This New Year’s celebration marks the 25th anniversary of the Londonderry Times, a publication that has been steadfast in providing weekly coverage to its community at a time when many others have lost their hometown news source.
The Times has not only survived through a number of challenging circumstances, but has also remained under the same ownership for that quarter-century.
Deb and Chris Paul began publishing the newspaper in January 2000. Like the changes in the community, some positive and some negative, the local newspaper industry has also experienced many shifts over the years.
Since its inception, the Times has faced numerous challenges, including ice storms that devastated the entire state, financial hardships, and a worldwide pandemic and significant health issues to both partners. Despite these obstacles, the Londonderry Times has consistently delivered news free of charge to every home in Londonderry without missing a single unplanned week.
When the couple started the newspaper, Chris and Deb were relatively new to the area and saw a gap in the community’s news coverage. They initially published a monthly paper, which transitioned to a bi-weekly schedule and eventually to a weekly publication in order to keep residents informed about local happenings in their growing community. Neither Deb nor Chris had a journalism background; rather, they aimed to keep the community updated. Deb brought a sales and marketing background, while Chris had experience in graphic design and advertising. Together, they worked weekends to produce each issue.
The publication began during a particularly divided period in the town, as citizen groups were mobilizing against the Granite Ridge power plant, then known as AES. Interestingly, a number of citizens believed the newspaper was being financially supported by the owners of the power plant, which was never the case.
Publisher Deb Paul recollects, “We ran a few informational ads at the time that were being paid for by the pipeline company, I guess that’s where that rumor started.”
She added, “It was a very different time back then, the town had a much more rural feel and the industry was just getting up to speed on the digital era.”
Initially, the files for each issue had to be driven to Concord on Sunday nights for printing by the Concord Monitor, with distribution on Wednesdays. Although the Times has changed printers a few times to reduce costs, it now continues to be printed by the Monitor.
By 2004, when the paper began being published weekly, it was time to move out of their home and into an office. This led to the creation of Nutfield Publishing, originally located near the airport on Harvey Road.
During that period, they launched another publication, The Nutfield News, which covered the towns of Derry and Auburn. Two years later, the Tri-Town Times was established to provide news to Chester, Sandown, and Hampstead.
Unfortunately, at the end of 2022, due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nutfield News and Tr-Town Times ceased to be published.
However, in November of 2023, Nutfield Publishing expanded into Hudson with The Hudson Times, another weekly newspaper that serves the community by providing local news.
These publications would never have existed without the support of local businesses and their advertising. Deb Paul expressed her gratitude, saying, “We’ve had a lot of advertising support throughout the years, and to all of those businesses, I can’t thank you enough. It’s through their support we’ve been able to survive.”
Paul also said, “I see our biggest challenge throughout the years has been combating our competitors, we filled a niche that no publisher seemed to care about until we started the Times. Suddenly we were viewed as a threat to their revenue.”
Deb also emphasized, “In the end, this paper is about keeping people informed about what’s going on in their community. We’ve seen a trend toward social media for news; however, more often than not, that news is opinion-based. My goal is to present the news without bias and just keep people informed.”
As the Londonderry Times looks forward to the next quarter-century, we hope that support continues and that residents appreciate our efforts.