News Director, Camila Trimberger sat down with Hayley Sperling of the Madison Minutes to talk about how the newsletter was founded and how it operates. For more information about the Madison Minutes click here.

Transcript:

CT: Between the campus and community, there are a lot of events happening in Dane County, all of the time. If you're someone like me who suffers from FOMO, or you're just looking for something to do. Searching through event calendars can get a little overwhelming. A daily newsletter called the Madison Minutes is hoping to help with that.

The newsletter was founded by UW alumni, Sam Hoisington and Haley Sperling. I recently had the opportunity to chat with Hayey about her involvement with the Minutes, who said she joined after a long and hard job search. 

HS: Sam had texted me and was like, Hey, will you and your friends sign up for this newsletter that I just started? And I was like, That is insane. I signed up and I was just like, you know, I think you've got something kind of cool here. If you ever want someone to help out, um, like write the newsletter or anything like that, like, let me know. I'd be happy to help. 

And so he reached out like a week later and was like, Hey, do you wanna write the newsletter for a couple of days this week and I'll pay you X, Y, Z. And I was like, yeah, for sure, I'll do that. And we did it and it went really well. And he was like, What if you did this all the time? Um, so he brought me on as essentially like a co-founder. So now we are the two co-founders of Madison Minutes.

CT: The Madison Minutes sends out a morning newsletter every weekday with a weekly roundup sent out every Sunday. The newsletter features a wide array of content from local politics to things to do in Madison, and even links to stories from other local publications. If you sign up, the newsletters will be sent straight to your inbox, or you can just check out their stories online.

HS: Our goal with the Minutes is just to be, just endlessly useful. You know, I want it to be a resource for people to be able to refer to and understand what is going on in their communities. I try and write the newsletter in a way that feels like your friend or your coworker, someone that you know and trust explaining today's issues to you in a way that makes sense.

I think that's where a lot of journalism these days falls short, is that there's so much good information out there. Um, it's just a matter of getting that content in front of the right audiences and then making sure that they understand it. So that's what we're trying to do with the Madison Minutes is kind of to fill those two gaps.

CT: In the 17 months the newsletter has been going out. They've reached over 10,000 subscribers, which Haley attests to two things. 

HS: So like first and foremost, you know, just strong marketing. Sam's Day job is, um, like growing and building membership programs for other nonprofit newsrooms. So basically what he does all day is what he came and did for the minutes.

And then the other half of that, you know, on the other side of marketing is just like having a great product. And the word of mouth kind of like aspect of it all is just, you know, people like what we have to offer and so they just recommend it on their own.

CT: While the Minutes has a firm grasp on the Madison community, they're hoping to break into the student demographic next.

HS: From a student perspective, like it's very easy to get involved and to get kind of absorbed in what is going on in just your campus, uh, bubble. And I don't think there's, there's anything wrong with that, but I do think it is important to also still be aware of the larger community that you are in, you know, being the Madison community.

Madison really is a thriving city. So there's, there's a lot to see and a lot to do around town. Um, you know, the city is much bigger than just Bascom Hill and whatnot. Like there's, there's a lot to go around.