The Queens County Advance served the area for over 140 years and last Wednesday marked its end.
The little newspaper has now merged with the South Shore Breaker, just a year after it was purchased by the Chronicle Herald.
Long time journalist and author Vernon Oickle started his career there, eventually becoming editor himself from 1986 to 1994.
Oickle says it gave him a well rounded education on journalism, including hyper local stories and some that went national – like the trial of Jane Stafford.
“The thing about working for a community newspaper is one day you could be covering a huge news story like that and the next day taking pictures at a community tea which is great because the variety is what made it exciting and interesting.”
Oickle was fresh out of journalism school when he covered the Stafford trial which was later the inspiration for the film Life With Billy.
“When I think back of my journalism career and how it got started right here in my hometown, is certainly a highlight for me.”
Oickle still writes columns and the occasional news story and says he’ll continue.
Nick Moase was likely the youngest editor to take the helm of the little newspaper.
He took on the role in 2008 and held it until 2013 when he decided to briefly leave the industry – he now freelances for some local news groups.
Moase says local stories were his prime focus as editor of the Advance.
“That meant more than just being there for stories but also taking part in community group, for example, any time a community group asked me to judge something, I liked to go out.”
That meant attending everything from beauty pageants to science fairs.
“You don’t see as much of that (now) but that’s partly due to the changing nature of print,” says Moase. “Gone are the days when every county had their own little paper and had several employees where an editor or a reporter could go out and do those types of things and it’s a lot different than even just a few years ago.”
Moase cites social media and free classified websites as a part of why print is seeing drastic changes.
“I really don’t know if there’s something we could have done to stop that.”
Moase says people still want local stories and more than ever need access to facts.
“People still want the stories, they still want to know what’s going on but it’s packaging it in a medium that gets their attention.”
The newspaper’s last print run was June 27.
It’s now been merged with the South Shore Breaker, which is owned by the Chronicle Herald.
Story by Brittany Wentzell
Twitter: @BrittWentzell
Email: wentzell.brittany@radioabl.ca
