{"id":26,"date":"2026-01-27T18:51:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/etxshine.com\/index.php\/cover-letter\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T17:49:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T17:49:40","slug":"cover-letter","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/etxshine.com\/index.php\/cover-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"A Letter from the Owner"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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From the Owner<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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My name is\u00a0Shawn Larson<\/b>, and I\u2019m the founder and publisher of the\u00a0ETX Bell<\/b>, a locally owned community newspaper created in early 2025 to serve and connect East Texas communities like Troup, Arp, Whitehouse, Bullard, Frankston, Flint, and the surrounding areas.<\/p>

Previously, I was in the community news business for about 10 years, serving as the publisher for two communities and a managing editor for the other. Outside of newspapers, I have been in digital media and marketing for over 30 years.<\/p>

When I started the ETX Bell<\/a> and ETX Hometown Media<\/a>, my goal was simple: to reach nearly every demographic with the local news, events, and information they need to stay connected to the greater East Texas community.<\/p>

When I first spoke with leaders in several communities just south of Tyler, there was a shared hope that we could help bridge a growing information gap. The reality is that many of these communities lost their hometown newspapers in 2018 and 2019. At the same time, social media platforms were rapidly changing. There was once a time when a simple post could reliably reach followers, friends, and neighbors. Those days are largely behind us. Platforms like Facebook have shifted their focus away from local information and toward short-form video, along with a pay-to-play model that makes it increasingly difficult for businesses, organizations, and community groups to get important messages out.<\/p>

The goal of ETX Shine is to meet people where they are. We plan to use short-form video and reels to reach audiences who now consume content that way, while also producing long-form video and audio podcasts across multiple platforms to allow for deeper conversations. In addition, we look forward to creating local documentary-style content that preserves stories, history, and community voices that deserve more than a quick scroll.<\/p>

As part of this effort, ETX Shine is beginning the search for local podcast hosts, influencers, and guests to be part of our new shows launching in 2026. We are interested in conversations around what is happening in East Texas, local sports, humor, shopping, marketing and business, history, faith and values, health, wellness, and everyday life.<\/p>

If you have a story to tell, a voice people trust, or an interest in hosting or being interviewed, we would love to hear from you. If you do not see a category that fits your idea, do not worry, suggest it anyway. Some of the best conversations begin outside the lines.\u00a0 However, all of the content we focus on is family-friendly, community-minded content.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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We hope to grow with your ideas, with the hope that we will continue to connect this community and provide the information, news, business resources, and healthy entertainment that will help our community grow and prosper. If you would like to explore ways to get involved, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Shawn Larson
Owner of ETX Hometown Media
shawn@etxhometownmedia.com<\/a>
903-691-3819<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Owner My name is\u00a0Shawn Larson, and I\u2019m the founder and publisher of the\u00a0ETX Bell, a locally owned community newspaper created in early 2025 to serve and connect East Texas communities like Troup, Arp, Whitehouse, Bullard, Frankston, Flint, and the surrounding areas. Previously, I was in the community news business for about 10 years, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-26","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etxshine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etxshine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etxshine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etxshine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etxshine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/etxshine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418,"href":"https:\/\/etxshine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26\/revisions\/418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etxshine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etxshine.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}