30 years ago, a small daily newsletter sent by fax was born which was never to stop.
Faxinfo opens its archives and inaugurates its 30 years of history this Friday 1er December at its Bellevue premises from 17 p.m.
Come and find out where you souvenir of its evolution, of minitel et paper thermal à the impression paper, until the transition to magazine quality color.
It is also the occasion to see again 30 years of history of Saint-Martin for the pleasure of all.
Fans from the first hour or later, venez take un and live a flashback unique this Friday.
The Faxinfo team
Park near GO SPORT and walk up the street to the left of this department store
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Meeting with Freddy Richardson, real estate agent and avid reader of Faxinfo
Faxinfo is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The opportunity for us to meet Freddy Richardson, native of Saint-Martin and loyal reader of the newspaper since its creation in 1993.
fax info : “Do you remember your first reading of the newspaper? »
Freddy Richardson: “The wonderful adventure that was the launch of Faxinfo in the 90s coincided with my arrival at Canon as a technician and then as a sales agent. I remember the time when Faxinfo was sent to its readers by fax. Hence the chosen name Faxinfo! It was a brilliant idea on the part of its founder, Alain Haillant. Several local, regional and even international news items were available every morning. At that time, we didn't have as many ways to keep up with the news as we do today. Over the days, weeks, months and years, we have become accustomed to living with Faxinfo on a daily basis! »
FI: “What do you think of the evolution of Faxinfo? »
FR : “Over the years, Faxinfo has evolved like society! From a single page, the newspaper grew into 4 then 8 pages in color paper format, available everywhere on the island. Its content has been expanded with more reports on local news and also from the Dutch side. I think it is very important to share information every day with the population. Whether in the field of politics, culture, art, economy, news, evenings, education, sports and many other subjects, Faxinfo fulfills its mission of making take into account current events, reality.
FI: “In your opinion, what are the most significant events over the past 30 years in Saint-Martin? »
FR : “Cyclone Luis in 1995 and Irma in 2017! The island suffered enormous damage after these two “monsters” passed through the territory. Through courage and resilience, Saint-Martin has been able to get back up each time by showing a lot of solidarity between its inhabitants. The Saint-Martin landscape has inevitably changed with new constructions almost everywhere on the island. Saint-Martin has also experienced strong demographic growth.
Otherwise, I find that the social climate is sometimes tense. We don't solve problems with violence. Let's not forget that we live on Friendly Island! »
FI: “A little word about the 30rd anniversary of the newspaper! »
FR : Long live Faxinfo, congratulations to the whole team for the work carried out since its creation and above all happy birthday! » _AF
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A testimony from the inside by Florence Gurrieri
Yes, this may seem surprising, but I was at the very beginning of the launch of Faxinfo.
And this adventure began with a categorical “no”, for once, from me. I didn't want to become a secretary at Cariburo. After having studied marketing and communication, I had just arrived on the island and I wanted to practice my profession. Alain Haillant, a little surprised by my refusal, thought about it, got up and came back a few seconds later with a paper in hand... He presented me with Faxinfo which he had launched for several months and which he had suspended 6 months previously for lack of time and profitability. He explained to me the principle of this information sheet and asked me what I thought of it. Given my course, I found the idea simply brilliant!
This A4 page, which at the time included short articles on national and even international news, had to be sent by fax modem every morning to a list of subscribers who received the day's news from 8 a.m. With the time difference, readers knew what had happened in mainland France that morning. Information sent by fax, hence its name Faxinfo!
I happily accepted the mission of relaunching Faxinfo. It was September 1994.
The day we decided to officially launch Faxinfo we only had 6 subscribers. The challenge had to be taken up!
I started at 6am. I selected on the Minitel the information which was running on the AFP (Agence France Presse) feed and which seemed to me to be important. Then I laid them out. Then, I sent them by modem fax to subscribers every day from Monday to Friday. I did this for a year, gaining more subscribers every day, but without any real success outside of our few readers. For my part, the adventure was exciting because I managed a mini business. I was at the heart of the information, and I worked several jobs at the same time: that of journalist, model maker, and salesperson.
When Hurricane LUIS destroyed Saint-Martin, so that the population was aware of supplies and other vital information, Alain decided to continue printing Faxinfo and distribute it to cars.
I have often said that the day Faxinfo “took to the streets” changed its destiny. He became known to the general public and became popular. From that moment on, we selected distribution points where the public could collect it: bakeries, convenience stores, bars and restaurants... Its notoriety accelerated. People loved its format, its quick and efficient reading, its informative and short advertisements.
Alain was able to hire. First, delivery men who came to collect the Faxinfos that I printed in the morning around 7 a.m., then a journalist who covered local press conferences, a layout designer, and even a salesperson... At the beginning, we printed 1000 Faxinfos in black and white on a Ricoh duplicator.
Very quickly this page was not sufficient. We quickly switched to double-sided black and white. And after five years, in February 1999, Faxinfo will be printed in color.
When I left in 2000, we formed a team of 6 people.
I have wonderful memories of this Faxinfo period, during which I discovered an exciting and rich world. I can never thank Alain enough for entrusting me with this mission which led me to the voice of the media and the written press in which I still work today.
Florence Gurrieri
Owner of the newspaper Le Pélican
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Interview 30 years Faxinfo: Christophe – the taste of wine
I discovered Faxinfo in 1993, when I arrived in Saint-Martin. Afterwards, I worked in a restaurant, the Tropicana, from 1994, and we had what we call a telephone-fax answering machine. We received the Faxinfo on thermal paper in the morning when we arrived. We opened the restaurant and there was this fax that came out. At the time, it was already quite specific, it talked about essential everyday things like the weather, the rate of the dollar, so-and-so's party, there were perhaps also personal messages at the time , the digests of the news, everything was on a single sheet. When it went on paper, it was different, it was distributed but we no longer received it in the restaurant. But the whole time it was on thermal paper, we kept going. When that changed, with a big change in terms of paper, we found it in places where people wanted to collect it. For the content, there are a lot of things that have evolved, things that didn't exist at the time and that exist now. Today, we no longer look at it the same way, because we also see it on social networks. It's funny, because when I saw the message appealing to readers from the very beginning of Faxinfo on Facebook, it took me back, I see myself in the exact place, when I arrived at the restaurant, we listened to the answering machine for messages and the Faxinfo was there. It's a very special memory. It takes us back a few years… around thirty! _VX
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