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Langley Advanceelcome to the Neighbourhood, 2016   WELCOME

rlocal news is dedicatednging readersley stories.

NNE HOOPER

langleyadvance.com

s a kid, all I everremember wantingto do in the way of acareer was write.

e I loved reading fiction, It much for writing it. So,

an author seemed imprac-o say the least.many other writing oppor-s appealed to me, either.emember spending thepart of a year thinkingly about how I couldy earn enough money to

e as a scribe for the rest of.then, after my chores

one, my spring breaksny days during summern were spent typingown newspaper on myl Corona typewriter. Any

moments were devoted tostories and dreaming of

a community journalist.e time I was 15, andd to do work experiences credits, I had alreadyated a career plan andarticulated to my schoolllors my intent to attend

the journalism program atLangara College in Vancouver.

In the meantime, I wanted(although I held little hope) towork at the local newspaper. Iasked for my counsellor’s helpin making that possible, and shedid.

It was 1980, and my firstday walking into the Langley

 Advancecommunity news-paper office was one of themost intimidating andexhilarating of my life.

Since those earlydays, when I wasintroduced to everyfacet of the businessfrom editorial anddisplay advertising,to classifieds andsubscriptions, paperdelivery to accountspayable, and evendarkroom developingand janitorial duties,I’ve been hooked.

In that era, the Langley Advance

was an independent newspaper,and the publisher and owner, Jim Schatz, took a chance onme, taking me under his wing.

I’ve grown and learned muchsince those early years in thebusiness, when the editor of theday (recently retired editor, men-tor, and friend Bob Groeneveld)encouraged my journalistic driveand let me rewrite a few pressreleases, chase down a few com-munity event announcements,and take a few photos.

But, while I can credit boththese men for giving me aninvaluable understanding of thebusiness, and journalism schoolfor giving me some helpful tools,it was the people I interviewedwho truly solidified my dreamsof being a reporter.

It wasn’t the politics or thesensational crime and court stor-ies that were most appealing. Itwas the opportunity to meet somany people (everyday people,

neighbours, friends), to learnabout their lives, and to sharetheir stories with the worldaround me.

That’s what proved addictiveto me. I couldn’t get enough,and I still can’t.

I’ve never left the newspaperbusiness in the subsequent 36years. I’ve worked with a few

newspapers in B.C. throughthose years, and a decade agoI came full circle… returning

home to Langley again, andrejoining the Langley Advance

team.This industry, like many,

has changed dramaticallythrough the decades, andcontinues to evolve.

Gone are the days whenthe audience came to us,paying us through sub-scriptions once a year todeliver our words of wis-dom, personality profiles,political coverage, and

community happenings.

Now, it’s our job to find ourreaders, inform them, give themsomething they can’t get else-where, and keep them engaged.

I remember during those initialyears at the  Advance, when wepacked the old lead press intostorage to make room for acutting edge fax machine and aLinotype typesetting system.

I honestly didn’t think, back inthose early days, that we’d seesuch significant transformationsto how people chose to get their

news and how dramatic a shiftthere would be in our roles ofgathering and sharing that infor-mation.

Amid all the industry trans-formations, I remain optimistic– actually downright excited– about the future of commun-ity newspapers – especially theLangley Advance, which is rich in

community history and remainstruly devoted to the people ofLangley.

I can proudly say that wedo something no one else cando: We still deliver Langley toLangley.

By focusing our team’s atten-tion on being hyperlocal, I feelour group of highly trained,dedicated journalists will keepplaying a major role in the livesof the people of Langley andcontinue bringing our local read-ers engaging stories about theircommunity and its people.

In this evolving media world,we will still strive – as we did

30 plus years ago when I cameaboard – to be resilient, relevantand reflective of our readers.

Thanks to all those  Advance readers who have been along onour adventure for any part of thepast 85 years that we’ve beenserving as your devoted com-munity newspaper.

And welcome to those newLangleyites who are just join-ing us, those who we hope willbecome regular Langley Advance readers moving forward.

MUNITY NEWSPAPER

dvance helped inspire aspiring young journalist

Roxanne HooperLangley Advance editor