Dear Reader:

We’re pleased to announce that we have contracted with Samuel Worthington to spearhead our advertising and sponsorship efforts on a temporary basis.

A seasoned advertising executive, Sam has 20 years’ experience in the newspaper and digital ad space. The founder of COAXN Strategies, Sam served as publisher of The Roanoke Times, leading the newspaper’s digital and print advertising, from 2021 to 2023.

“COAXN Strategies is delighted to stand by The Roanoke Rambler and collaborate with Henri in this role as a fractional chief revenue officer,” Sam said. “The Rambler's exclusive focus on delivering local news deeply resonates with me and many others in our community. Our collective aim is to boost sponsorship revenue and successfully bring on board another full-time reporter this year. Together, we are committed to fortifying the roots of our local news outlet and contributing to its sustained growth.”

Businesses interested in learning more about advertising in The Rambler can contact Sam at coaxn@outlook.com.

While Sam will help launch The Rambler’s sponsorship program, we still intend to hire a full-time director of revenue to lead our advertising opportunities in the long term. You can find a full job description for that position on this page.

We’re excited for this next chapter.

Support from local businesses will be key in growing our reporting staff so that we can bring more local news and investigative journalism to Roanoke and beyond.

Since our founding two years ago, The Rambler has quickly become a leader of local and investigative journalism in Roanoke. And 2024 promises to be a year of tremendous growth.

As we look to the year ahead, I want to highlight just a few of the stories we’ve covered this year. Without The Rambler, community members would not have the full story about:

⭐️ Roanoke City’s internal report stating that the iconic Mill Mountain Star needs significant repairs — to the point that it may need to be demolished and replaced.

🚌 Greyhound’s abandonment of plans to staff a Roanoke station — made as the city built the bus company a standalone building as part of its multimillion-dollar new transit facility. 

🎭 Virginia Children’s Theatre’s overspending despite early signs the Roanoke nonprofit did not have the funds to do so. 

🏘️ Roanoke City’s shifting plans for the Gainsboro neighborhood as part of a $5 million commitment to revitalize the area with pandemic relief dollars.

Publishing these stories, and many more, is only possible through the support of both readers and local businesses. Your support will allow us to become a sustainable source of local news for years to come.

As we close out 2023, please consider supporting our first end-of-year fundraising campaign, whose success will allow us to achieve our ambitious goals in the new year. We cannot do this without you. Thank you.

Cheers to a great new year,

Henri Gendreau

Publisher and Editor-in-Chief
The Roanoke Rambler
Local | Investigative | Literary
editor@roanokerambler.com