Was it really five years ago this month that I first met with my now partner in crime Graham Breeze about launching a local news website for Welshpool? How time flies when you’re having fun! Graham is one of the best known figures in the British local media industry having spent four decades working his way to the top of NWN Media. He was also the person that gave me my break in journalism 22 years ago and someone that I have the utmost respect for. He had recently parted company with his paymasters and was going it alone. At that time I was looking for the ‘next big thing’ too so a catch-up was required where we hatched the plan to revolutionise local news delivery for the huge rural area of Montgomeryshire.

David Williams, MyTown Media co-founder

The recession had taken a grip hard and the newspaper industry had started its rapid slide. But rather than join in with the doom-mongering for the future of local news, we saw an opportunity. The problem was, we had absolutely no idea where to start. But a quick phone conversation with Alan Davies, a lifelong friend and IT expert, put all those fears to rest and the three of us launched MyTown Media Ltd.

At that time there were only one or two sites in the UK doing what we wanted to do to the level we expected. We wanted to deliver a service that was groundbreaking, trustworthy, easy-to-navigate, and, which is key to any news delivery service, entertaining. Advice came from a Canadian source who had made a hyperlocal site work in a rural area over there.

We eventually hit the ground running on Friday 13, August 2010 with MyWelshpool and launched MyNewtown on December 3 that same year. It’s not difficult either to explain why they have become so popular. It is all about listening and learning from the consumer, the people you need to reach. People want fast news which is easy to read and free. They don’t want to be preached to and told what side of the argument to follow. We carry the facts from both sides of an argument and let people make up their own minds. After all, isn’t this what we were taught in journalism school?

Welshpool’s bustling town centre

One of the biggest annoyances since we started is seeing pages and pages of adverts paid for by the tax payer advertising road closures, planning permissions, public announcements and the like. For four years we have been trying to convince the council decision makers that we can provide a much better value-for-money for them and the people they serve. Whilst austerity has hit just about every single public sector, those precious newspaper advertising budgets appear to be protected. One can only speculate as to why but that’s for another day over a beer!

We have had some bumps along the way. We launched MyBrecon and MyRadnor with the intention of covering the whole of Powys but we spread ourselves to thin, too quickly. So after a year we decided to moth ball those sites to focus back on our core of the Severn Valley. We have been lucky to welcome on board Owain Betts, a respected PR expert who handles MyNewtown and also offers invaluable advice and input into the business model as a whole.The sites make money which is then ploughed back into resources to make them even better. Local businesses have stepped up and enjoy exposure to more than 40,000 unique users every month. Some have been with us from Day One. However our experience leads us to some strong advice for anyone else looking to enter the business – don’t give up your day job!

Graham, Alan and I were able to dedicate time to this project whilst having the back up of revenue from other sources. If we had gone down the road of throwing ourselves into it full time, we would not have lasted a year. For what we receive from the business, we are probably among the poorest paid journalists in Britain! However, the bigger picture is our light at the end of the tunnel. This is no longer the future of local news delivery, but the present. We have had interest from individuals wanting to buy in to the success story but have held firm. We have built a sustainable model that is in it for the long haul with expansion and new ideas always top of the agenda at our regular ‘director meetings’. So, from out of the premature death knell for the local news industry, we have ensured that the people of Montgomeryshire have never been better connected to what’s going on.

That, in itself, is a news story we are extremely proud of.