Saturday, November 10, 2007
First copy of new weekly paper hits streets of the Roanoke Valley
The latest from The Ticker blog
The Roanoke Sun, a new free weekly paper, hit the streets of the Roanoke Valley on Friday.
It is being published by former city hall spokesman Chris Slone, who worked for the city during ex-Mayor Ralph Smith's tenure.
Slone said he is starting the print circulation at 10,000 and will deliver the tabloid through a private distributor.
The paper, which Slone said he started to offer a weekly recap of the news and a more Christian viewpoint of the region's happenings, is being printing in Woodstock, Va. It will be available at about 70 locations, mostly supermarkets, restaurants and retailers such as Wal-Mart.
The circulation boundaries stretch from Botetourt County to Rocky Mount, and from Salem to Smith Mountain Lake, Slone said.
So far the staff consists only of Slone, who sells ads, writes and edits the newspaper. The first edition features Smith prominently on its cover, and in a news article about his win in Tuesday's election.
"I'm close to Ralph, and I don't make any bones about it," Slone said.
But Slone said Smith's multiple appearances in the paper was the result of Slone having sold the ad space to Smith before the news story broke on the election.
Smith, he added, is not an investor.
-- Christina Rogers
