What's the deal? The last news was posted on May 3rd. Today is the 22nd.

Have emailed them, but received no answer.

This is Miles City.

Nothing has happened since May 3.......

That is because they apparently only care about the paper part of the newspaper.

...wait for it

i know! from what i understand they don't care that they are so far behind on the times... we get more 'news' about what is happening in miles city on this site. thank you all contributors for keeping us in the loop.

you can also read the billings gazette online, and they keep up on news happening in miles city more than the star does online.

Personally, I'd love to be the webmaster of MCStar, but they "Have it handled". Yep, clearly do.

The Star and the radio stations there are so far behind on times when it comes to the internet. I just can't beleive that they are not capitalizing on this whole stream of revenue.

Uhhhh, Herbie... I think you are mistaken. I know for a fact, because I designed it, 92.3 FM & 1050 AM has a beautiful new site. Which I will be adding even more to this week.

Rather than complain about the STAR and their Mary Tyler Moore economic model, why doesn't some enterprising soul in Miles City start an on-line newspaper. Build a website, get a couple of local reporters, sell some advertising, and away you go. Josh has a good start with the MilesCam site. Opportunity is knocking. Who will answer the door?

Here are a couple of examples:

http://thewyonews.net/

http://www.wyodaily.com/

The Star has been having problems with its website this month. We are working to resolve those problems. We certainly do apologize and hope to have the site operating properly again soon. In the meantime, we appreciate your patience.

Or if you are so starved for news you could like, pay for the paper. I hear that it is updated quite frequently.

I second the online newspaper idea-I think it could be a good revenue stream. The local newspaper here had an "issue" about three years ago (The wealthy Owner of the local newspaper fired some of the staff in a disagreement over publishing Rob Lowe's address after he pulled a fast one with the zoning commission and built a house that violated an ordinance). Since she was his friend, she fired the people that reported it. The city (mostly made up of normal people who thought this was unjust) was then up in arms over it, and as a result people decided to protest by not subscribing to the paper any more. As a result we got two great websites that are WAY more "up-to-the minute" and informative than the paper ever was.

http://www.noozhawk.com/
http://www.edhat.com/

Although the content seems to be free (so where is the profit, you ask) I used to be the Marketing Mgr for 3 magazines, and the bulk of the money you make there is from advertising, not subscriptions....so I think it could be profitable. As more and more people get computers (and iPhone type devices they carry everywhere with them), there will be more and more people not buying actual newspapers and going online for all of their news content.

Here is a locally owned website that features and promotes events going on in Miles City.

http://milescityshopper.com/events/

How'd that school levy turn out?

It passed. Unlike Billings, we usually support out schools unequivocally.

So, for those of you in support of an advertising supported website, how to you justify to a local merchant to spend money on advertising that will be read by people who do not patronize your establishment? People who read the paper, by the vast majority, live in the area. People who read website, by the vast majority, do not, so why pay money to reach people who can't be your customer?

There is one online newspaper, Westby's in northeastern Montana, that may give someone some ideas..and it's hosted on a free server.
They have been online at least as long as I have been in Montana.

If anyone is interested in checking it out the address is:

http://wbn.yolasite.com

I am very curious why it took so long for information provided on this site about the injured young bull rider to be published in the Star. It appeared in the Billings paper the same day it was published in the Star. However, the information was published much soomer by the family on this site. Just curious?

So, for those of you in support of an advertising supported website, how to you justify to a local merchant to spend money on advertising that will be read by people who do not patronize your establishment? People who read the paper, by the vast majority, live in the area. People who read website, by the vast majority, do not, so why pay money to reach people who can't be your customer?

Yup, yup, ... that is the Mary Tyler Moore economic business model for you.

An on-line newspaper could provide local news and yet not be constrained by the need to get its all of its advertising in Miles City. It is a different economic model.

But since you ask, how about because I can buy a polaris ranger or western clothing, or other items much cheaper in Miles City than I can in Gillette. Such a website would provide MC business the opportunity to compete for business on more of a regional basis and not cost them a lot of money.

The Magnificent (just ask him) Josh Rath wrote:

Uhhhh, Herbie... I think you are mistaken. I know for a fact, because I designed it, 92.3 FM & 1050 AM has a beautiful new site. Which I will be adding even more to this week.

Whoop-dee-frakking-doo for you, Sport! When's the parade?

Seriously, your self-aggrandizing is somewhat less than classy. If your stellar career as a web designer ever truly takes off, you may actually be able to afford to buy the paper instead of just bitch about the online version.

Is THIS what you're bragging about, Josh?

http://www.radiomontana.n...0city.html

It's serviceable, I'll give you that. But beautiful? Methinks you overestimate your webmastery.

[This message has been edited by Brian A. Reed (5/24/2010)]

That looks like a straight up html page written in notepad. Very old school. The two station names are not lined up BTW. Looks like you cut and pasted your style sheet from somewhere and then never used it since every piece of text has font/size/color commands.

[This message has been edited by Levi Forman (5/24/2010)]

Just out of curiosity(sp?) did anyone see my retirement announcement in the Star? Just curious because I was told by someone they were going to check into it and send me a copy and I havent heard from them since.

Brian, I suspect Josh was bragging about this.
http://kyuskmta.com/

If you have any doubts, hit the Staff button and scroll down to Josh. Be sure you are running a modern web browser, though. Internet Explorer can't keep up with the cutting edge technology.

That one is better hehe, I was hoping that other site wasn't the resume of someone that was trying to be a professional website builder.

What I'm talking about Josh is get some news, sports and information on your web site. There is nothing informational there. If you get information on your site, you can sell ads on it and when you post new items on it, you keep people coming back. Stream your audio on it, maybe, just maybe you can market your product on it and go visit cable companies and have them stream your audio over their local access channels. All I'm trying to say is the the Star and the radio stations need to think OUTSIDE the box.

Brian, once again you fall short. Wrong Site.

Bill, I am indeed talking about that link. Also, Internet Explorer is supported, but I've yet to check to see if it works well. That is a "this week" thing.

Levi, the site Brian posted was the site I threw up as a basic, get the job done, site. Which I did when I started in 2008. It was functional, but you can tell, not beautiful.

Herbie, that is coming this week. I edit the site, which I have to approve, and then send to Glendive to have them add it to the website. It's a lengthy process. News will be added shortly, Sports will come when that season is here. Information will also be coming soon. I'm fully aware we can sell advertising on the website if we have those 3 things, but we have elected to not sell ads at this time, until we have everything we want on the website. We do stream our audio, just not music. Look into the cost of that, and you will know why. Also, I'm the Tech at the radio station. I don't do anything pertaining to sales or management, so I can't speak about getting 92.3 or 1050 on local access.

Finally, for what this town has for websites right now, I'm pretty sure mine are the best design wise. Just saying. Also, this site went online a week ago. Give it some time.


Edit: I see the Internet Explorer Issue. I'll resolve it in the next revision I send out.

[This message has been edited by Josh Rath (5/24/2010)]

The Star website is back up and running. Thank you for your patience!

I think the Crazy Apron cake lady has the best site based in Miles City, but maybe it's just the great looking cakes!

http://www.aredthread.com

http://www.aredthread.com

Yum. That is a tasty looking portfolio.

Lunch Gun wrote:

Brian, once again you fall short. Wrong Site.

"Once again?" Really?

How's 'bout you provide a link next time, big guy? I did what I could with the information you provided. It wasn't much.

Once again.

(checking out Emo's Super-Fantasmagorical-Funshine-Happyland-Megasite)

Yep, it's a website. Funny - your aura of grandiosity doesn't quite come across in your photo. I get more of a sense of Patton Oswalt's "failure pile in a sadness bowl."

Ever consider doing KFC commericals? You've got the "down" part of "Double Down" down pat. In summation: down.

[This message has been edited by Brian A. Reed (5/28/2010)]

The fact that Brian found the old site is a problem though Josh. When you google "92.3 FM KYUS" that radiomontana site is the first one to come up and the new site is like 6 links down. You might want to take that old site down because I imagine a lot of people are still winding up on it.

Levi, that is something I want to do but I have no control over, sadly.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I have been told that the more times you go to a site the more populated it becomes which would raise the newer site to the top of the list on a search engine. If this is true then you could go in and out of the site and bring it to the top. I have a friend that made a website and it wouldn't come up on google. He did this until his site would show up. Just a thought.

Brian, actually if you announce to google that the site is there, it will rise quickly. As what I did.

How very zen of you, Master Rath.

From the radio station website;

"Our information tech specialist, Josh Rath, is a brilliant young man who has been involved with major online media since December 2006, creating and managing multiple websites. Josh keeps our computers "cutting edge", and handles the streaming audio/video on our special events and programs. Josh doubles as a board operator, and hosts a live show as well."

Brilliant? Major online media? Cutting edge?

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! LMAO!!

From http://www.milescam.com/about

"Hi There, I'm Josh Rath. I'm a 17 year old entrepreneur from / located in Miles City, MT. I've been involved with major online media since December 2006 (When High-Speed internet was made available in my area), creating and managing multiple websites based on numerous types of content."


The young lad likes to brag.....

Thanks for reminding me Herbie, I need to update my Bio. It's a bit out of date.

Also, Herbie, How am I bragging? I currently manage both 92.3 FM and 101.3 FM, MilesCam.com and TeensinTech.com. 3 Totally different things.

GL: That biography was wrote by the radio copyrighter, Lee Akers. In fact, he wrote all of the Biographies.

[This message has been edited by Josh Rath (5/31/2010)]

I don't care if it was written by Honest Abe Lincoln...... still doesn't make any of the three true.........

Hmm... Let's dissect my Bio:

"Our information tech specialist, Josh Rath, is a brilliant young man who has been involved with major online media since December 2006"

I have indeed been involved with major online media since 2006. What did I get my start with? Twitter. I agree with the statement I am brilliant, because when it came to helping make Twitter what it is today, I was helping along with every other bright mind. Oh, and my Job title is "Information Tech Specialist".


"Creating and managing multiple websites."

We went over this.


"Josh keeps our computers "cutting edge", and handles the streaming audio/video on our special events and programs."

Cutting Edge. As in, keeping everything up-to-date, running the latest and greatest versions of software on every computer, along with keeping the hardware up-to-date. The streaming audio/video is a pretty obvious statement, because everyone has seen that.

"Josh doubles as a board operator, and hosts a live show as well."

Yep. I do double as a board op and I host Wutchuwant Tuesday from 3-5pm Tuesdays.

I'm pretty sure it is true, but think what you wish.

"Also, Herbie, How am I bragging? I currently manage both 92.3 FM and 101.3 FM, MilesCam.com and TeensinTech.com. 3 Totally different things."

Josh, I doubt that you "Manage" 92.3 FM and 101.3", I beleive that is Terry Virag's job, I do beleive you a Web Designer.

And you say do you major online media? Doing three small web sites are not "Major Online Media." Streaming audio over the web or video is not a BIG deal. Being the web master for CNN, NBC, CBS or E-Bay, now that's major online media. When you get that stage, I will be more than happy to salute you as a "Major Online Media" web tech.

Herbie, you know what I meant. We are talking about WEBSITES here. Not businesses.

And as I said, I have BEEN involved. I never said I AM involved in it. I was associated with Twitter from 2006-2007.

However, I will give you a "Thata Boy" for the Miles City Web Cam.

Returning to the original topic (HORRORS!!), I guess that by "back up and running" the Star means updating every week or so, whether it needs it or not.
Ken Z.

I agree Ken, seems this way.

Who puts the headlines on the Miles City Star online? The current version is a cry for help (or spell-check).