Welcome to the new, independently owned Quad Cities Regional Business Journal (QCBJ). Today we launched its website. Our flagship print publication will first be printed and mailed to paid subscribers on Jan. 24, 2022.
My name is John Lohman, and I am the Founder, Co-owner and Group Publisher of the Corridor Media Group, Inc., a family-owned media company based in North Liberty, Iowa. We have been publishing the weekly Corridor Business Journal (CBJ) since 2004 in the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City region.
Several years after we started the CBJ, I was asked by the then-mayor of Bettendorf Mike Freemire to create a similar business journal in the Quad Cities. Mr. Freemire expressed admiration for our business-focused news content as well as the events that helped build and advance regionalism and overall economic development in the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City region.
We were flattered by Mr. Freemire’s request, but at the time we were still getting the young business off the ground and felt that it would be too difficult to start something in the Quad Cities at that time.
The idea of creating something in the Quad Cities never left.
Fast forward to 2021. We had been spending a lot of time thinking strategically during the pandemic about how to continue to grow our family business in a changing economy with changing news habits. The Quad Cities business journal idea kept coming back up; most recently when Jennifer Bennett, the new CEO of Shive-Hattery, mentioned the idea after serving on a panel at the CBJ’s Economic Forecast Luncheon in January.
Ms. Bennett grew up in the Quad Cities and led Shive-Hattery’s Quad Cities office before being promoted to CEO and moving to Cedar Rapids where Shive-Hattery is headquartered. She mentioned that a business journal like the CBJ would work well in the Quad Cities.
We decided to work on writing a formal business plan for the endeavor. It took several months. When finished, we shared the business plan with several people, including Ms. Bennett. After several revisions, we decided to take the jump.
So after years of encouragement and months of planning, today we launch the new Quad Cities Regional Business Journal (QCBJ).
The new business journal will cover local and regional business news in the greater Quad Cities area, including the counties of Rock Island, Henry and Mercer in Illinois and Scott, Clinton and Muscatine counties in Iowa. We will do our best to have a balance of news coverage from both states and make sure that we cover the small start-ups to the large corporations and everything in between. All news content will be original and locally or regionally based. We don’t fill our print pages with wire news services.
I hope that you will consider subscribing to this new, independent publication with a highly experienced newsroom that is led by long-time Quad-City Times journalist and editor Jennifer DeWitt. Joining Ms. DeWitt are Kenda Burrows, a veteran journalist and former editorial page/writer with the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus; David Thompson, a veteran editor with the Quad-City Times; and Dayle Hall, a veteran Quad Cities media sales consultant.
In addition to the website and the bi-weekly print publication, we will also publish numerous podcasts and e-newsletters as well as host several events including Forty Under 40, Mid-Year Economic Review, 90 Ideas in 90 Minutes and others.
We recently opened an office in the Alter Building in Bettendorf and will be joining several chambers of commerce as well as other business-related organizations.
We are hopeful that you will engage with us by:
2). Providing local news tips or press releases to news@quadcitiesbusiness.com
3). Submitting personnel announcements via our Movers & Shakers section
4). Advertising – Contact Dayle Hall at dayle@quadcitiesbusiness.com
5). Sponsoring or attending one of our five regional planned events scheduled for 2022
Over the last several months of planning, I have had the opportunity to meet with many business and community leaders who have been excited about us bringing a traditional, independent business journal to the region. Frankly, the Quad Cities deserves one and we are privileged to make it happen.
Sincerely,
John F. Lohman
CEO & Publisher
Corridor Media Group, Inc.
johnl@quadcitiesbusiness.com
