Tipp Citians will soon have a new hometown newspaper. The Tippecanoe Gazette will begin weekly distribution on March 17. It will be available on the newsstand each Wednesday afternoon and will arrive in subscriber’s mailboxes every Thursday. The publication is based in downtown Tipp City and will reflect the very best of traditional hometown journalism. Although its Tipp City founders have extensive business management and newspaper experience, especially with regard to newspaper start-ups, this is the first publication they have launched in Tipp. In 2009, their Tipp City based non-profit, the American Veterans Institute, was selected as the Small Business of the Year by the Tipp Chamber of Commerce.
“Through our Tipp-based marketing company, Integrity Marketing, we heard a real outcry for a traditional community-based print product. Our goal with the Gazette is to enhance local coverage for Tipp residents and provide a dynamic and well-read advertising vehicle for businesses,” said Editor Tara Dixon Engel.
Dixon Engel noted that newspapers were once successful because they were a community service in addition to being a business. “Advertisers want to know they are reaching a devoted local audience. If you are covering the community from top to bottom, then you can make those assurances. The Tippecanoe Gazette will do all that and more. We will also follow tried-and-true journalistic standards. Letters to the Editor must be signed and will be verified. News stories will NEVER contain the reporter’s opinion and will present both sides of an issue. Opinions will reside on the opinion page. We are very fortunate to have excellent reporters writing for us, among them Nancy Bowman, who is highly respected in this community.”
Dixon Engel spent 18+ years in the newspaper business, serving as Editor of the West Carrollton Times, Lebanon Star, Western Star, Little Miami Express, and News Editor for the Kettering-Oakwood Times, Associate Editor of the Centerville-Bellbrook Times and Associate Publisher of the Beavercreek Daily News. She was also Ad Director for the Englewood Independent and Ad Director for Times Newspapers.
The Editor noted that the Gazette will embrace the digital age by working closely with TippNews.com. “They have a super digital product and we have no desire to compete with them. In fact, we want to support their efforts! We will join forces to maximize coverage and our business community’s advertising dollars. This paper will be pro-Tipp City in every way. We are already working with the Chamber, Downtown Partnership, the Schools and the City to build a publication that celebrates this region and its people.”
TippNews.com founder Mike McDermott noted that he has been coordinating with the Gazette’s founders, Dixon Engel and Mike Jackson, a fifth generation Tipp Citian, for weeks to develop innovative ways to complement each other, to offer piggyback advertising rates, and to work together for the good of Tipp City residents and businesses.
“The great thing is that the owners of TippNews.com and the owners of the Tippecanoe Gazette are both dedicated to serving this community at the very highest level,” McDermott said. “I guess we could compete with each other, but neither of us wants that kind of friction and distraction. We all have the same goals, so why not pool our efforts and get more done for the community? It just makes sense!”
For more information or for ad rates, go to www.TippecanoeGazette.com, TippNews.com or e-mail Editor@TippecanoeGazette.com or Advertising@TippecanoeGazette.com
