GDI History

GDI History

¶ The Groton Independent weekly newspaper was launched on the internet in June of 1998. Each week, a PDF file was published on the internet.

¶ Then a year later, an early morning storm blew through Groton and the end result was the publishing of the Groton Daily Independent.

¶ On the morning of Saturday, July 12, 1999, a storm caused much damage in the city. Instead of waiting until the print copy would come out the following Wednesday, it was decided to publish a special edition. By midmorning, pictures and stories from the storm hit the internet readers of the Groton Independent.

¶ Over the weekend, then publisher Paul Kosel, decided, "Why not a daily?" So on Monday, July 14, 1999, the Groton Daily was officially launched. 

¶ Shortly after the daily was launched, the Groton Daily Independent was converted from a PDF file to HTML programming with Microsoft Publisher. The same program is used today to publish the GDI..

¶ The Groton Daily Independent became the first weekly paper in the state to have a daily presence on the internet. The GDI had a whole sum of seven subscribers. Now, instead of waiting until Wednesday to read what happened at meetings or sporting events, you can read them the next morning right here and the GDI now has over 260 subscribers.