This week on Davisville we hear from Wendy Weitzel and Bob Dunning (in photo at the new KDRT studio), colleagues who exited the Davis Enterprise in mid-2024 and recreated their work on Substack. We talk about their readership and fast success, which has held up during the intervening months and has roots in their skills as local journalists with deep knowledge of Davis.
We also get an update from Brian Bolz, a Davis tech entrepreneur who helped them get started on Substack last summer. Although no longer active in their ventures, he also looked into starting a local news project he called Local Press. He has put it aside to focus on his other work, but “I still feel there is an opportunity for a sustainable business model to succeed at the local level (in addition to solo publications like Bob and Wendy’s),” he wrote in an email. “Should a trusted, credible package be offered, I think paid subscribers would show up for it.”
Today we get an update on Dunning and Weitzel's parts of the ongoing change in Davis media.
