Radically Rural goes online this year; Sept. 24 program will include sessions on community journalism, other topics

This year's annual Radically Rural Summit in Keene, N.H., is being condensed to an online, one-day event on Sept. 24 with a registration fee of $59. It includes six programming tracks: Main streets, community journalism, entrepreneurship, arts and culture, land and communities, and clean energy. The community journalism track includes these sessions:

What's at Stake? Newsrooms increase online revenue and readership using data: What causes a non-reader to subscribe? What can be done to better retain existing readers? Who is having success among small news operations using research? And how are reporters and editors leading the effort? With traditional advertising in sharp decline, community news organizations are using research and data to find ways to increase paid readership and membership. Amy Kovac-Ashley of the American Press Institute will lead a panel of Autumn Phillips, managing editor of the Charleston, S.C., Post and Courier; Les High, publisher of The News Reporter in Whiteville, N.C.; and Liz White, chair of the Record-Journal Media Group in central Connecticut. (9 to 10:45 a.m. ET)

Transformation: Rural news breaks out in all sorts of new ways: New journalism models with promise    – digital start-ups, non-profit and co-op ventures, radical new thinking at small news organizations – are springing up across the country, suggesting ways these can be replicated at the small-town level. Kristen Hare of the Poynter Institute leads a panel of Jim Iovino, assistant professor of media innovation at West Virginia University; Larry Ryckman, editor and founder of The Colorado Sun; Les Zaitz, editor and publisher of the Malheur Enterprise in eastern Oregon; and Tamika Moore, managing producer of Red Clay Media in Alabama. (11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. ET)

Crazy Good: 50 idea that will make a difference: A romp through some of the best ways to increase audience and revenue from game-changing news organizations, with a lively show-and-tell on tactics, techniques and products (including examples of outstanding covid-19 coverage). "You will leave with a magazine profiling new approaches and ideas," the website says. "Looking for an ROI on attending Radically Rural? This is it." Led by Linda Conway, executive director of the New England Newspaper and Press Association, and Terrence Williams, CEO of the Keene Sentinel, co-sponsor of the conference. (2 to 3:45 p.m. ET)

The opening keynote speaker, at 8 a.m. ET, will be Becky McCray, a lifelong small-town entrepreneur (business owner and cattle rancher), co-founder of SaveYour.Town, operator of the Small Biz Survival site and author of the award-winning book, Small Town Rules. She’s been featured and quoted in books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, podcasts and university publications. She lives in Hopeton, Oklahoma, population 30. "Her goal is to deliver practical steps you can put into action right away to shape the future of your town," the Radically Rural site says. The closing keynoter will be John Molinaro, a consultant who founded the successful Appalachian Partnership in southeast Ohio after working on community development for 27 years in west-central Minnesota and six years with the Aspen Institute's Community Strategies Group.