What difference does a day make? In the newspaper business, more than you might realize. The Arrow Lakes News has been a Wednesday paper for as long as anyone can remember, but that’s about to change. Thursday has been chosen as the new distribution day.
Reporters, ad staff, editors, columnists and contributors spend the entire week creating the editorial content and ads that go into every issue. They work with a Sunday deadline for Monday press deadline, Tuesday printing and Wednesday distribution to retailers and subscribers. This is all newspaper vernacular meaning that the content is required to be finalized three days before the customer can buy their paper.
The difference between a Sunday deadline and Monday can mean timelier editorial, better quotes from professionals who don’t work weekends and full coverage of weekend events. It also pushes each of the steps back by a day, ultimately changing the newspaper from a Wednesday issue to Thursday.
Changing the issue date to Thursday creates many benefits for the Arrow Lakes News. Publisher Chuck Bennet said, “Shipping into the market is changing from Revelstoke to Castlegar and Nelson, which will give us distribution into New Denver and Silverton which we haven’t had for a while.”
For those who work to create the newspaper, having that extra business day means much more.
“Coming off of a weekend and having to have it printed so early is challenging,” added∑ Bennett. Working toward the best content and sense of the community, staff will be able to better represent local news and culture with increased coverage.
This will be the last Wednesday paper; the next issue will be available on Thursday October 2.