T-Squared: Texas Weekly Goes Daily

Today, Texas Weekly becomes The Blast, a daily email newsletter aimed at people with more than just a sporting interest in Texas politics and government.

When Sam Kinch Jr., George Phenix and John Rogers started Texas Weekly in 1984, they were thinking political people in the state needed a regular dose of the kind of insider news they’d get if they were at the right lunch tables in Austin every single day of the week.

It worked. You could be a wise and well-connected person, pretty much up to speed and pretty much at the right tables all the time, but there was still something in every issue that had escaped your attention. Not knowing stuff is the worst, right? Texas Weekly was addictive.

By the time Kinch sold his interest to me in 1998, Rogers had passed away. George and I had a fun ride, goading and pranking each other just enough to keep things interesting. 

One big turn came when we took that six-page paper newsletter online, ending a productive but tortured relationship with the U.S. Postal Service. George eventually retired and ran off with his sweetheart to a quiet spot out east. Texas Weekly, as you know, has been a part of The Texas Tribune since its start in 2009. 

Today, it’s time for another big turn. 

The Weekly has moved faster than its name for years now. Even before the birth of the Tribune, it had daily news clips and regular updates on news between the issues that sprouted online every Friday morning. More recently, The Blast — the daily afternoon newsletter by current Texas Weekly Editor John Reynolds and others on our political team — has met the need for a sped-up insiders’ fix on what’s happening in Texas government and politics. 

Reynolds is doing now what Sam and George and John were doing at the outset, and what I tried to do in between: to keep you up to date on what’s going on in the political world in an entertaining, nonpartisan way — the way you’d get it if you had lunch or a phone conversation with a political friend in Austin every day.

Today, the Weekly officially becomes “The Blast” — a new name that reflects its frequency. It's daily. It lands in your email, so you don’t have to mess with passwords and paywalls. It still has the boldface names, the surveys of insiders and the behind-the-scenes political news you’ve counted on for years — just more of it, more often.

If you're already a Texas Weekly subscriber and you have questions about your subscription, email blast@texastribune.org.

If you're not a subscriber, what are you waiting for? You can sign up for The Blast here.  

Stick with us. Bring your friends. It’ll be a hoot.