How local media can harness the history trend

By Jason Dressel

 

Step 1: Choose topics with legs

What major historical events have shaped your community? These might include the relocation of a corporation or a beloved sports team, a high-profile crime or a landmark legal dispute. These are the kinds of stories that feature compelling characters, dramatic settings and moments of real conflict — high-quality components of storytelling gold. Look for topics that are:

1. Relevant to your audience and community.
2. Rich in context and supported by archival or anecdotal material.
3. Expandable, meaning they can be repurposed across formats and extended into multipart series.

When you choose stories with depth and dimension, you aren’t just depicting history. You’re also helping your community understand itself.

Step 2: Mine for storytelling golden nuggets

At History Factory, we often talk about what we call golden nuggets — compelling and effective primary source materials that are essential assets for powerful documentary-style storytelling. A golden nugget might be a photograph, document or artifact. It could be an old house, a historic business or a community elder. These authentic icons help personalize a story, inspire creative direction and elevate the emotional resonance of a narrative.

One of the richest sources for golden nuggets is an organization’s archives — its inventory of storytelling potential and institutional memory. In a time when credibility and authenticity are paramount, golden nuggets spark interest, deepen trust and awaken nostalgia.

For media organizations, few assets are more valuable than a well-maintained archives. But what if you don’t have one or your archival materials are scattered, incomplete or hard to access?

• Start by inventorying what you do have, including old editions, photo negatives, newsroom ephemera or even oral histories from long-serving staff.
• Partner with local libraries, universities or historical societies to identify shared resources.
• Don’t overlook funding: Grants can provide support to assess, digitize or grow your archival holdings. Treat this work not as a side project but as a strategic investment.

Step 3: Find the hook to productize and monetize

The next step is to evaluate your options and determine the best path forward. One key question to ask: What timely hook can make this story especially relevant right now?

One answer: Anniversaries are among the most effective editorial opportunities when trading in history-based storytelling. Whether it’s the anniversary of a major local event or a broader national or global milestone with local ties, such a moment offers a natural inflection point to explore the past, assess the present and consider the future.

With a relevant topic, rich storytelling material and a timely hook in hand, you now have the raw ingredients to develop historical programming that resonates. From here, think about ways to repurpose content into multiple products, explore funding and distribution partnerships, and build monetization strategies.

Dig deeper

• Use historical records to deepen community coverage and find new revenue streams
• The power of intergenerational storytelling to solidify community and effect change