Capital Outlook’s 40th Anniversary

By Rev. R.B.Holmes Jr.
President/ Publisher

This year the Capital Outlook will prayerfully and proudly celebrate our 40th year in business.

We owe a great deal of appreciation and respect to Mr. Steve Beasley for his vision to birth the Capital Outlook in 1975. What a vision? The Black press has always been the eyes and ears that covered the news in the Black community. There are over 100 black owned newspapers in this country. The Florida Star in Jacksonville, Fla. is the oldest Black paper in the state. Thank God for the vision of Steve Beasley for being the founder of this great newspaper we have come to know as the Capital Outlook.
Also, we must give accolades to the following owners of the Outlook: Arthur Teele, Sharon Woodson, Allen and Helen Stucks, Walter and Jeraldine Smith and the legendary Roosevelt and Cathy Wilson. These men and women kept this paper alive and active for many years. Live Communications, Inc., counts it a blessing and honor and challenge to now own this great community treasure. We will later in this year, officially celebrate our 40th anniversary. We will honor our founder and past owners. We must “give honor to whom honor is due,” my friends, these good people are worthy of honor. Please stay tuned for the announcement of this celebration.

Where do we go from here? In the very near future, our readers and subscribers will see the Capital Outlook’s new design. We are working fervently to come up with an improved design with the hope of making the paper more reader friendly. Our staff is working to strengthen our digital and website components. We want to post breaking news on our web site; we want our website to be uniquely fresh and appealing.

We will announce our director of marketing and sports in the very near future. It is our goal to bring to our readers dynamic sports coverage at all levels, such as youth, high school, collegiate and professional. This is a sports town and your Outlook will keep you informed in this area. Also, we will spearhead a breakout sports talk show on WTAL 1450AM in the upcoming months. By the way, tune in to the station as we carry the Tampa Bay Rays baseball games. You can find the schedule by going to the WTAL website.

Our new marketing director will contact our local businesses to advertise in the paper, on the website and the radio stations. Let me be clear, we are the only African-American owned newspaper and radio station in the Big Bend. I hope that our programming and news will be good enough to bring more advertisers our way.

Furthermore, there will be a few more steps that we are going to implement as we celebrate our 40th anniversary. We will have special features on health and fitness; finance and financial planning; youth and young adults; the family of the month; the persons of the week; the business of the month and more focused local news. You can help us by sending stories and letting us know what are some of the good and uplifting things happening in the community.

We will continue to help support our community organizations, universities and most specifically organizations that are geared to help at risk families and youth. This year, we will develop a renewed relationship and partnership with the United Way of the Big Bend.

We are proud of the election of Mrs. Katrina Rolle as the President and CEO of the United Way of the Big Bend. We want to reintroduce our readers to these great United Way organizations that serve the young, the old, the poor, the weak and really the less fortunate. It is our desire to have President Rolle to delegate an agency that we will highlight weekly. We did this about four years ago and it was a great success.

We will partner with the Bethel Empowerment Foundation this August to honor the living Presidents of Florida A & M University. This event will be called the Legacy Banquet and will be held August 27. You will hear more about this event in the coming months. This will be an historic celebration, honoring the men and women who kept FAMU alive for over 140 plus years.

Please pray for us, subscribe to the paper, recruit a friend to be a subscriber, pick up a paper at one of our locations, send a letter to the editor, drop by our office to chat with staff and give us your ideas and concerns. We truly want this to be your gateway to understanding the good things that are happening in our beloved city. Thank God and you, for 40 years!