This may come as a bit of a shock to those of you who've heard nothing but doom and gloom about newspapers.
Over the past couple of months, publisher Robert Dickson and I have been talking about how we can expand The Carrboro Citizen.
With a healthy, growing local ad base, incredible encouragement from readers and a pickup rate that now leaves us with very few returns and a lot of empty boxes at the end of the week, we sense that we can grow and should.
As regular readers may have noticed, we've started to cover more news out of Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and Chatham County. We've also expanded distribution into these areas.
Following are a couple of things we're looking at to make our decisions. We've decided to share them in the interest of gathering feedback and suggestions.

Fiona Morgan at the Independent reports that a number of newsroom staff have accepted the buyout offers that the McClatchy-owned News & Observer offered last month.

Among them is Samiha Khanna, who covers Durham County and its school system; Matt Dees, a former Durham city reporter who was recently transferred to the Orange County bureau; and Cheryl Johnston Sadgrove, who covers Orange County government. Until the newsroom is reorganized to adjust for these losses, that leaves one Orange County and four Durham reporters.

- Triangulator: N&O loses more reporters, 9/22/08

"I think if we got the right price, we'd be interested in talking with somebody," John Drescher, The N&O's executive editor, said in an interview.

Elon University students created a 15-minute documentary film about WCOM and Low Power FM stations called "103.5: A Radio Community."

The film has also been submitted into the Carrboro Film Festival, but you can watch it right here...

Fiona Morgan at the Indy has written a scathing analysis of the Durham Herald-Sun situation.  As they also publish the Chapel Hill Herald, her conclusions don't bode well for local media coverage in the future. It's also really sad to read that Ginny Hoyle will depart. Given the reported cutbacks at the N&O, it sure looks like this could be a great opportunity for the Daily Tar Heel to have an even more significant impact in this market.

The Herald-Sun's circulation has declined by 38 percent and its staff by more than half since the Paducah, Ky.-based Paxton Media Group bought the newspaper. Paxton, a private company, owns 32 newspapers, including seven in North Carolina, and one television station. But as chains go, it's a small-time operation. Most of its papers are in small Southeastern and Midwestern towns where there is no competing publication. The Herald-Sun continues to be its biggest newspaper.

Click here for the video.

By Lauren Hills, NBC17, 1 day, 1 hour ago

CARRBORO, N.C. -

WCOM, a Carrboro-based radio station run solely by volunteers, is trying to get the word out about its mission and get some more support from the community.

The 100-watt radio station, which broadcasts about five miles, was started in 2004. The content is all community-based with more than 60 shows on the air. The variety of programs range from the local music scene to bilingual to youth programs. And despite the little funding the station has, it broadcasts live on the web 24/7.

Tune in today at 6pm on WCOM (103.5 LP FM Chapel Hill/Carrboro area) or stream us live at www.communityradio.coop

for The West End Report, hosted by me, LMT! 

to hear Martha Olaya-Crowley, M.Ed., LCSW discuss the importance of El Futuro in the latino community and the recent budget cuts by O.C.Commissioners. Plus, Martha will be spinning some great latino music between our breaks!

Hopefully, Mayor Chilton will also call in and give us an update on the Abbey Court situation.

Feel free to call in with comments and questions 919-929-9601