Menifee 24/7 Marks 10th Anniversary With a Look Back

Today marks the 10-year anniversary of the Nov. 1, 2004 launch of Menifee 24/7 as a news website covering the unincorporated area of Menifee. Created by Menifee resident and Internet entrepreneur Steve Johnson, Menifee 24/7 was designed to fill a void in news coverage of the community.

Since its beginnings as a blog providing news briefs about the community, Menifee 24/7 has grown into a major source of breaking news and in-depth coverage of local politics, school districts, sports events, clubs and virtually all other happenings in what is now one of the county's fastest-growing cities. Operating online only and without subscription fees, it is self-sustaining through advertising revenue from local businesses. It has become a rare example of success in a publishing industry where print newspapers are struggling and online-only news sources are closing because of lack of funds.

Over the next month, we will take readers on a trip down memory lane, posting articles and photos from the Menifee 24/7 archives that show both the tremendous growth of Menifee and the website that covers the city. We will also ask readers to send in their comments and recollections about Menifee 24/7 and will reward one reader with a Menifeee 24/7 "anniversary dinner" and night of entertainment. More on that later this week.

First, we have asked Steve Johnson to tell us the story of Menifee 24/7's beginnings and his impressions of the news website he launched 10 years ago today. We thank him for his never-ending support and the special gift he has given to the people of Menifee.

I started Menifee 24/7 at a time when the unincorporated community of Menifee was experiencing rapid growth in population. Riverside County, however, was slow to accommodate the booming growth with infrastructure and shopping, thereby leaving residents feeling unsupported by local representation.

Meanwhile, the Riverside Press Enterprise and The Californian newspapers had all but neglected the Menifee Valley in its news reporting. Residents were hungry for news about when roads would be improved and when more shopping and dining would be added. Because I was already heavily involved in Internet publishing and marketing, I decided to try my hand at local news publishing.

I joined the Menifee Valley Chamber of Commerce around the same time I launched Menifee 24/7 with the goal of creating contacts I could rely on for local news. Even though I didn't have any formal journalism training, I managed to build a small network of local business people who fed me news and information I could publish online.

In 2006, the Menifee Valley Incorporation Committee had reorganized itself for a new effort at cityhood. I was contacted by Ron Royer, who was working on behalf of MVIC, to spread the news about cityhood. I attended one of their meetings, and found out they had let their old website lapse and needed a webmaster. I offered to build one and maintain it for free as part of my donation to the cityhood effort, and they unanimously hired me. That also gave me a source of news I could publish on Menifee 24/7.

Around the same time, I began attending school board meetings at Menifee Union School District to report on school news. Fred Twyman, who was a trustee at the time, took an immediate interest in Menifee 24/7 and spent additional time with me to explain the intricacies of school district politics and finances, just to make sure I could explain things accurately to parents.

When cityhood was put on the ballot in 2008, there were nearly two dozen candidates for City Council. Both Twyman and Scott Mann participated heavily on Menifee 24/7 by posting comments, which in turn helped give the publication credibility.

By 2011, I had hired Tina Walker as a full-time sales and marketing representative. Her efforts to spread the word about Menifee 24/7 around town helped it grow readership while at the same time build revenue. In a couple years' time, Menifee 24/7 was earning enough income to support additional writers and salespeople.

In 2013, I decided to pursue a long-time dream of riding my motorcycle across the country and living on the road permanently to experience all the United States has to offer. I sold Menifee 24/7 to staff writer Doug Spoon and salesperson Shelli Stovall so it could continue on without me.

What residents of Menifee might not fully appreciate is the business success of Menifee 24/7 at a time when hundreds of other hyperlocal news websites are failing. This is an industry that has proven extremely difficult to make profitable, let alone over a 10-year span. Even large corporate efforts like AOL Patch haven't been able to succeed financially. Menifee 24/7, and now Murrieta 24/7, are rare examples of online hyperlocal websites that found the right formula for business and journalism success.