We’re changing, and here’s why!



If you need more of an explanation, here’s a letter we posted recently for our supporters on Patreon:



TRASHburgh started on a drunken whim as a web series in late 2015, and over the past five years, the content offered under that banner has continued to change and evolve.

“TRASHburgh” itself was a lewd and wacky blend of sketch comedy and found footage, with a focus on segments made by and with locals. With the help of dozens of people, I produced just short of 40 episodes of this show before taking an indefinite hiatus from the project.

At this time, aside from the name, there is very little tying our current content to the web series that we started in 2015. The main element that remains with us from the early days is a focus on remaining local and independent.

In the summer of 2018, we started experimenting with different ways to comment on local news, with the ultimate goal being to stimulate more civic engagement from our audience (and ourselves). Over the past two years, these efforts have evolved into a weekly live broadcast that discusses the previous week in local news, as well as several investigative editorials. While we still bring a somewhat irreverent tone to our commentary, it has become clear to us that things have really changed.

From day one, there have been people offended by the name TRASHburgh. To us, it has always been a loving joke, a teasingly self deprecating nickname for the city that we call home. It was inspired in large part by the ridiculous amounts of trash and litter that can be found around our humble downtown area, an issue that we have attempted to remedy, bring attention to, and make fun of.

The main reason I have kept the name thus far is that I don’t want to have to bend to another person’s idea of decency to be taken seriously. I often picture a war of ideas when I look out into the zeitgeist, and I wanted my idea to win. Over the past few years, I have seen more than a few people who initially dismissed the project because of its name become supporters. People who have openly stated that we could never be taken seriously have turned around and offered all different types of support upon realizing that this whole thing is fueled by an intense passion for this region. But as our aims and goals expand, can we be expected to have every detractor and potential naysayer go through a similar change of heart?

2020 has shaken things up for everyone. For myself, it’s caused me to reassess my priorities. I feel very strongly about the more news/current events type focus that TRASHburgh has taken on, and I want to go even deeper into that. People have begun to see TRASHburgh as a legitimate source of news, and that is something that excites and terrifies me. I am no journalist, I have no formal training, and I like to contest that I am simply commenting on local news and events.

However, local people have been confiding in me, sharing things that they would like to see someone shine a light on, and I am feeling very much drawn to embracing that role. I have spoken with local and regional journalists who have had their ideas for stories and investigations shut down by editors who didn’t feel it was right for their product. I see our operation as a potential home for those stories that traditional news outlets are unable or unwilling to tell. But if we are going to tell these stories, I want to make sure they are reaching the widest audience possible, and that’s where the name comes in.

I am writing this to you all here first because you have been directly supporting this operation, and I am eternally grateful for that. You didn’t let the name TRASHburgh deter you from supporting the content we create, and that sort of open mindedness is something that can’t be taken for granted. However, after much soul searching and months of discussion, we have decided that it is in the best interest of our mission here to rebrand TRASHburgh. We have not yet announced this to the general public, but will be doing so very soon.

TRASHburgh will now be known as tbn. Maybe it means TRASHburgh News, maybe it’s just a familiar set of three letters, not unlike NBC or CBS. Maybe you have your own definition. We don’t really care. The main goal here is to eschew any overt baggage that might keep people from hearing the stories we want to tell.

Now, don’t misunderstand this- we do not intend to tone things down. While we are in no way interested in hatred or bigotry, we have never been bound by what some would call political correctness. Our videos and broadcasts are often crude and blunt, because that’s the way we speak. We don’t see the need for any elitism or formality when it comes to speaking out on issues that effect our community. Let’s just talk about it the way real people talk about things.

I could go on and on about my growing distrust of local media outlets who are owned by corporations that buy up small town newspapers and television stations, only to use them like chess pieces on the board of national politics, but this isn’t the time or place for that.

We are still learning as we go, but our main focus right now is to provide independent, people powered commentary on local news and events.

This is really long and I feel like I could continue for another twenty paragraphs, but I’m going to wrap this up here. Stay tuned for more updates as this process gets going, but in the meantime, thank you for helping us to go and grow through your support here!