I'm Jenna Goodwin, CEO of The Staffordshire Signal, Staffordshire's independent media and community platform. Today I've got something a bit different to share with you, and I hope you'll bear with me.
Our crowdfunder is live, and we need Staffordshire behind it.
For the last year, I've built The Staffordshire Signal from nothing, no investors, no big backer, just Staffordshire's own people supporting their own newsroom. Now I'm asking you to help me take it further, growing The Staffordshire Signal TV, launching a new Signal podcast, and building the app that finally puts local news back in your pocket, not an algorithm's.
Why we're doing this
There are stories happening across this county every single day that never get told anywhere. Events people miss because nobody let them know. Good news, great people, small businesses doing brilliant things, the stuff that doesn't get covered because it isn't negative or dramatic enough to earn clicks elsewhere.
That's not a gap in one part of Staffordshire. It's everywhere. And it's the whole reason the Signal exists.
I see the good in this county every day, through my work with the Signal and through The Red Haired Stokie before it. But local media too often twists things for profit and negativity, chasing clicks rather than truth, so the genuinely good stories rarely get through. Businesses struggle to reach local people without relying on social media, and that's controlled by worldwide corporations with no interest in Staffordshire, local always loses out. I've missed events and good news myself, finding out after the fact because an algorithm decided I didn't need to see it.
I wanted people to actually learn about their own local area, in a genuine, positive way, instead of missing what's happening on their own doorstep because a platform they don't control decided not to show it to them.
Who we are
The Staffordshire Signal launched in April 2025. Staffordshire's independent, not-for-profit newsroom, and nowhere else's:
- Not a distant regional chain covering the county as an afterthought
- Not a business built to make money off local news IMPRESS regulated
- Run by people who actually live here
- Genuinely training the next generation of local journalists and story tellers, not just covering today's headlines
We deliberately haven't sought investors. We don't want shareholders, and we don't want anyone with a stake in this telling us what to cover. We want to stay independent, because that's the entire point of what we're building.
What this crowdfunder actually does
The Staffordshire Signal TV already exists, but it doesn't yet have the kit, training capacity or time to run properly and grow. This crowdfunder builds that:
Expanding The Staffordshire Signal TV so it can take on more students and cover more stories Launching a new Signal podcast alongside it Getting the app out, so you can carry all of it with you, watch, listen or read, wherever you are
Everything we do stays free for the people of Staffordshire. No paywalls, no barriers, ever.
What you get for backing us
This isn't just a donation. Whatever you can give, from £5, gets you a full year of Signal Supporter membership, worth £24, early access to everything we make, The Staffordshire Signal Weekly, the digital magazine, and first look at every Staffordshire Signal TV video before anyone else sees it.
If you run a business, there's a place on this page for you too, with genuine, one-off advertising value at rates you won't see again.
How you can help
Back the crowdfunder here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/the-staffordshire-signal-tv-app-podcast
And if you can't back it yourself, sharing it with someone who might is just as valuable. Every share gets us in front of someone new.
I'm not going to pretend this is easy. But I believe Staffordshire deserves better than a media blackout, and local people are the ones who should own their own news. Thank you for being part of this so far, and thank you in advance for whatever you can give now.
Cheers, Jenna
