The West Ranch Beacon is an online community newspaper serving the West Ranch neighborhoods of Sunset Point, Southern Oaks, Stevenson Ranch, Westridge as well as Castaic, Val Verde and the Santa Clarita Valley. It is a free online publication that is not affiliated with the West Ranch Town Council.
When I first started this site in the fall of 2005 it was truly on a whim because I felt the local paper was and is doing a terrible job in covering the West Ranch communities. It was a surprisingly simple process to set up the original site and I immediately posted some of my previous writings.
It quickly became a place that I could post some of my thoughts on the various issues that concerned me and might be of interest to others. The site was also a way to post news and meeting announcements that were not being covered or posted elsewhere. The existence of this web site started spreading by word of mouth and online; which, by the way, is known as “viral marketing”.
The West Ranch Beacon has grown beyond any expectations that I had originally. In fact, I had no expectations except that I now had a place to post news and commentary whether anyone cared or not. As it has turned out, a lot of people apparently do care and hence the thousands of hits the site has been receiving monthly.
New technology is changing the way we get information in our lives. I think if one looks at what has gone on in the music industry you can see how technology is reshaping the way an industry functions. The rulebooks are being completely rewritten.
This is what is happening with the newspaper medium. More and more people are getting their information, whether local, national or world, on-line. The industry is in the throws of figuring out how to change and evolve with all the innovations cropping up daily. Just look at the LA Times and its parent company the Tribune making news by cutting staff. Many papers are being forced to reduce staff because of declining advertising and circulation. We are in the beginning stages of a consolidation that will forever change the newspaper industry.
It is quite interesting to receive phone calls weekly from print reporters asking about a posting on our site. It is also frustrating to see the local papers taking story ideas off of our site and not crediting us for them. This is happening at an increasing rate and I have the email evidence to back it up!
What you will find on this new website is the next iteration of the West Ranch Beacon. We have gone from a blog to a website so you may want to book mark our address. Please take note of the many new features as well.
Based on all the feed back that I received personally and through various contacts it was clear that our readers wanted to have a way to easily communicate their thoughts and comments to us. We have listened and added a comments feature and an email address for easier communication.
This two-way communication will be one that is managed. I’ll happily post comments that disagree with something that I or another columnist has written on a topic as long as it is written in a factual, well thought out and professional way.
There is a bunch of links listed on the right side and we are happy to add more. Just drop us a note and if the link is relevant to our readership we’ll post it. We are very much interested in shaping this website based on your suggestions and recommendations.
One thing for sure, we will keep posting reliable information and commentary on this site. Simply put, there is a need and we care about our community. The West Ranch Beacon is beholden to no one; we only want to see our community as a whole be informed and determine its own destination. The truth is that that scares the heck out of an awful lot of people in the Santa Clarita Valley!
Dave Bossert
