Hello Palatine! I want to introduce myself for those of you who don't know me yet; my name is Melanie Santostefano, and I am your new editor.
This role means a tremendous amount to me, as I have been a Palatine resident for close to nine years, and care very much about what happens in our town.
I will be working extremely hard to cover every angle of Palatine that I am able to. I do hope that you, as residents, will let me know if there is something going in your corner of this great town that needs attention.
Because, this is our Patch.
A bit about me; I started working in the media back in 1999, as a radio writer and reporter for WSOY, a newstalk station in Decatur, Illinois. It was a lot like Patch.com, totally focused on issues that affected that city, specifically.
I was able to meet legislators from nearby Springfield, cover the Bridgestone/Firestone plant closing after the deadly Ford Explorer rollover accidents, and localize coverage of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
It was on September 11, 2001, that I truly realized the valuable service that the media provides to its consumers. It is an awesome responsiblity, one that I take very seriously.
After a few years, I came back to the Chicago area where I was born and raised, and worked in Chicago radio for Shadow Broadcasting/Metro Networks. There I reported news and traffic for stations like WBBM AM, WLS AM, Sports Radio 670 "The Score" and 101.9 FM "The Mix", in addition to writing for their newswire service.
And of course, I am a news junkie!
So reach out to me, if you've got a comment, question, news tip or anything else that is on your mind relating to the coverage of Palatine on Patch.
Part of what makes Patch such a wonderful news product in my mind, is the strong community engagement we want, and invite from you, our readers and our neighbors.
Here's to a great ride ahead,
Melanie
melanie.santostefano@patch.com
