Westchester Media Scene in 2025: Who’s Winning Traffic, Facebook, and Has the Guts to Offend

NEW ROCHELLE, NY (October 31, 2025) — I haven’t poked around the Westchester media landscape in a while, so I figured it was time to fire some questions at Grok AI and see what bubbled up. I’m especially curious about social media numbers after my own Talk of the Sound page exploded 20X since summer, plus we just launched a NextDoor news page that’s already humming.

Fair warning: some of this data is locked behind paywalls, private, or just plain hard to nail down, so Grok’s numbers aren’t gospel. Think of them as a conversation starter. If you’ve got paid analytics or you’re a publisher with better stats, hit me up—I’ll update. This is about online data not print or broadcast. Just have fun — it’s not meant to be perfect but more the basis for a good bar room debate.

I’m naturally focused on Westchester proper and the Sound Shore (Pelhams, New Rochelle, Larchmont, Mamaronecks, Rye, Rye Brook, and Port Chester). Big players like LoHud and News12 cover beyond the county, so I’ll prorate where needed.

What got me started going down this rabbit-hole was a Facebook comment.

Typing out a response, got me thinking. Why haven’t more media outlets picked up on my 19 months of reporting on corruption at New Rochelle City Hall (and beyond). What I found was that many of Westchester’s media outlets are deliberately inoffensive as a business strategy. They are not cowardly. They have a business model that relies on not scaring away advertisers or alienating readers. Obviously, I do not care about that; my focus is a trust relationship with readers. If advertisers want to tag along fine but I do not concern myself with them.

Five Westchester news outlets stand out for having both the guts and the reach to make a real impact: LoHud, with its investigative team naming names in 2024 exposés on marijuana dispensary scandals, police training gaps, and cold-case ethics complaints; Talk of the Sound, my 17-year track record of reporting that has led to arrests, indictments, and “unexpected resignation”, mostly over at the New Rochelle Board of Education and New Rochelle City Hall corruption; The Examiner News, which ran a 20-plus-part series on Optum overreach and county executive probes; Black Westchester, fearlessly calling out racist cop posts, DOJ police investigations, and demanding accountability from Black leaders; and Yonkers Times, delivering deep ethics dives and candidate questionnaires on police reform.

In terms of this guts and reach ranking, that puts Talk of the Sound at #2, which is pretty good considering I am alone and self-funded.

So let’s go data-diving!

Raw Traffic Numbers (Monthly Data No Adjustments)

LoHud.com is top dog with about 2 million monthly visits, per Semrush and SimilarWeb—even with a hard paywall that caps free reads at five articles a month.

News 12 Westchester sits right behind at 1.9 million visits, juiced by cable cross-promotion and a mobile app that grew 10 percent this year.
Patch.com’s Westchester cluster—more than 20 town sites—pulls around 900,000 visits. Daily Voice Northern Westchester clocks 525,000.

Talk of the Sound—with our Sound Shore focus—pulls in about 50,000 visits to our site (but we are massive on Meta — Facebook and Instagram— and surging on NextDoor.

Smaller hyperlocals: Larchmont Loop (Larchmont + Mamaroneck) claims 95,000 Westchester visits (self-reported, includes NextDoor). Westchester Magazine, the glossy county-wide lifestyle play, draws 160,000.

Town-specific sites are slimmer. Yonkers Times: 30,000, all Yonkers. The Yonkers Ledger: 15,000. Rye Record: 15,000 from Rye. Pelham Examiner: 23,000 from the Pelhams. Mamaroneck Observer: 12,000 from the village.

The Hudson Independent (Rivertowns) estimates 25,000 visits. The Examiner News (northern Westchester/Putnam) sees 28,000. MyRye.com: 18,000 from Rye. Black Westchester: 21,000. EL SOL News (bilingual Hispanic weekly): 15,000. Westchester County Business Journal: 42,000. WRNN-TV (statewide but Westchester reach): 45,000.

All these numbers carry a 20-30 percent wiggle room—elections and storms can spike traffic 15 percent overnight.

Add it up county-wide and you’re looking at roughly 6 million monthly visits, or about six per adult resident.

Prorated Traffic (Adjusted for Coverage Area in Westchester)

LoHud’s reported 2 million monthly visits pro-rates down to 1.4 million—a 30% drop from the raw number.

News 12 Westchester, with its broader Hudson Valley sprawl (Westchester + Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Ulster—total ~2.3 million), still lands at about 820,000 pro-rated.

Patch.com (county-only) holds at 900,000.

Daily Voice Northern Westchester at 525,000.

Talk of the Sound (Sound Shore-specific) holds at 50,000.

The new adjusted pecking order:

• LoHud: ~1.4 million (pro-rated)
• Patch: 900,000 (unchanged)
• News 12: ~820,000
• Daily Voice: 525,000

County-wide traffic now settles in the 4–4.5 million monthly visit range—about four per adult resident—down from the original 6 million.

Sound Shore Prorated Traffic (Adjusted for Local Focus)

To zoom in on the Sound Shore—Pelhams (pop. ~11,000), New Rochelle (~80,000), Larchmont (~6,000), Mamaroneck (~19,000), Rye (~16,000), Rye Brook (~9,000), Port Chester (~30,000), totaling ~171,000 residents (17.3% of Westchester’s ~989,000)—Grok is estimating visits by prorating the raw Westchester numbers. This assumes uniform distribution across the county, though coastal areas like the Sound Shore often see higher engagement due to local events, weather, and community density.

For broad-coverage outlets like LoHud and News 12, we start from their prorated county figures.

• LoHud: ~242,000 (17.3% of 1.4 million prorated)

• Patch: ~156,000 (17.3% of 900,000)

• News 12: ~142,000 (17.3% of 820,000)

• Daily Voice Northern Westchester: ~91,000 (17.3% of 525,000; less relevant here, as it’s northern-focused)

Sound Shore-specific/hyperlocal outlets get a boost in this view:

• Talk of the Sound: 50,000 (fully attributed, as it’s Sound Shore-focused)

• Larchmont Loop: ~16,000 (17.3% of 95,000, but likely higher in core areas)

• Pelham Examiner: ~4,000 (17.3% of 23,000)

• Mamaroneck Observer: ~2,000 (17.3% of 12,000)

• Rye Record: ~3,000 (17.3% of 15,000)

• MyRye.com: ~3,000 (17.3% of 18,000)

Total Sound Shore traffic estimate: ~700,000–800,000 monthly visits, or about 4–5 per resident—punching above the county average thanks to tight-knit communities and viral local stories.

Facebook Followers and Views

News 12 Westchester rules the platform with ~136,000 followers and 1.7-2 million monthly views, powered by video and weather clips.

LoHud.com: ~111,000 followers, 800,000-900,000 views—paywall drag shows in the lower reach.

Westchester Magazine: 29,000 followers, 290,000 views, thanks to its “best of” lists.

Daily Voice Northern Westchester: ~23,000 followers, 220,000 views on breaking news.

EL SOL News: 19,474 followers, 195,000 views serving Hispanic communities.

Smaller players scale down: The Hudson Independent (3,000 followers) estimates 30,000 views. White Plains Patch (~2,700) gets 29,000. Larchmont Loop (2,300) hits 23,000. The Yonkers Ledger: 19,000. Pelham Examiner: 12,000. Rye Record: 11,000. Yonkers Times: 8,000. Mamaroneck Observer: a quiet 800 from 80 followers.

Talk of the Sound: 6,400 followers, but sky-high engagement leading to roughly 2 million monthly impressions, driven by viral investigations and local firestorms.

There was no solid Facebook data for The Examiner News, MyRye.com, Black Westchester, WRNN-TV, or Westchester County Business Journal but I will take it if a reader has it.

Total tracked views across outlets: 4-5 million a month. Hyperlocals often punch above follower weight because locals share more.

As before, to zoom in on the Sound Shore, Grok is estimating visits by prorating the raw Westchester numbers. So, the same logic slices the Facebook views—News 12’s 1.7–2 million impressions would drop to ~730,000–910,000, LoHud’s 800,000–900,000 to ~560,000–630,000.

For Sound Shore: ~97,000–110,000 (News 12) and ~97,000 (LoHud), with hyperlocals like Larchmont Loop (~4,000) gaining share through shares in neighborhood groups.

Talk of the Sound Steps Up

Talk of the Sound—Sound Shore focus—pulls about 50,000 visits. Our brand-new NextDoor page is on pace for 250,000 impressions in month one.
Facebook: 6,400 followers, but sky-high engagement. We now lead every Westchester outlet with roughly 2 million monthly impressions, driven by viral investigations and local firestorms. Three years ago I shifted deeper reporting and opinion to Words in Edgewise at robertcox.ie but am setting that aside.

Who’s Afraid to Offend?

Patch and Daily Voice aren’t traditional local papers or national brands with local masks—they’re hyperlocal digital news networks, built for maximum reach, minimum blowback. Strategically bland by design: digital community bulletin boards, not spine-having journalism. Controversy kills ad dollars in towns where everyone knows everyone.

News 12 Westchester is the TV version—regional hyperlocal cable channel. Same playbook: neutral, inoffensive, live-and-safe. Think straight facts, weather, feel-good wins. No culture-war dives.

LoHud is different: regional digital newsroom with legacy print bones, part of Gannett’s USA Today Network. Once The Journal News, it was a 220-staff, 145,000-circulation, $80 million beast that scared county execs. Then the fall: Gannett takeover in 2006, recession layoffs in 2008, digital pivot by 2010, hard paywall in 2014 (five free articles), GateHouse merger bloodbath in 2019. Staff down to 15-18. Print shriveled to three days, 28,000, mostly mail seniors. Local content now just 40 percent of lohud.com; another 40 percent is national wire, 20 percent paywalled probes. It’s a lean, algorithm-fed survivor—still capable of occasional bite, but a ghost of the power that once made officials sweat.

High-Guts Outlets

• LoHud: investigative team names names—2024 marijuana dispensary scandals, police training gaps, cold-case ethics complaints.

• Talk of the Sound: My 17-year record includes arrests, indictments, lawsuits over New Rochelle Board of Education and City Hall rot.

• The Examiner News: 20+ part series on Optum overreach, county exec probes.

• Black Westchester: Calls out racist cop posts, DOJ police probes, demands accountability from Black leaders.

• Yonkers Times: Ethics deep-dives, candidate questionnaires on police reform.

Medium-Guts

• News 12: Emmy-winning consumer fraud exposés, but mostly factual, not accusatory.

• The Hudson Independent, Westchester County Business Journal, Pelham Examiner, The Yonkers Ledger: occasional policy critiques, balanced tone.

Low-Guts

• Patch, Daily Voice, Larchmont Loop, Rye Record, Mamaroneck Observer, MyRye.com, Westchester Magazine, EL SOL News, WRNN-TV: blotters, events, features. Safe.

Broader Players with Westchester Flavor

CBS New York, FOX 5 New York, ABC7 New York all drop frequent county crime, weather, politics stories.

Podcasts Worth a Listen

• Local Matters: Westchester (The Examiner News)

• People Before Politics (Black Westchester)

• Inside Government with Westchester Legislators

• Westchester Talk Radio series

• The Westfair Hour

• Indivisible Westchester

Media Graveyard Since 2000

• The Patent Trader (2007, Gannett merger)

• The Sunrise (1990, no revival)

• North Westchester Times/New Castle Tribune (2000)

• Review Press (2000)

• Fios1 News (2019, Verizon contract kill, 150 layoffs)

• New York Times Westchester Section

• NYT Regional Editions

What is left of bold journalism in Westchester now lives in a handful of outlets while most play it safe.

The gap keeps growing.

This article was drafted with the aid of Grok, an AI tool by xAI, under the direction and editing of Robert Cox to ensure accuracy and adherence to journalistic standards.