Whether it’s a distinctive locale such as “Mackinac” (pronounced Mackinaw), or a local councilmember’s surname, this new capability allows you to make sure the audio output reflects your publication’s authentic voice.

What’s New

A new Pronunciations section is now available in the WordPress Dashboard. From this screen, editors can create custom entries for any word or phrase that might otherwise be mispronounced. Each entry lets you specify how the word should sound, either through a simple text alias or using phonetic notation. You can preview the pronunciation before saving, and options are available for handling case sensitivity and word boundaries.

Once saved, these rules are automatically applied whenever an Audio Article is generated on your site, ensuring consistency and accuracy across all future recordings.

Why It Matters

Local newspapers often include names that automated systems can’t easily recognize or pronounce correctly. This update allows you to preserve the character and credibility of your reporting by making sure these names are spoken the way your readers expect to hear them. The result is a smoother listening experience that better reflects the identity of your community.

How to Get Started

To begin using this feature, log in to your site’s WordPress Dashboard and open Audio Articles → Pronunciations. Click Add New Pronunciation, enter the word and its desired pronunciation, and preview the result. Once published, your pronunciation settings will take effect automatically the next time an Audio Article is created.

Example

In this example, the editor has entered:
Word: Mackinac
Alias text: Mackinaw

The audio system will now pronounce “Mackinac” correctly as “Mackinaw” in all future audio articles. To regenerate the audio version of an existing article, you will need to edit and update that article to trigger processing of the audio anew.

Using Phoneme Mode (IPA)

For advanced control, editors can switch to Phoneme (IPA) mode and specify pronunciations using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). This is especially useful when the standard alias text still doesn’t produce a natural result.

For example, instead of entering “Mackinaw” as a text alias, you could enter its phonetic equivalent:
/ˈmækɪnɔː/

Here are a few commonly used IPA symbols that may help with local or regional names:

This standardized approach can be a powerful option for sites serving multilingual audiences or regions with distinctive dialects. Here’s a downloadable chart from the IPA for reference.

Available Now

The custom pronunciation feature is available immediately for all customers using Audio Articles. We encourage you to try it out and refine your publication’s audio output for your local audience.

If you have any questions or would like assistance setting it up, please contact our support team at support@our-hometown.com.

Would you like me to create a shorter version (2–3 paragraphs) of this same announcement for inclusion in your customer newsletter or Mailchimp campaign?

The post Custom Pronunciation Settings for Audio Articles first appeared on Our-Hometown.

This webinar, hosted by Matt Larson, President and CEO of Our-Hometown Web Publishing, with Betsy Edwards, Executive Director of the Virginia Press Association (VPA), detailed the VPA’s successful Digital Initiative. The initiative aims to bring all Virginia newspapers online with their own websites, driven by the critical need for digital presence for business, public notice compliance, and long-term sustainability. The discussion covered the program’s origins, its three-year financial support model, impressive growth metrics from six initial papers, and the broader implications for the future of local news, including legislative pressures around public notices and the potential for grant funding. Our-Hometown’s full-service platform and partnership model were highlighted as key to the initiative’s success, offering a replicable model for other press associations.

If you are a publisher or representative of a press association and would like more information, please reach out to us at ops@our-hometown.com

The post Our-Hometown & VPA Digital Initiative: A Model for Newspaper Sustainability — Webinar Replay first appeared on Our-Hometown.

Seamless Podcast Management

With the Buzzsprout iOS app, managing your audio content becomes as mobile as your readers. Update your podcast episodes, check statistics, and even fix typos on the fly. It’s the perfect companion for the busy publisher who values efficiency and mobility.

Real-Time Engagement

Keep your finger on the pulse of your audience’s engagement. The app provides real-time notifications for new milestones, episode publications, and listener interactions. This means you can celebrate every success and stay connected with your audience, wherever you are.

Data-Driven Decisions

Access to comprehensive statistics allows you to make informed decisions about your content. Understand your listeners’ preferences and tailor your audio articles to meet their interests, enhancing both their experience and your reach.

Accessibility and Convenience

The Buzzsprout iOS app aligns with the convenience and accessibility of Our-Hometown’s Audio Articles. Just as your readers can listen to articles with a simple touch, you can manage your audio content with equal ease.

Get Started

We recommend the Buzzsprout iOS app to all Our-Hometown publishers who are using our Audio Articles feature. 

Download it from the Apple App Store and log in with your Buzzsprout account to start managing your audio articles today.

We’re excited to see how the Buzzsprout iOS app will support your journey with Our-Hometown’s Audio Articles. Together, let’s continue to innovate and provide exceptional news experiences to your readers.

If you are not using Audio Articles on your website, reach out to us at ops@our-hometown.com to learn more!

The post Buzzsprout’s New iOS App: A Perfect Partner for Your Audio Articles first appeared on Our-Hometown.

In the ever-evolving digital landscape, the role of artificial intelligence (AI) has become a topic of intense discussion and scrutiny. This video commentary delves into this complex issue, offering a unique perspective on the potential dangers of AI, particularly in relation to the effects of social media.

The commentary features Matt and Christopher, who dissect the AI Dilemma, a video originally by Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin. The duo watches the video, providing their insights and interpretations, and invites viewers to join them in this exploration of AI’s potential pitfalls.

The video commentary is not just a cautionary tale about AI and social media. It’s a call to action, urging viewers to engage in a dialogue about these pressing issues. The hosts encourage viewers to share their thoughts on the episode through various social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

The video is part of a broader effort by Our Hometown to foster a deeper understanding of the digital world and its implications. Despite being a lengthy watch at just over 51 minutes, it’s a thought-provoking commentary that is sure to spark conversations about the role of AI in our society.

The post Unraveling the AI Dilemma | OHT Commentary first appeared on Our-Hometown.

In our latest podcast, the Our-Hometown team shares their insights on an episode by ColdFusion on the Dead Internet Theory, a concept suggesting most internet activity is the work of bots. They believe this issue, driven by profit and occasional geopolitical interference, is a significant challenge we need to address.

The video discusses a study showing only 57.7% of internet users are human, with harmful bots making up 27.7%. It’s alarming to see the proportion of humans on the internet at its lowest in eight years, while bad bots are increasing at a rate of 5% per year. The team believes the growing abilities of generative AI will impact these numbers in the future.

They also touch on the different types of bots, the use of plugins to identify bots, and the issue of bots spamming comments on YouTube videos. They discuss the implementation of CAPTCHA and the need to mitigate security risks, and the use of two-factor authentication (2FA) for user security.

The video concludes by discussing the creation of an AI version of an influencer named April Isabella and the potential for AI influences on social media platforms like Instagram. They warn about an inversion point where YouTube bots would make up a larger percentage of viewership than real people, distorting analytics and making it harder to identify real traffic from fake traffic.

The team encourages us to develop critical thinking skills and technological literacy to combat the wave of low-quality AI-generated content. They believe that developing safeguards like content credentials is as important as the development of the technology itself.

Chapters

00:00 – Intro
02:33 – Dead Internet Theory
06:23 – Bots and Bots
21:05 – AI Influencers
23:52 – Fake on Facebook
25:28 – Turing Turns
29:25 – AI and Trust
32:17 – Final Thoughts

The post Dead Internet Theory by ColdFusion | OHT Commentary first appeared on Our-Hometown.

In this video, the OHT team provides commentary on an interview between Lex Fridman and Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI. They discuss various topics related to ChatGPT and the personalization of models. They explore the idea of feedback mechanisms and the potential for users to report, upvote, or downvote responses.

They also touch on the democratization of the alignment process and the importance of keeping alignment ahead of the capabilities of models. The conversation delves into topics like human training, reinforcement learning, and the challenges of aligning models with different values across countries.

They also discuss the partnership between Open AI and Microsoft, as well as the potential business model changes and the role of safety in AI development. Throughout the conversation, they mention various features and possibilities related to the Open AI system and its applications.

Chapters

00:00 – Intro
00:22 – GPT-4
06:41 – RLHF
15:30 – AI Safety
19:05 – Alignment vs. Capability
25:14 – System Prompts
28:00 – AI Engine Prompts
31:52 – Steerability
35:04 – Business Model
38:45 – Relationship with Microsoft

The post OpenAI and ChatGPT: Lex Fridman interviews CEO Sam Altman first appeared on Our-Hometown.

In this commentary video, the Our-Hometown team engage in casual forum-style discussions based on an episode of the Lex Fridman podcast featuring Mark Zuckerberg.

They highlight how Zuckerberg’s discussion about AI aligns with their vision of developing chat bots. The team mentions the availability of open-source AI models, such as GPT, and the potential use of Facebook’s AI in their own chat bot development. They delve into the importance of open sourcing AI and the benefits it offers to researchers and developers.

The conversation also touches on the significance of alignment in AI models and the potential risks associated with AGI. The team explores various possibilities of utilizing AI, including customized chat bots for businesses and content generation based on specific prompts.

The video concludes with discussions on training models, generating summaries, and potential applications for AI in journalism and local events coverage.

Chapters

00:00 – Start
00:53 – AI and Open Source
10:01 – Models and Datasets
11:57 – AI Chatbots and Personalization
14:26 – AI Engine for WordPress
19:22 – Model Alignment
21:13 – Open Source = More Secure
22:44 – Custom Chatbots
25:00 – AI Engine: Content Creation
Original Podcast Video:    • Mark Zuckerberg: …  
Transcript: https://steno.ai/lex-fridman-podcast-…

The post META and AI: Insights from the Lex Fridman interview with Mark Zuckerberg first appeared on Our-Hometown.

We wanted to help our customers start the new year off on the right foot by offering several simple methods publishers can use to increase subscription revenue in 2023.

Below are 10 Ways to Increase Subscription Revenue this year:

1. Combo Subscriptions

It is no secret that the traditional print newspaper is on the decline. While the older generation may continue to cling to the physical product, most readers prefer to consume their news digitally these days.

In some households, a Combo Subscription may provide the perfect balance. Mom and Dad can still enjoy reading the newspaper during their morning coffee, while the kids can stay up-to-date on the latest school closings via your website’s Breaking News newsletter.

Price the combo subscription higher than either a standalone Print or Digital Subscription, but lower than if someone were to subscribe to both separately.

2. Print Subscription Upgrades

Piggybacking on the Combo Subscriptions idea, you also might consider offering online access to any readers with an existing offline subscription via the use of a Print Upgrade option.

Our Print Upgrade Membership offers a solution for readers to verify their active print subscription in order to gain matching online access, either for free or for an additional charge.

The more print readers that you can convert to digital readers, the better.

3. QR Codes

QR Codes have become a very effective tool in the realm of advertising and reader engagement. These days, nearly everybody is walking around with a smartphone in their pocket that can quickly scan a QR code and take them to a specific webpage or application.

Use this to your advantage!

You could come up with some creative marketing ideas involving QR codes that link back to your website. You can even have the QR code direct readers to a special, limited-time offer for a subscription at a discounted price, and advertise the offer at news stands and pickup locations where your publication is distributed.

Speaking of discounts…

4. First Year Discounts

Offering discounts to first-time subscribers is always a great way to cultivate readership. People will always take advantage of the opportunity to try out a service before committing to the full price.

Consider offering a 1 Year Subscription to New Subscribers at a 25% discount (for example).

Whether you are using Auto Renewing Subscriptions or One-Time Payment memberships, our platform allows you to offer first-year discounts to new subscribers by adjusting just a few settings.

5. First Month Discounts

Just like First Year Discounts, offering first-month discounts is another tried and true method for growing your subscriber base and increasing your subscription revenue.

A person buying a full year subscription to your newspaper will probably already have a decent idea of what to expect from your publication, but of course there will also be readers who just simply aren’t going to shell out for a full year subscription without trying it out first — no matter how big the discount on the annual membership is.

That is what makes Monthly Subscriptions a great tool, especially when combined with a First-Month Discount. For example, if your monthly subscription is priced at $8/month, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to offer a promotion where readers get the first month for just $0.99.

Monthly subscriptions are almost always set up as Automatically Renewing subscriptions, so once a reader has subscribed for the first month at $0.99, they will automatically be renewed at the standard $8/month price point until they cancel their subscription.

If you price your monthly subscription strategically so that twelve month-to-month payments is more expensive than a single full-year payment, you will quickly make back any money you lost on the first-month discount and more!

6. Coupon Codes for Newsletter Subscribers

Many publications on our platform utilize our Newsletter package in order to send out New Edition Notices, Breaking News Updates, and other marketing material.

While the majority of folks receiving these emails are already paid subscribers, you’ll also likely have several folks who have signed up for the newsletter just to get the headlines, but have not actually committed to a paid subscription.

You can target these readers by including Coupon Codes and special offers inside of the newsletters you send out to help entice them to take the plunge and pay for a subscription.

7. Don’t forget your Ex-Subscribers

Hey, nobody likes a break-up.

It is never a fun thing to lose a subscriber. It can be a tough pill to swallow to know that a reader no longer finds your hard work and content worth the price of a subscription.

But we’ve all heard the saying: “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”

All of those former subscribers of yours, at one point, did find your content worth the price of a subscription — and that makes them incredibly valuable leads to target with discounts and special promotions in hopes of enticing them to restart their subscription.

Try targeting some of your former subscribers with some special offers and see if a discount is enough to earn back their loyalty!

8. Expand Your Brand

Another way to attract new readers is to expand your brand by offering new products and features to your readers. For example, you may consider adding Audio Articles to give your readers the ability to listen to the news on the go, or publish a Business Directory that readers can visit to find information about local businesses.

Many publications have found success launching a weekly or monthly Podcast alongside their standard printed edition, and others have even began producing in-house video content to help modernize their digital product.

9. Get Busy on Social Media

Social Media remains one of the most powerful tools for quickly sharing news and information within a community, which can essentially become free advertisement for a newspaper if your story is being shared widely.

The great thing about social media is that while you might think your content is only relevant to members of your own community, you may come to find that readers nationwide or even worldwide are interested in what you’ve published, and were able to find your content via social sharing.

Always share your content as much as possible on social media, and ask your readers to do the same!

10. Contests and Giveaways

Contests and giveaways can be handy tools for soliciting subscriptions as well. How many times have you signed up for a newsletter you had no interest in or re-tweeted a tweet from an account that you wouldn’t normally follow — just to enter some sort of giveaway?

Consider applying this same concept to your newspaper.

Many publications already host contests throughout the year to create engagement with readers and the community. We’ve seen photo contests, trivia contests, and plain old giveaways hosted on our websites, often supported by community sponsors.

If your publication is in a position where you’re able to host contests and giveaways, occasionally with prizes donated by a local business or sponsor, you could limit participation to newspaper subscribers.

If you have a particularly popular contest or a particularly attractive prize, you may see a boost in new subscriptions as folks throughout the community subscribe for a chance to win.

These are just a few simple methods any publication can use to generate additional revenue this year. If you have any questions or would like to discuss executing any of these strategies on your website, just email our support team at ops@our-hometown.com at any time!

The post 10 Ways to Increase Subscription Revenue in 2023 first appeared on Our-Hometown.

In this live webinar replay, Our-Hometown CEO Matt Larson, is joined by Tyler Wood and Christopher Winders from the OHT team, in which they discuss the revenue opportunities in podcasting. From host-read and programmatic advertising, to new subscription tools on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, there have never been more ways to monetize audio. Matt also demonstrates some of the automated tools for generating audio from text content, including Audio Articles.

Topics Covered

Host Read ads

• Most common format, easy to create.
• Effective at holding audience’s attention since they’re in the same voice/tone of the content.
• Audio Articles includes option to automatically create pre roll ads in the narrator’s voice. 

Affiliate Marketing

• Buzzsprout referral link

Programmatic Ad Placements

• Spotify – “Ambassador” 50 listeners, house ads for Anchor
• Buzzspout – Available to podcasts with large audiences

Spotify and Apple Podcasts Subscriptions

• These apps have built their own audience that we can get our brand in front of by bringing our content to them, in a format they prefer.
• Require manual upload to “Anchor” and “Apple Podcast Connect” ($20/year).
• Other platforms include Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music

Podcast Subscription on your website

• Paywall the podcast playlist on your website in order to collect 100% of the revenue.
• Audio Articles Playlists can be integrated into any website as a 3rd party, with its own paywall to generate “Audio Only” subscription revenue.

The post Revenue Opportunities for Newspaper Podcasts | Webinar Replay first appeared on Our-Hometown.

In this publisher interview the Our-Hometown team is joined by Keven Zepezauer, President and Publisher at Restoration NewsMedia in North Carolina. We hear about the onboarding process of multiple sites, as well as features customized for their needs, such as a source-based paywall, advanced newsletter design, print-digital subscription management via CircPro, and a new dark visual theme implementation.

The post Keven Zepezauer of Restoration NewsMedia | OHT Publisher Interview first appeared on Our-Hometown.