TCB at five years: The wheel turns

Year 5 of Triad City Beat is in the books — not literally, because I still have some tax stuff to file, but you know what I mean.

We’ll hit our official anniversary in February, after which there will be a party suitable to the weight of the occasion. Details TK.

A lot of people — myself, at times, included — never thought we’d make it this far, but here we are, hitting the streets every Thursday like a freakin’ metronome and keeping it live on the website.

Now we’re entering a new phase.

Johnathan Enoch joined the advertising team more than six months ago, fresh out of UNCG with a marketing degree and some snappy new clothes. Since then, he has become attuned to the vibe and the mission of TCB, learned our systems and processes. More than that, he has become a true sales professional. Beginning this week he’s on full time as our lead account executive.

As of this issue, we’ve welcomed Sayaka Matsuoka into the fold of altweekly editors — a long line of brilliant malcontents that includes Dan Savage, David Carr and Matt Taibbi. She served an internship here way back in 2015, bounced around state journalism circles a bit and returned as a freelancer in 2018. She’s on the team as associate editor, because she works like a demon in production and can turn around clean copy almost as fast as she can type.

And though it’s taken me almost 15 years, I have finally been able to put my old friend and colleague Jordan Green where I believe he needs to be: surfing the tides on the river of news, plucking out the stories to which he’ll apply his inimitable style of reporting, untethered by the grind of production and distribution.

All these changes come to better serve our readers with the sort of news, cultural reportage and commentary you’ve come to expect — except more so. Just as important: We’re bringing along a new generation of journalism professionals in an industry that sorely needs them.

Thanks for reading us, everybody. Great things to come.