People sometimes ask me why I listen to the truckers’ network on satellite radio. Mainly, I do it because tuning in to those news segments and call-in programs — with participants with names like Stormchaser in Oregon or Road Warrior from North Carolina chiming in from their rigs — distracts me from the same-old, same-old Michigan highways [...]
As bathing suit season looms, I’ve noticed a second wave of the weight-loss and exercise ads that typically rear themselves right after Jan. 1. Dieters who fell off the wagon back around Jan. 21 are getting a second prodding from the many commercial interests that cater to the overweight.
Two festive party occasions share the calendar on Saturday, making this an apt week for a variety of marketing stories. The Kentucky Derby, in which three-year-old Thoroughbreds will race for the 138th time, also is a decent peg for taking a look at the equine and racing industries in your state. For such a niche interest [...]
FORT WORTH – Follow along and chime in, in this live-blog of our workshop today for community journalists in Texas. The topic is Uncovering the Best Local Business Stories, and our host is the Texas Center for Community Journalism at Texas Christian University and our co-sponsor is the Texas Press Association. First up is Dallas [...]
Food safety issues are rearing their … microbes, lately, prompting a new set of related business story possibilities.
Earlier this spring a local web developer made a surprising observation: The owner of a commercial cleaning business had strolled in and asked for a completely revamped website to better reflect his booming business. Yes, booming. That was an eyebrow-raiser, and a week or so later I read a feature story about an East Coast businessman [...]
Congress still is trying to agree on a transportation bill, and last week’s competing efforts in the Senate and House of Representatives put the issue of infrastructure back on the front burner. It’s a vast topic and that means there are nearly endless business angles to the maintenance of the nation’s roads, highways, bridges and harbors. I’ll [...]
UNC’s Chris Roush on finding untapped financial stories and building a business journalism career
Part of the fun of reporting is following a sort of mental breadcrumb trail to generate new ideas and angles. In pondering Facebook’s upcoming IPO, it’s natural to contemplate a look at possible local IPOs. (Keep an eye on a good IPO calendar, like this one from NASDAQ.) That led me to mosey around the [...]
