1 Year Ago Today : Vegas Chatter was finished, Vegas Bright Began
Editorial: It’s Our First Anniversary!
It was one year ago today that Vegas Bright was birthed onto the interwebs from the ashes of Vegas Chatter, like a phoenix rising out of Arizona (Seinfeld reference).
It all started when VegasChatter announced on July 27th, 2015 that they were cashing out at the end of that week. I was saddened, I wondered where everyone would go. I wondered what I, and everyone else, would do without that daily dose of Vegas. A lightbulb went on in my head. Albeit, a very dim lightbulb at the time. “Start a website, and if you build it, they will come.” I then immediately refused. I tossed and turned. During that week I would, out of nowhere, tell my wife “I’m not starting a Vegas website.” She would say “Ok.” and smile. “Seriously,” I would add, “I’m not.”
I figured the best thing I could do instead was to see if other sites were willing to take the VegasChatter writers aboard. They told me it would be a lot of work. I didn’t realise what they meant at the time. I understand now, hindsight being 20/20 and all. I reached out to Sammasseur. I asked him what he would do without VegasChatter “I’ll probably just post on Facebook,” he told me. Facebook? Facebook.
It was now Saturday night, August 1st. It was late, very late. VegasChatter had posted their final post the day before, which was a re-post of “We’re Cashing Out for the Very Last Time.”
I was looking at the site, reading all the comments. I re-read my own comment couple of times, and it hit home “there is nothing else like this on the internet…” That’s when I knew that I wasn’t ready to let it die. Of course, neither were the rest of Chatter’s readers. It was that night, when I purchased the domain name Vegas Bright, as a reference to the old Vegas Chatter tagline “So Bright, You Could see it from space.” I reached out to Sam and told him I have a domain name and would get to work with putting the site together. That whole weekend I got maybe 4 hours of sleep.
Like any newborn, we looked a bit funny. We had an odd logo.
Also, we didn’t have many features; our menu bar had three things in it. Our color scheme was….eh.
I was still getting the hang of the editing thing. We were greeted with love by some, and greeted with hate by those who consider other Vegas sites beside theirs to be “the competition.” We rolled with the punches; we worked, and then, we worked even harder to make improvements along the way. We evolved.
We got the band back together. We opened our doors. We reported on the questionable, the best and the worst, the breaking stories. We got warm fuzzy feelings. We watched icons fall, and fall, and fall. We’ve seen new things rise. We’ve seen things that were short-lived, and even shorter lived. We’ve seen dreams come true. We’ve seen new beginnings. We branched out. We brought you a metric shit-ton of news and reviews on entertainment, construction, fine dining, food-n-drink, gambling, hotels, nightlife, travel tips, and more. We also gave you lots of sh*t to catch up on.
All because we believe that Vegas lovers like you, and ourselves, deserve to have a daily dose of Vegas.
Since our first post–and surprise, surprise, that first post was about a burger–we’ve grown. We got a branding package; Vegas Chatter writers came in, community members with aspirations of writing came in. Sammasseur stepped up as deputy editor. We got views after views; our Facebook page grew overnight. Seriously, one night I told Sam “I’m going to put a Vegas Bright Facebook page together.” I got done with it, and a temporary site design at 4 am. I didn’t get to email Sam and let him know I was done. When I woke up a few hours later, we already had 150 likes. All because people like Sam, and Blonde4ever, spread the word while I was asleep. Presently we’re at 1,330 (and growing). Not too shabby for a one-year-old blog. In one year’s time we’ve amassed 477 articles, posting Monday – Friday.
Vegas Bright isn’t the sole work of one person, but an extraordinary team of people and I am extraordinarily grateful to them (all) for volunteering their time and for sharing their Las Vegas experiences with all of us.
We look forward to the next year, whatever it may bring. And, we look forward to continuing the Chatter tradition of providing you with a daily (Monday thru Friday) Vegas fix.
[Images: Screengrabs of Vegas Chatter and Vegas Bright | Cover: Tracy Probst (a very talented cake maker)]
Michael Movestro founded Vegas Bright to continue the tradition when Vegas Chatter cashed out. Michael pays the bills, maintains the site, writes articles, hosts VBN – Vegas Bright Newscast.
27 thoughts on “1 Year Ago Today : Vegas Chatter was finished, Vegas Bright Began”
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Thank you to the entire team who made/makes this site possible! It’s been 6+ years since my last trip to Vegas and only 47 days until my next one. Vegas Bright has helped me plan my trip with the great reviews of the many things that have appeared. :)
Thanks for an amazing year! the moment I read that “we’re cashing out,” I really didn’t know where to get my Vegas news fix in! Thanks again!
Happy anniversary! Vegas Chatter was my daily fix for all things Vegas, and glad to have found you picked up the pieces nicely. Always dreaming of getting back to Vegas soon, and will always check here for new value options in the land of dreams!
Carlos (up above) said it best. When I read “We’re cashing out” I almost cried and looked for the April Fool’s joke (there had been a few on Vegas Chatter) but it was July so I had to take it seriously. Congrats on Getting The Band Back Together and making this happen. I sit in my office in Nashville, Tennessee on a daily basis and read the site and for a few minutes, my mind and heart are there in Vegas with you. Thank you!
One year ago today I was on my last Vegas trip, and due to many things that happened on that trip and shortly thereafter, I had absolutely no idea when I would be returning! I ended up taking a Vegas hiatus, so I unfortunately missed a lot of the growing pains of this wonderful site/blog. However, I was glad to finally see it up and running on all cylinders, and I was even able to contribute an article of my own. Three weeks from today I will finally make my return appearance in that wonderful place we call Las Vegas!!!
Congrats and Happy Anniversary to you, Vegas Bright!!!! And thank you Michael for taking on this initiative and making it as good, if not better, than VC!
I loved Vegas Chatter and I love Vegas Bright just as much….thanks for taking the ball and rolling with it. You guys are great ! I live vicariously through you between my annual Vegas vacations ! Keep up the good work and congratulations !
I am very glad that I found this site by following a post made by Blonde 4 ever, who I have followed on the LVA site. I love the daily postings and especially enjoy the trip reports from everyone. It was sad to see the latest report by Royal Flusher end.
Thank you all for taking the time to work on this page for us. It really brings Vegas a little bit closer for this East Coast gal!
Thanks for putting this together, it’s been great and I thank everyone who has written articles for the site. Its been a pleasure to read and long may it continue.
I feel so much has happened this last year in Vegas that you all had no choice but to hit the ground running. And run you did. Congratulations to all that contribute, and by congratulations I mean thank you. Thanks for keeping the lights on.
thanks to all of you, for all that you do!
Thanks to all of you for carrying the torch! I look forward every day to this being part of my daily read.
Awesome site! Glad you picked up where Vegas Chatter left off!
Thank you so much! I was so sad when Vegas Chatter was closing, and at first this made the loss feel less. Now I actually think that Vegas Bright is better than Chatter – there are more personal stories, like the first trips and lucky trips. I feel a bit more connected to the writers and to Vegas than I ever did with Chatter. You’ve done great work!
Happy Anniversary…and ***thank you*** to everyone who has contributed to this effort!
Congrats to you all for a fantastic first year – and thanks so much for continuously producing such excellent content!
I followed Vegas chatter faithfully when they were up and running.when they shutdown i tried finding another site like them and couldn’t.quit looking for a few weeks,then came across Vegas bright.i was so happy,especially when it was almost the same format.you guys gave done such an amazing job and I love sitting down every evening to see what’s happening.thank you so much.
Thank you so much for doing this… its amazing.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY VEGAS BRIGHT
Hard to believe it has already been a year. Congrats! Keep up the good work!
Thank you everyone for the comments. Knowing what VB means to you means a lot to us!
Just adding to the chorus of “thank you’s” Michael. You and the whole team have done the old site proud and have also forged new ground. You should be very proud of yourselves. I also didn’t know what I would do w/o ‘Chatter. All I have to say after a year is “I am home”
Thanks for the site— I visit frequently, but rarely comment. This really does fill a gap. And I can’t get enough Vegas info!
I’d like to echo Phyllis rankin’s comments. I was gutted when VC posted it’s final piece, and I too spent ages searching the net for something similar, I tried a few but none were in the same league as VC until I found Vegas Bright! I don’t even bother with the others any more as VB has all the info and fun stuff that I need!!
You ALREADY know this is my fav site hahah!!!! This is LIFE for my yearly trips. So many people now go to Vegas because of me and my tidbits from you guys. Chatter told me about Cabanas for Cause @ Palms for only 100 bucks. That was a life saver. Hopefully on next years trip I can add some nightclub, day party content And even the promoters I use (or ATV, scooter, trike, scoot city (mini cars) baja race or segway tours to the site. GREAT GREAT Job. YOU GUYS ARE APPRECIATED.
I remember posting that Chatter was gone on the day they cashed out on the trip advisor forum and adding that you guys were up and running once i found out about the new blog. Look @ all of the comments when chatter leter…168!!! That goes to show you guys are doing an amazing thing for all of us cause those 168 comments are from folks who love vegas. Has anyone heard from Becca 702? Prob not 702 since she moved. Also thank goodness you guys are her because Conde Nast who we were referrred to after chatter closed is CRAP! Is there a way to add a like button to comments and maybe a reply so that it can reply right under the commenter and not just at the bottom.
Yes, 702Becca remains in touch with us. She’s great!
I was upset when Vegas Chatter ended to and so happy when I found Vegas Bright! Congratulations on a great year and many more to come!!
Happy Anniversary! I was sad when”Chatter” shut down. This is a great replacement. Keep up the excellent work.