
They brought some interests and skills to the endeavor: he had majored in English in college and was interested in journalism, and she was into photography as a hobby.įortunately, it took little capital. “It seemed like it would work,” he added. They took a regional approach, “stringing together fishing villages,” as he put it. Unlike other newspapers that may be based around a municipal or metropolitan hub - such as Ellsworth, which supports a weekly newspaper, and even the small town of Machias, which also supports one - the Hastings did not envision their newspaper as built around a population center. Those factors included the budding desktop publishing technology, as well as the rural nature of the communities they aspired to serve. It was a fortuitous blend of time, place and circumstances, according to Fred Hastings. The couple mulled a number of ideas for a year. Hastings knew from his teaching experience that 80 percent of new businesses fail.
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His urge combined with the beginning of desktop publishing - using desktop computers and software to create documents, including newspapers. In the mid-80s Fred Hastings “felt the urge for entrepreneurship” while teaching at the University of Maine-Machias. The couple embarked in the newspaper business with no previous experience in journalism or publishing. The newspaper has a lot of elderly subscribers, he noted, and their response has been, “What are we going to do without you?” Readers and advertisers have been “surprised and saddened” to learn of their decision, Fred Hastings said Monday.
