The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

I could have sworn a topic was already started regarding Bobby Lorton’s upstart, The Tulsa Frontier.

Thus far, I’ve been reasonably impressed with the coverage and he did take some of the World’s best writers.  It looks like they have done enough teasing and are ready to start making some cash.  So here’s your options:

https://www.readfrontier.com/account-information/membership-levels/


So, let’s see:

$360 a year for unlimited access to all content which will probably be distilled in the Whirled or local electronic media

-or-

For the smoking one year membership fee of $1000 you get a coffee mug, tote bag, access to “special events” (What? Like a happy hour?) and early access to special reports.  (Like how early access?).

I really don’t get why anyone other than Lorton’s closest buddies would spend $1000 a year for news feed.

It’s a bold move since the news is ad free, but without this being of national interest, I really don’t see how you can make the revenue you need to without advertising.  I like what they have done so far, but this almost smacks of the hubris of the Jones boys when they started the Tulsa Sentinel after they sold the Tribune off to the Lortons.  AquaMan may remember better than I do, but I don’t think the Sentinel made it a year. 

I like to read the stories from the Frontier, but I’m not finding a vast enough product difference to justify spending $30 a month to keep up.  I figured it would be $10-$20 a month, tops, and I’d have no problem as that is comparable to a TW subscription.

It's a pretty steep price for what looks like 1-2 articles per day.

Thats a rip......

I am not sure it's their "Best" writers considers it includes the byline behind the Beautiful Brands fluff.

The price is ridiculous imho. As mentioned above, there is some decent content but it will get regurgitated to other media like the World. Maybe the TulsaNow forums should have been charging the World $1k/yr for the past decade.

The Pulitzer committee probably wasn’t aware Ziva had a habit of playing the house organ for BB.

If they were smart they would offer it free for a period of time then start charging.........

They have been for a couple of months now.

Probably going to take a little longer than that.....

They can't be that great...haven't seen their coverage on the latest Tennessee shooting that happened an hour ago or so....

Not their deal.  In-depth local interest seems to be their niche.

I'm not really chastising them for that - there are more than enough adrenaline junkies out there going after these stories.

But you just did chastise them for not covering the story.

Yeah, I did... I'm just not serious about that one.


And I am admitting to it quickly.

Maybe they did and that's why she didn't win.

I hate to revive an old topic, but I felt it was on topic...

Frontier removes paywall as of yesterday (11/29) and goes non-profit.

https://www.readfrontier.com/stories/frontier-taking-paywall/

Its some of the best journalism in the state.  I hope this works for them.

I’ve been a subscriber since near its inception and intend to continue contributing at the level I have been which was $30/month.  I’ve gotten to know a couple of the journalists through my work on Turkey Mountain preservation and I believe in what they are doing.  I would encourage everyone who appreciates their form of journalism to make even nominal donations to make sure they keep going.  Much like public radio and television, if you like what you are getting from it, it’s a good idea to contribute.

I did a quick read of the email they sent saying they were going non-profit and I’m still not sure how they intend to pay the staff unless they secured a commitment from a large donor to do it this way.  I’m not privy to the Lorton family finances so I have no idea if Bobby is capable of running it out of his back pocket.

/edit: Ah, I just clicked the donation page and it’s managed by the Tulsa Community Foundation, so they are doing it right.