Almost 12 years ago the first edition of the Sonoma Valley Sun appeared on the doorsteps of 10,000 households. The publisher of this free newspaper was local engineer Bill Hammett, a SVUSD trustee and member of the Charter School board. Why did Hammett start this newspaper with its motto of “Warmth. Light. Truth.”? He believed there was room for, and more importantly, a need for, “a different voice”.
Five years ago, The Sun was sold to four of its employees, two of whom now produce each issue – Editor Val Robichaud and Design-Director Barney LaHaye. Editorially, the paper has evolved; an editorial board was formed 18 months ago, and meets weekly to help plan upcoming editions.
In 2014, The Sun website – SonomaSun.com – was completely redesigned and reconfigured by Barney; new features, frequent updates, community data, local commentary and articles of interest fill its pages. Visitor traffic, we’re pleased to say, just keeps growing and our Facebook page “likes” increase every week. We think bringing a different voice to Sonoma is so important nowadays that it prompted our new motto: “The Community’s Independent Voice.”
We don’t have to tell you that the newspaper business is challenging, especially when you’re distributed to the public free-of-charge. We focus our attention on Sonoma Valley and are pleased to feature opinion pieces by local voices; The Sun continues to enjoy the generosity and support of many in this community, and we like to think we’ve earned it.
Friends and loyal advertisers alike have allowed The Sun to continue to serve residents of Sonoma Valley as the community’s independent voice. Our regular columnists and their opinions, as well as the many active readers who take the time to write us a “letter to the editor”, “friend” us on Facebook, make comments or follow us online, all together form an interactive, engaged, community-in-dialog. We don’t think the newspaper business gets any better than that!
We offer advertisers reliable circulation of over 5,000 copies of each edition and distribute The Sun through over 100 outlets throughout the city and Valley. Our ad rates have always been, and remain, very reasonable.
We live in changing and sometimes frustrating times. The state of the economy, availability of good-paying jobs, sufficient housing, preservation of open space, impacts of commercial development and traffic, and issues pertaining to law enforcement are but a few of the topics we’ve covered.
Going forward, our intention is to increasingly provide thoughtful, in-depth articles about the critical issues facing the various economic and cultural sectors in our small valley. We’ll continue to challenge our elected and other Valley leaders to “step up to the plate” and get to work solving our problems.
We also will continue to introduce our community to itself through interviews and videos. And alongside that, we’re going to let you know about the hot spots to eat, places to hear music, wines to drink, what’s happening and things to do, both in print and online. We’ll feature art, poetry, and writing by talented locals in an entertaining way. We want to make you think and feel, but we also want you to relax. After all, If we don’t celebrate life, what’s the point?
We at The Sun wish you a healthy, safe, and in all ways prosperous New Year.
— Sun Editorial Board
Congrats . Wish the radio station would do as well .I know it’s now a separate entity . It turned into a mostly gas bagging outlet . On the air with a good many hacks yapping about nothing .