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Turning a page
Back in the summer of 2005, a number of Uxbridgers started to get frustrated with the fact that too much of our “Uxbridge” newspaper had very little to do with this community at all. So we put our heads together and decided it was time to re-create a true “community newspaper”, one that would be owned and operated by people from this community, one that would be circulated exclusively within the township’s borders, one that would focus exclusively in its editorial content on Uxbridge and the people who live here. And finally, a newspaper that would contain a diversity of voices, welcoming creative content from anyone who felt inspired to contribute. Six and a half years later, we’ve accomplished a great deal of what we set out to do.
We realized very quickly, of course, that even in a digital age, it was still pretty expensive to publish a weekly newspaper. Printing presses weren’t cheap. Putting an attractive product in the mailbox of every Uxbridge residence and business wasn’t cheap. Attracting good writers, photographers and cartoonists wasn’t cheap (although we still can’t afford to pay them what they’re truly worth). So until advertisers became convinced of the value of the Cosmos, which didn’t really take that long in the whole scheme of things, we needed a bit of seed money.
And so we invited investors to take part in our adventure. What they were asked to pay for a share in Cosmos Media Inc. wasn’t a fortune, but it wasn’t peanuts, either. In the end, a total of 35 Uxbridgers stepped up to become part owners of the Cosmos, people from all walks of life, from preachers to farmers to violin teachers, from druggists to accountants to professional writers. Not one of them expected to get rich from their investment, in fact most of them wouldn’t have been very surprised to never see a penny of their stake again. For all of them, it was an investment in their community, like contributing to the arena or the library.
Well, we surprised a lot of them this past fall when we told them that the company was buying back their shares, with even a wee bit of profit. After six years, the Cosmos was on solid ground. As of this week, there are only two shareholders left, publisher Conrad Boyce and his wife Lisa, who as you’ll see from the ad on page 11, is joining our staff as the boss of a new division, Cosmos Print Services.
So as we turn this new page in the brief history of Cosmos Media Inc., we’d like to give a heartfelt thank you to all those people who believed in us enough to stand behind us. Certainly a lot of our success is thanks to our advertisers and contributors and readers, but without our shareholders we wouldn’t be here at all. And they didn’t just give us funds, they were there in times of crisis, such as when we needed help to deliver the paper during the postal strike last June. They were friends as much as backers.
From among them, we’d like to spotlight seven who served as our board of directors - Ted Barris, Shirley Baster, Fred Bendell, Frank Chown, Scott Crockatt, Dave Jones and George Pratt - whose guidance took us through some difficult moments, and who deserve a lot of the credit for getting us where we are. As they handed in their resignations earlier this month, they said they’d continue to be there if we ever needed them, and we’re pretty sure that goes for the rest of the 35 as well.
To all of you, we pledge that we’ll do the best we can to make sure that the Cosmos continues to be a publication you can be proud you helped create. For us, it will always be yours as much as ours. Thank you.
July 14, 2011
