LOOK OUT, TIMES-DISPATCH ... HERE COMES THE RICHMONDER

 Sports talk radio took another major hit recently when 

MICHAEL PHILLIPS left his popular morning show on WRNL-910 to devote full-time to The Richmonder, the on-line news operation he started in September of 2024 to compete

with The Times-Dispatch for local coverage.

Talk about a mismatch. While the R-TD has been losing 

readership at such a rapid rate that it no longer publishes a print 

edition on Mondays as well as holidays, circulation tumbling 

under 18,000 from the 250,000 in the glory days of not-that-

long ago … The Richmonder, in fewer than two years, has 

grown to 10,000-plus – and counting.

At its current rate of attrition, with on-line viewership at 22,000 

(approx.), The Times-Dispatch is in deep do-do and expected to 

join the Atlanta Journal and Constitution in going paperless, 

relying entirely on getting the news out via e-mail. 

So much for Phillips’ Folly. Is the former RT-D sports editor 

surprised by the rapid rate in which readership has grown? Yes 

and … no. 

“I knew there was a need for straight, old-time reporting here … 

but we still have a long way to go,” Phillips said.

NOT COUNTING a bevy of freelancers … what started out 

essentially as a three-person staff … that included veteran 

reporters GRAHAM MOOMAW and SARAH 

FOGELSONG in addition to Phillips, refuges all from The 

Times-Dispatch, has grown to eight full-timers … with the 

most recent addition ELEANOR SHAW, a recent graduate of 

James Madison U., where she majored in journalism and spent 

two years as editor-in-chief of the student-run award-winning 

paper, The Breeze. Shaw gives The Richmonder a full-time 

presence in Chesterfield county for the first time.

Now, all Phillips REALLY needs to reach his goal of passing the 

RT-D in number of eyeballs “in the next couple of years” is 

someone fill an opening devoted to “Audience Acquisition and 

Community Engagement.” 

In other words a person with a special knack for “strategic 

marketing, digital engagement and community outreach” to 

grow his audience. It sounds easy enough but Phillips knows 

better. He had 150 applicants that have been narrowed down to 

a half-dozen. This is one opening he HAS to get right, no 

question about it. 

SEE, FOR ALL of its modest success, The Richmonder 

remains in the shadows, unknown by most residents, many of 

whom dropped the RT-D because of its clear and unmistakable 

leaning to the left which, in a conservative area, simply won’t 

do.

The Richmonder is dedicated to unbiased reporting … while 

keeping close tabs on “those in power” … in addition to 

“introducing you to [other] people who make a difference in 

Richmond.”

By definition, it is a “nonprofit” … which basically means no 

conventional advertising … depending instead on donations 

from sponsors as well as non-commercial under-writing and 

voluntary, tax-deductible donations from readers who, to date, 

have been extremely generous ... which has helped Phillips add 

to his full-time staff.

Oh, and donors cannot dictate coverage ... unlike the 

advertising-based models of journalism that, for several 

reasons, have failed (according to Phillips) “to support even 

basic reporting about our institutions.”

JUDGING BY interest to date, Phillips knows The Richmonder 

could hit big circulation numbers if only HE can come up with 

ways and means to inform most, if not all, potential readers 

what the goals are. To wit, provide fair – neither right nor left -- 

coverage of the area … but more than just the facts, mam!

For the most part, barring the occasional glitch, Phillips and 

friends have succeeded at that, too. From the beginning, he’s 

had a standing order to refrain from deliberate opinion. 

Columns, despite their potential to create interest, were 

verboten. Still are.

Now, it says here, The Richmonder should lighten up a bit, at 

least in sports which has been devoted pretty much to VCU 

basketball and high school athletics which the competition 

does, too … if not as well.

The addition of free lancer RANDY HALLMAN, long-time 

motorsports writer with Richmond Newspapers, was a definite 

plus during the weekend’s NASCAR coverage from Richmond 

Raceway. And The Richmonder is blessed by yet another ex-

RNI staffer WELDON BRADSHAW’s incomparably 

passioned work covering the preps.

Phillips, who taught a class at VCU, knows the Rams. What 

The Richmonder needs is equal time and space devoted to the 

University of Richmond. More pieces on your Flying Squirrels 

and Colonial Downs would be nice, too. 

But then, what do I know? I’m just a kid.

Until next time ...