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By Shaun Pilfold and Rob Montgomery
Kelowna.com will no longer be a full-fledged local news site after today. We’d like to thank our readers and members of the local business community for their support.
We at Ogopogo Media had hoped to bring to Kelowna an exciting, relevant and in-depth online news site, focusing on what happens in our community.
After more than 10 months of hard work by our staff and considerable investment, we have come up short in achieving that goal.
Our local news was second-to-none for timeliness and depth, but it wasn’t enough to capture the hearts, minds and mouse-clicks of this community.
Whether it was because we started up during a recession, took on a well-entrenched competitor like Castanet or our lack of media experience, the reality is that our foray into the news market didn’t work well enough to justify the ongoing costs to produce it at the standards we set.
That’s why we have chosen to bow out, rather than continue on with a pared down product.
Competition usually means businesses have to work harder to produce a stronger product than their rivals and we believe that during our time here we did that. We challenged the other local news sources to be better and we can only hope they maintain those standards in the future.
We wish to thank all the present and former staff of Kelowna.com for their efforts.
In the newsroom, there was managing editor Marshall Jones, assistant editor John McDonald, reporters Joe Fries, Kathy Michaels, Chris Stanford, Pieter Uni, Gary Moore, Mark Stone, Adrian Nieoczym, and Holly Miyasaki.
Thanks to our our sales staff, including Nicole Hilstob, Amber Coyle and Tim Kletsky. Making the site work day-in and day-out, were programmers Joel Sholdice and Garrett Lajambe. We also want to thank former marketing co-ordinator Alicia Blackstone and content writer Tom Wolfer.
Kelowna.com will continue to provide tourism related information to the world about our city of Kelowna – just as we did before entering the news market last year.
We also look forward to bringing you additional local content in the near future, so stay tuned for those changes.
Thanks again for your support.
Shaun Pilfold and Robert Montgomery, Ogopogo Media Inc.
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Sorry to hear that. I preferred your site for local news.
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So Sad!!! I start my mornings to your best of the web, good giggles…and you guys are always first with the local info!! You will be missed!
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Too bad. Kelowna.com may not have been great, but yours was definitely the better of the two website.
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Sad to hear … Kelowna.com seemed to have more up to date stories, more information and better layout than castanet.net … very sad to see you go :(
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So disappointing! This was by far the better of the two sites especially for news, original articles, and updates.
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Top marks to all involved for running a first class site with well written and properly researched stories by dedicated and talented reporters and editors. Kelowna has lost another independant editorial voice in a shrinking local news business. Best wishes to your former employees, and good luck to Shaun and Robert as they re-tool and move on.
Chris Cleaver
News Director
K963 fm
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So sorry to see you go, I thought your news stories were bang on, and up to the minute not just news feeds from other websites. I also appreciated that you took the time and interest to report on the arts and culture around town.
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Well dang …. that is not cool. You will be missed. I would always choose to check your site first over castanet. hmph
Best of luck to you all in your new endevours ….
Cheers
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Sorry to see you go, I was a convert from Castanet and while I use both sites for various reasons, the timeliness of the news and the quick updates were appreciated. Hope to see a revival at a later date.
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You will all be missed, I repeatedly click onto your site through out the day to check on updates and new stories. I think you needed more advertisement, I only heard about you through word of mouth, and have enjoyed every day since hearing about you. Good luck with all your future endevours.
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That sucks. Thanks for all your hard work, I enjoyed your website. I won’t be going back to Castanet. I guess it’s on to canada.com as my new homepage.
Very sad to see you go.
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Very surprised to hear you are shutting down the local news. Your coverage of the courts was excellent.
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So sorry to hear that:-( Just know that you guys did a great job and all your work was not in vain.
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Sorry to hear it – something I especially liked here that the other guys haven’t learned is that you often updated old news items rather than leave us hanging… “did anyone DIE in that car crash?”
Good on you guys for making the effort and doing it well. Hopefully you’ve learned and everyone else learns from you.
Cheers!
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I agree with all the comments of your other fans..your site was much better than Castanet. I hope you will come back some day because your site was very informative and easy to read.
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This is really unfortunate news you had to report. Yours was the superior local news site by leaps and bounds! I very much enjoyed your prompt and attentive news service for the past year. Thank-you and best wishes to all of the staff!
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I believe that if you advertised your presence more aggressively that more people would have “hit” your website. I only discovered your site a couple of months ago when a friend “googled” for information and forwarded the link to me. I think better marketing might have been the solution for your company rather than just finding advertisers to fund your website. I’ll miss the articles by Joe, John and Paul and others and most of all the Soduko puzzles. Wishing you all the best.
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Sorry to see you go – I really enjoyed visiting your site as part of my morning routine. Here’s to a job well done.
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What???!!! I am so disappointed. I love your site. A must for up-to-date news. Sorry it didn’t work out. You will be missed!
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Sorry to hear that it is your last day. All the best to you in the future. Kelowna.com was a great addition to Kelowna news and will be missed.
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This is unfortunate. I enjoyed your website and sad to see it change.
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Really sorry to see you go. We loved the site and seeing the little smart cars around town. Best of luck on future endeavors.
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Very sad to see you go — you provided actual reporting, not just sensational headlines and horrible Photoshopped images, a la Castanet. I definitely preferred you guys over the competition, but it’s too bad there weren’t enough of me.
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Personal and professional opinion – any website who’s primary revenue stream is advertising, that refuses to work to the globally accepted models as published by http://www.iab.net – including standard ad sizes, and standard costing methods of CPC and CPM, with time, will fail.
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Shame. Agreed, better than castanet and their wonderfully photoshopped images.
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I am very sorry to see Kelowna.com go. I read the news every day, it was set up well to read on a portable device, provided just the right amount of detail and the had perfect blend of local and national news.
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I have to say I am quite disappointed that Kelowna.com is “bowing out” after just 10 months. It was a great site that was improving each day and narrowing the gap with Castanet.
Most businesses take two to three years to break even so I am suprised that the owners had an expectation that they would be able to do this within one year. The ones I feel the worst for are the staff, with many leaving their previous employers to move over.
Wish the staff the best.
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Sorry to see you go. I love Kelowna.com and really enjoy celebrity sizzle, you will be missed. The information on this site was excellent and I always go to Kelowna.com over Castanet.
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Really is too bad. Castanet has become a bit too much in terms of liking themselves way too much. I really enjoyed the Court information and speediness at your stories. Castanet is lazy and filled with so many errors that it had become way down on my list of sites to visit.
You know in time this site would have passed castanet but of course, it takes money to last, and like so many small businesses, its not possible to suck up losses waiting for the good days.
You will be missed for sure.
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Too bad, sorry to hear. kelowna.com was a refreshing change from your local competitor, easy on the eyes and relevant. It would seem not everyone values professional journalism and a quality looking product. It’s a sad realization that classifieds and forums trump news.
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I love your site, its the first site I visit in the morning for my daily news updates!! I am sad to hear that you won’t be continuing, and wish you well in your future endeavors.
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You put out a classy and well written product,Im sorry to see you go as I had a great time kibitsing back and forth with John McDonald in the opinion section as did a lot of other people.The forms and opinions were a great way for the people of Kelowna to have a say,truly sad to see you go and I wish all of the employees all the best in the future.
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Sorry to hear of the closing Kelowna.com. I found that the news was published sooner quite often and reported better. Too bad you could not have hung in there for another year. I know it would of taken off. I was surprised at how many people did not know about your site. I only heard about it when it was referred to on Casanets forum (before it was deleted LOL)
Best of luck to all the staff….
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This is the most disppointing news I have had all week! Sorry to see you go. Early in the year I made the transition from C*stanet to Kelowna.com myself, and I too noticed the quality difference between the two sites. The way you elaborated on important news items (i.e. court reporting) was second to nobody else in the valley, while all the while the other site merely cranked out headlines as fast as it could. When that others site changed its focus to sports headlines I stopped viewing altogether. If I see the words “file photo” below what I think is a topical, relevant photo for a story again I’m going to scream!
I hope you come back sooner rather than later. I’ll be waiting. Best wishes.
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I’m so sorry to see you leave. I loved your site – from content right down to the design. You’ll be greatly missed.
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Im really sorry to hear this!! I visited your site daily and really liked the stories you published. In my opinion castanet doesnt even compare when it comes to your news feed. I hope that one day you will be able to successfully achieve your goal! Congratulations on what you have achieved, and dont give up.
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While your site was not perfect, you’re news coverage was more accurate and less biased, and you had headlines that actually matched the articles, unlike that “other” site.
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Will the domain name be for sale sometime in the future?
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This is so sad! I just started to use this site more, and find it way easier to use and castanet sucks.
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After moving here last year I was thrilled to come across this little gem for local news and what’s happening across the country. I too found Castanet lazy and filled with numerous errors so I was shocked to hear on the radio that you guys were closing down. Now where am I going to go for my Best of the Web???
Suffice it to say, a more aggressive marketing campaign would have enabled you to become more successful, as many didn’t even know you existed and that’s a darn shame. With time you would have surpassed Castanet due to your accurate, up to date reporting, interesting commentaries, celebrity articles and your sleek design. As well, I found your comments section to be a huge benefit to garner more involvement within our community, so I have to say you will be sorely missed.
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From reading the above article it seems to me that Kelowna.com is disappointed by its revenue expectations. I value the internet as a FREE source of ALL sorts of information. If it’s a fast buck your enterprise desires I suggest starting a newspaper instead.
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I am very sorry to hear that. I love your site. I enjoyed the best of the web section for it’s selection of weird and funny sites and great news coverage – (are you listening Castanet?). I hope this raising of the bar will by Kelowna.com will show what can be and bon chance to everybody for their future endevours.
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Too bad. You had fair and likeable reporters who covered the pro life effort in Kelowna in a complete and balanced manner. Thank you for that and best of luck in the future!
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Your site has a beautiful aesthetic. It’s easy to view and navigate-very pleasing to the eye.
As others have commented, your local news was more detailed and up to date than Castanet. You utilized multimedia much better.
The interface on your site was far superior as well. Castanet is not user friendly-all it has going for it is a good classified section.But that site has a tired outdated look.It’s passe.
You have a great domain name so I’m sure you’ll be successful as a tourism site. My only complaint was that your RSS feed didn’t give me local stories-rather national news which I can get elsewhere.
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A special thanks to all your reporters for doing such an great job! This news source will be missed in the community.
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Shaun, thanks for inspiring me with Kelowna.com. Love your inspiration, foresight and guts. I know this won’t stop you and Robert, just a time to breath and regroup.
Been there.
Still love the KelownaRightNow cars!
Your WorkSmarter Buddy,
Ed – Michigan – USA
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