Jersey Shore Online

Jersey Shore Online is a hyperlocal breaking-news website based in Lakehurst, New Jersey, and published by Micromedia Publications, the company behind seven free weekly newspapers in Ocean and Monmouth counties. Launched on June 30, 2017, the site was created to give Micromedia a daily digital presence alongside its Saturday print editions, carrying editorial content from the newspapers together with breaking news, community information and advertising opportunities for businesses of all sizes along the Jersey Shore. It operates from Micromedia's headquarters at 683 Route 70 in Lakehurst and serves readers across a broad stretch of coastal and inland New Jersey, from Howell and Jackson in the north to Long Beach Island and Barnegat in the south.

Origins in Micromedia Publications

Jersey Shore Online cannot be understood apart from its parent company. Micromedia Publications was founded in 1995 by Stewart Swann and Robyn Friedrich for the purpose of publishing high-quality local weekly newspapers within New Jersey. Its first title, The Manchester Times, launched in April 1995. The model proved successful, and the company expanded steadily across Ocean County and beyond, building a chain of free weekly tabloids town by town over the following two decades.

That print foundation matters because Jersey Shore Online was not a start-up in the usual sense. It was the digital extension of an established local publishing business with reporters, advertisers, distribution networks and deep community recognition already in place. When the website arrived in 2017, it inherited the news-gathering of seven newspapers and gave that reporting a daily, searchable, shareable home on the web for the first time.

The Weekly Newspapers Behind the Site

Micromedia's expansion followed a clear chronology. After The Manchester Times in 1995 came The Berkeley Times in 1996, a Lakewood Times in 1998 that ceased publication in 2002, The Jackson Times in 2000, The Brick Times in 2002, The Howell Times in 2004, The Toms River Times in 2005, and The Lacey Barnegat Times in 2010, which became The Southern Ocean Times in 2013. The seven surviving titles are The Toms River Times, The Manchester Times, The Berkeley Times, The Brick Times, The Jackson Times, The Southern Ocean Times and The Howell Times.

All seven newspapers are published every Saturday and distributed free in Monmouth and Ocean counties, and they have also been available online through the Issuu service. The company's reported circulation was 60,000 in 2016, the year before Jersey Shore Online launched. Jason Allentoff, who joined the executive team in 2014 after working at Townsquare Media, has described how widely the print papers circulate locally, noting their presence in Wawa stores across Ocean County.

The 2017 Launch

When Jason Allentoff joined Micromedia, the company had, by his account, absolutely no web presence. He worked to develop an enhanced news website and social media pages, serving as the company's webmaster and social media director in addition to his executive role as vice president and chief operating officer. The result launched on June 30, 2017: JerseyShoreOnline.com, a hyperlocal site updated daily.

Allentoff explained the thinking in an interview with the Center for Cooperative Media's New Jersey local news project. The site was designed as a news-enhanced website with social media integration and advertising opportunities for small, medium and large businesses. In the same interview he described his motivation in straightforward terms: meeting new people, helping businesses grow, and informing local residents about important issues they should care about. He expressed the hope that stories crafted in the papers and on the website would become conversation starters in the community.

Coverage Area

The site's coverage mirrors the footprint of the print chain across Ocean and Monmouth counties. Communities covered include Howell, Adelphia, Farmingdale and Ramtown; Jackson, Plumsted Township and New Egypt; Lakewood and Brick; Toms River, Island Heights and Lavallette; Manchester, Lakehurst and Whiting; Berkeley Township, Holiday City and Pine Beach; Seaside Heights and Seaside Park; Bayville and Lanoka Harbor; Lacey Township and Forked River; Waretown and Ocean Township; Barnegat, Stafford Township, Manahawkin and Ocean Acres; Beach Haven West, Eagleswood and Long Beach Island.

That geography defines the editorial mission. This is the Jersey Shore as residents live it year-round — school boards, municipal government, police and fire news, road conditions, local business, community events and human-interest stories — rather than the seasonal, tourism-driven image of the Shore familiar to outsiders. Allentoff has pushed back against the caricature of the region popularized by reality television, pointing instead to the strong sense of community among Shore residents, which he saw demonstrated in how people came together after Superstorm Sandy.

News Content and Approach

Jersey Shore Online functions as a breaking-news and community-news hub. Its content grows out of the reporting of the seven weeklies, updated for the faster rhythm of the web, and it places particular emphasis on timely public-safety, municipal and community information that residents need between Saturday print editions. The site presents itself as a source of local news, community events and advertising solutions for Ocean and Monmouth counties.

The editorial philosophy articulated by its leadership is knowledge as community service: giving readers greater knowledge and understanding of their community is, in Allentoff's words, what makes the work worthwhile. That philosophy fits the hyperlocal model, in which the value of a story is measured less by its reach beyond the region than by its usefulness to the people who live where the story happened.

People and Leadership

Micromedia was founded by Stewart Swann and Robyn Friedrich, and Swann remains an owner of the company alongside Jason Allentoff. Allentoff serves as vice president, chief operating officer and editor-in-chief, and his career path — from Townsquare Media into local weekly publishing in 2014 — explains much of the company's digital turn, since he personally built the web and social presence that culminated in Jersey Shore Online. Chris Lundy has served as news editor of the publications.

The operation remains comparatively small and locally rooted. Company profiles list a staff in the range of ten to fifty employees, headquartered in Lakehurst, and the business has stayed independent and family-scale even as many comparable New Jersey weeklies were absorbed into larger chains.

Headquarters and the Move to Lakehurst Circle

From 1995 until September 2019, Micromedia was based on Union Avenue in Lakehurst. In late 2019 the company moved to the Lakehurst Circle Center, at 683 Route 70, which offered more modern facilities. Jersey Shore Online announced the move in November 2019 under the headline of Micromedia opening a new headquarters in Ocean County. The relocation kept the company in Lakehurst, the small borough that has been its home since its founding, even as its coverage area expanded across two counties.

Radio and Other Channels

Jersey Shore Online is one part of a multi-channel local media operation. Micromedia has a special arrangement with WBNJ in Barnegat, under which the station broadcasts drivetime newscasts containing Micromedia news content, extending the company's reporting to radio listeners. The print editions circulate free at numerous locations throughout the region, and digital editions have been posted through Issuu. Social media pages, which Allentoff developed alongside the website, distribute stories and updates to readers on the platforms where much local news is now first encountered.

Expansion Through Acquisition in 2022

In January 2022, Micromedia expanded its digital portfolio by acquiring a number of existing local web properties, including Toms River Online, Bricktown Online, Bayville Online, Seaside Heights Online and Southern Ocean County Online. Toms River Online and Bricktown Online are listed alongside Jersey Shore Online as the company's websites. The acquisitions consolidated several established town-level news brands under the Micromedia umbrella, strengthening the company's position as the dominant independent hyperlocal publisher in its part of the Shore region.

Recognition and Community Standing

Micromedia's place in Ocean County civic life was formally recognized on its twentieth anniversary, when Ocean County Commissioners Gerry P. Little and Joseph H. Vicari presented the owners and staff with a proclamation marking the occasion, with State Senator Christopher J. Connors on hand for the ceremony. Towns including Toms River and Berkeley Township also marked the anniversary with special mentions at their council meetings. Such recognition reflects the role that free weekly newspapers and their websites play in communities where daily newspaper coverage has thinned.