An open letter to my loyal Cape Wide News readers

Editors note: The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Cape Wide News, Qantum Communications or its sponsors.

As you are aware Cape Cod Today and Cape Wide News recently parted company. This was a business decision on their part. I want to thank Walter Brooks who about two years ago recognized my talent and allowed Cape Wide News to grow and become the driving force in breaking public safety news it has become with approximately 50,000 hits a week. Our relationship had become somewhat strained during recent months. Among several issues some other Cape Cod Today bloggers had launched into an anti-police tirade in the wake of the Yarmouth Police officer involved shooting. This to me was unwarranted and premature as the investigation was still underway and the facts were still not known. Moreover that tone on Cape Cod Today created friction for me and almost lost me favor with a Cape police agency who understandably thought I was the one coming out against the police. Fortunately I was able to set the record straight. My team and I have worked long and hard cultivating good working relationships with nearly every public safety agency on the Cape which allow us unprecedented access to many scenes.

I had a feeling the end with Cape Cod Today was coming though not as quick is it did. On Monday August 24 I was sitting in my car at the Capetown Plaza using free WI-FI posting updates on approaching thunderstorms when I received an email from Cape Cod Today saying my services would be no longer needed. I was an at will employee so they were in their right to do so. They indicated Cape Wide News was getting a high bounce rate meaning people were reading me and then clicking off without reading other parts of the Cape Cod Today website. It would seem to me instead of killing the “golden goose” they should work to strengthen other parts of the website but that was their decision. Within a half hour of receiving the email, when I went to update the weather situation I found my password had been dropped. They said it was company policy. Ironically I had indicated I was negotiating with a major media player (Qantum) though not mentioned by name. My original idea was to have Cape Cod Today and Qantum work together to ease the financial issues Cape Cod Today was concerned about. Ultimately for a number of issues it became clear that a merger would not be possible.

Cape Wide News is alive and well. Within hours I was back to posting on a temporary basis on my backup Comcast site. Our focus remains breaking public safety news. The CWN news team you have come to rely on for the dramatic images of the day is staying with me as we start a new venture. I want to thank them for their loyalty and also for their pro bono efforts during this transition. We are partnering with Qantum Communications. The combining of radio and internet should be a win/win for all. CWN’s focus remains the same as always-breaking public safety news. The news will continue to be brought to you by the same team you’ve come to rely on for the dramatic images of the day. Now CWN adds the resources of the Newsradio 95 WXTK team headed by Matt Pitta, one of the most respected names in Cape news to our arsenal. This cooperative will also help CWN improve even further on accuracy and grammatical errors that have a way of popping up when yours truly is sleep deprived as seems to often occur with the volume of news CWN has been called to report on.

Special thanks to Allison Makkay and Steve McVie Solomon at Qantum for their tireless and generous efforts in keeping CWN going! And to my loyal team for sticking with me!

Again I thank you for all your support and patience.