After reading We the Media a few months ago, I came to the realization that San Angelo is most definitely an “underserved” market for local news and views. Like many small cities, we have a couple local television stations (although one is currently in a fight with the major cable provider so almost nobody watches it), and we have one local newspaper. That paper, usually referred to as the SubStandard Times, is so thin on most days it can cause a paper cut with the folded edge. Sunday’s paper is almost the size of the international edition of USA Today. And yet they charge as much or more for that thing as for the Dallas newspaper, also available for local delivery. Our ABC affiliate is from Abilene. So today I read Julie Moos’s article about citizen journalism, and I’m reminded yet again that it would be so easy to set up a site, using a CMS(Content Management System) like CivicSpace to provide a place for all the local people to share information, meet virtually or arrange to meet in reality, and generally recreate the town square of a true small town in this small city.
So, what domain should I use? I’m thinking something with the Concho River in the name, since most of the “San Angelo” URLs are taken. Concho Corral? Concho Online? Hmm…