave a special thanks to my wife, Jen – without her pushing me, believing in me and also wanting to be a part of it, I wouldn’t be here on the precipice of something amazing. Thank, hon.
Today marks our first day delivering stories connecting Calgary’s communities. It’s another step in our city’s evolution.
Indeed, it is an exciting time. We’re thrilled to have you aboard for the ride.
Enjoy.
