6-29-2024 11:18am

Local Media Evolution What Changes Will Consumers Embrace, How Media Evolves

Chris Edwards Editor

Anthony Lucero has been in the media business since the age of 13 working in a station with his family for decades in Southern New Mexico. He eventually as a “grown up” evolved and worked with syndicated shows for the USA Network and his voice is and was heard around the nation.

Over 20 years ago Anthony Lucero partnered with Ken Bass and became the voice of KALH Radio. When Ken Bass passed away to the rainbow above, his family took over the station. Their passion was not as deep as his, but Anthony carried on reporting the news with their support.

When they wanted to depart the broadcast world, Anthony reached to 2nd Life Media which had launched the Alamogordo Town News online readers edition. 2nd Life Media’s goal was to fill a needed news gap from the shrinking Alamogordo Daily News

And that we have, as it continues to engage a variety of issues and perspectives our readership grows. We are jumping each month, and increasing readership across the region; as of our last update to 13,251 daily readers; several thousand listeners weekly streaming and via our YouTube and Spotify platforms, and all of customer touch areas are growing our reach.

What can local media offer that mainstream outlets cannot?

According to Joe Friedrichs, a radio news presenter from WTIP Community Radio in Grand Marais, Minn., local media has a distinct advantage over national media companies because they are embedded in the communities they report on.

“We know the issues that impact residents and have a better understanding of what people are saying and feeling,” Friedrichs explains. “National media come and go, but we are always here, reporting from the streets.”

Brian Larsen, a journalist from the Cook County News Herald says local news plays a critical role in keeping citizens informed about their community. “Local media allows the average citizen caught up in their day-to-day lives to stay connected with what’s going on in their community,” says Larsen. “We share stories, pictures, and other items of interest that wouldn’t be considered newsworthy in a larger publication, but are highly valued here.”

However, despite the benefits of local news, Rebuild Local News reports that 1,800 communities lack local news coverage, which can have harmful consequences. According to the organization, less local news can lead to more government corruption, less civic engagement, increased polarization, lower voter turnout, more misinformation, higher costs for local government, and less knowledge about local and federal candidates.

Local and Military News is Our Priority:

2nd Life Media is focused on local news, we also cover state and national issues that are relevant to us locally. Our military coverage via our Newsbreak partnership showcases relevant military news and content from Holloman, their press office and Air Force leadership news.

When we garnered control of KALHradio.org we were awarded with the ability to keep a local 20 year broadcast veteran; Anthony Lucero, as programming manager and news personality for a streaming broadcast edition of Alamogordo Town News

With that move our reach expanded and the depth of local programming expanded complimentary to our written online content. The news from KALH was rebranded from “Spectrum News” to Alamogordo Town News on KALHRadio.org streaming daily around the world.

With that change, we added short bite size clips to our YouTube Channel of local information and programming supporting the organizations and events that we believe are most relevant to our community weekly.

Be sure to stream with us or if your time is limited subscribe to our YouTube Channel where you can pick and choose which interviews you want to listen to each week. Our standard contributors as a set each week to our community include:

Sarah Moro Weekly Fishin' Report 062824
https://youtu.be/o4OuRWIdgyg

Kathy Denton Kitty City NM Cat Chat 062824
https://youtu.be/J1D0dfYDqgs

Katelin Spradley Ag Minute 4th of July Cookout Survey
https://youtu.be/i1ExAlBD8sg

Stephanie Hale This Week At Thrive 062624
https://youtu.be/ptCFaqI4bS4

Pastor Johnnie Walker Introspection - Your Legacy
https://youtu.be/xp0sqnApeFI

Sunny Aris Animal Village NM Pupdate 061724
https://youtu.be/mcpr3WjOmdU

Pastor Lorin Noble Thursday Thoughts - Cat's In The Cradle
https://youtu.be/TAxvd-3Ple0

We are soon to launch a more diverse product to include updates from LULAC, student content and more all with a focus on community as a part of the 2nd Life Media Alamogordo Town News brand written on on air via KALHRadio.org

In addition to the standard features above we are community. During the devastating fires in Ruidoso we featured over 38,000 words of written content and updates. Anthony Lucero hosted over 40 interviews from a variety of sources, from elected officials to those on the ground making a difference to get donations and support to those in need.

No other media company provided the level of information we did, and are ongoing, nor as timely. For that we are proud of the service we provide.

2nd Life Media Alamogordo Town News is deep into local sports coverage providing the most comprehensive coverage of all the area high school teams both on air and written.

And yes we engage in in depth analysis of which makes our local political leadership uncomfortable. We are constantly looking into what the Otero County Commission is up to, the City Commission and the Board of Education. Anthony speaks often with the Mayor of Tularosa, local fire department leadership and the leaders that are making a positive impact on our community.

We on occasion issue commentary. That commentary makes up 8% of our total coverage but sparks 90% of our critics into engagement and that is good. Dialogue and debate even heated at times is good for the community as it spark interest, shines a light oof transparency on what the “insiders, money managers, politicians and those of influence” are engaged in with respect to “our diverse community.”

The media business can be a rough and tumble business and it is not a business of wealth creation but one of service.

Our competitor in the print space the Alamogordo Daily News has been acquired by a New Mexico company El Rito Inc. We welcome that acquisition. They announced this week changes in their print schedule to only 3 print editions a week. That will be disappointing to some but as a media operator we understand better than most the cost of payroll and infrastructure to operate a credible media service is not cheap and is not free.

Our staff at 2nd Life Media such as Anthony, our interns such as Mica, our contributors such as Sarah, Kaitlin and others support our efforts not for wealth generation, but because they believe in our community and in the value of various voices and the First Amendment rights that are lost if not executed consistently.

At 2nd Life Media Alamogordo Town News reached online and via streaming at KALHRadio.org, YouTube, Spotify and on Newsbreak, we continue to evolve and grow and for that we thank our growing streaming listeners and our consistent daily readers.

Thank you! We will continue to engage, enrage and inform you for at least another 20 years as our platforms continue to evolve and we wish success to all the local media outlets as a free local press is the very foundation of a free society.