Vancouver 2009: With the Olympics coming to Vancouver there are opportunities to gain enough subscribers for the two publications to make advertisers sit up and take notice. Westcoast German News is a monthly online only newsletter for German-speakers published in English to accommodate those who don’t speak German. “There are a surprising number of non-German speakers interested in German events,” says Elke Porter. The Swiss Herald, also published in English, is meant for card carrying members of the Swiss Society, which is always happy to welcome more members.
Porter started publishing her newsletter under the name “German VOICES Vancouver” in November 2007. This was a result of the Canada-wide Kanada Kourier going bankrupt and the Pazifische Rundschau newspaper being sold to Seattle. Suddenly there was an opportunity for a more up-to-date, local German media to provide a forum for German-speakers in western Canada. After a year, Porter renamed her publication “Westcoast German News”, which expanded the scope of readers to both Canada & the US. There are around 1,000 subscribers, but the publication will need to grow to gain the attention of national and international advertisers.
Meanwhile, the position of editor to the Swiss Herald was vacant for over 6-months and Porter decided it was a great opportunity to gain more experience as well to get to know the Swiss-German Community in greater depth. “The cowbells at the hockey game were a quaint touch”, she said.”And the European Festival was particular exciting with the climbing wall & bouncy castle sponsored by the Swiss Society. These guys know how to have fun!"
Anyone interested in subscribing to Westcoast German News can do so at germanvoices@
