The newspaper announced today the launch of a campaign to enhance Internet service in the Sandhills. The Pilot will roll out free Internet service in the next few weeks, said Publisher David Woronoff.
This new venture will provide Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) Internet access to Moore County, beginning with Southern Pines -- an idea hatched last fall.
"The Pilot's mission is to serve Moore County," Woronoff said, "and we think the technology has advanced to the point that we can help bind the community together in a dynamic and compelling way with The Pilot's products and Internet service."
Today's announcement "marks the culmination of nine months of planning for our staff," he said.
The Pilot finalized the purchase of the WiFi equipment last week, said Eric "Zonker" Harris, the general manager of the venture, who joined The Pilot's staff full time June 1.
Harris, who has worked part time as the newspaper's technology consultant for the past 18 months, is a 34-year industry veteran. He has served stints at publications including The News & Observer of Raleigh, The Fayetteville Observer, The Florida Times-Union and Invest-or's Business Daily.
"We picked the vendor last week for our first two town squares," Harris said. "I'm extraordinarily anxious to climb on some roofs and get this thing on."
The newspaper first will install a WiFi transmitter on top of its own building in downtown Southern Pines. Once proven successful there, the service will be expanded to other parts of the community.
"We'll start with these two sites to validate the equipment … and then we'll expand as quickly as we can to all the other public meeting places (across the county)," Harris said.
Woronoff stressed that the service will be accessible to all, whether readers of the newspaper or not.
He has had conversations with Mayor Frank Quis about installing a second transmitter atop the Douglass Community Center, at the opposite end of Pennsylvania Avenue from The Pilot's offices, to expand the free service to West Southern Pines.
"It's just another example of our commitment to serving Moore County in a complete and comprehensive fashion," Wor-onoff said of the initiative.
What WiFi means to anyone in the coverage area is free Internet access without wires, Harris said.
"You can read your e-mail, check the weather, surf the Web," Harris said, stressing that the service comes at no cost to users.
Since most newer laptops and cell phones come WiFi-enabled, users should have little problem accessing the signal. They need only register with the service to go online.
Any questions regarding the service can be addressed to wireless@thepilot.com.
"If you want it, you'll get it," Woronoff said. "Just tell us who you are, and you're online."
Coupled with the WiFi service, the newspaper is making a push to revitalize its online operations.
A revamped Web site is scheduled to debut in early July, with Web-exclusive podcasts, community-oriented Web logs (blogs) and multimedia projects, among many other additions.
The newspaper has already begun moving to become more of an around-the-clock news source for the area, with constant updates online.
The new site will build on The Pilot's already strong foundation, Woronoff said.
ThePilot.com has averaged about 5,000 unique visitors every day this year. Those readers view, on average for the year, some 23,000 pages per day.
"The online push has energized The Pilot's staff, providing new and exciting tools to tell the community's stories," Editor Steve Bouser said. "We're determined to think about The Pilot as more than a newspaper. It's an information portal.
"The main thing readers will notice is that there'll be lots of opportunities online to dig deeper into stuff they'll read in the paper."
Later in the year, the newspaper will launch a fee-based high-speed wireless broadband network to complement the WiFi network.
Woronoff predicts that the launch of such a network, which will utilize the cutting-edge WiMax technology, will be complete by the end of the year.
For Harris, who in the early 1990s was at the forefront of the newspaper industry's online push, The Pilot's campaign is a chance to "win back the Internet."
"The new broadband technology gives newspapers a chance to get back in the game and extend our ability to serve the community together," Harris said. "The newspaper is still the best and most comprehensive source for news.
"Our goal is to harness these new technologies to make us all that much better."
Ryan Tuck may be reached at ryan@thepilot.com or (910) 693-2507.
