In a move that reflects the overall economy in Carson City and one that is being made by numerous newspapers throughout the country, the Nevada Appeal will be reducing its days of publication to Wednesday through Sunday effective Monday.
"This is not a decision that we took lightly; we certainly did not anticipate announcing an additional change following the recent redesign of the paper," said Publisher Niki Gladys. "The combination of large retail advertisers exiting our market, unprecedented hikes in operational costs, and the overall realities of our current economy required us to rethink our business model."
The Nevada Appeal currently publishes seven days a week. The paper has published on this schedule since the addition of a Saturday paper in 1996.
"The Nevada Appeal has been in business 144 years. During that time we've had many different publishing schedules," Gladys said. "This will not be the first time the Nevada Appeal has been a 5-day-per-week publication."
"It's the oldest continuously operating business in Carson City, and that's because the company has always been flexible based on the times," Gladys said. "We're positioning the Nevada Appeal to be a 21st century newspaper as we shift more resources to focus on developing our online content."
The Nevada Appeal news team will still function on a continuous news cycle. The latest news will be delivered every morning as usual, albeit only online on Monday and Tuesday.
"The difference now is that we'll be delivering more robust newspapers on the days we do publish, with more local news and information than we did before," Gladys said. "This puts us in a better position to break news online using the Nevada Appeal Web site, which is a tremendous resource for our readers."
The publisher said that developing a plan that would minimize the impact on readers and advertisers was the goal of the paper's management team as they looked at various alternatives.
In addition to online updates, the Nevada Appeal will begin an e-mail newsletter delivering the most updated news stories personally to readers on Tuesday mornings.
On Sunday there will be an "Early Week Extra" wrapping the inserted advertisements. This new feature will contain crossword puzzles, Sudoku, Dr. Gott, and other regular features to carry readers through Monday and Tuesday.
Gladys also mentioned some side benefits to this shift in the newspaper's publication schedule: "Our recent conversion to a tabloid format revealed our readers' passion for a healthy environment. We received a very positive reaction to our efforts to control newspaper consumption and save trees. This new schedule will build on that effort. "
The Nevada Appeal will remain on this new schedule for the foreseeable future. However, the publisher noted that changes in the marketplace may, at some point, dictate returning to a more frequent publishing schedule.
"Newspapers by their very nature should be a reflection of the market areas they serve," Gladys said. "The economy will ultimately rebound, growth in the Capital region will pick back up, so it's difficult to say what might happen a year or two down the road. But, I can promise that the Nevada Appeal will remain flexible, as we have for the past 144 years."