Windy City Times is fortunate to still be around in 2010, when vast changes in technology and the economy have caused the demise of many other media, gay and non-gay. Do you care? If you do, here are some no-cost and low-cost ways to help Windy City Times stay around for another 25 years:
1 ) Pick up the paper weekly if you are in the Chicago area.
2 ) Go to the website daily or at least weekly to check for breaking news. Also on the website, download the PDF each week, because that helps with our advertisers, to have more views.
3 ) Respond to ads in the print paper, for products and services you need, and let them know where you saw their ad.
4 ) Respond to ads on the website, www.windycitymediagroup.com, because advertisers can track where you saw the ad.
5 ) Sign up for our weekly email newsletter, via our website, because the more people we have on our email newsletter list, the stronger our company becomes. And we often email special offers and breaking news.
6 ) Attend Windy City Media Group events—we sponsor regular bar events, Windy City Gay Idol, the 30 Under 30 Awards, the Windy City Times Theater Series and more.
7 ) Make us your default website on your web browser, so every time you go online we pop up—that helps us with our advertisers.
8 ) Sign up as a fan of our Facebook page, and as a follower on Twitter ( we post breaking news that way, too ) . When you like a story or photo, let your Facebook and Twitter friends know by posting links.
9 ) Sign up for our iPhone application—it's free!
10 ) Donate. You can always donate time as a volunteer at our events, or donate funds to us, even though we are not a 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) non-profit. Increasingly, media companies accept donations as a form of support. After all, we have been a free newspaper for 25 years—that has value, and if you want to support it continuing, we more than welcome this. This helps us do original local, national and world reporting from a gay perspective—not rehashing what wire services put out there.
But at the very least, please do support our advertisers because they make it possible for us to continue to be free.
