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Olathe News to write new chapter in its history
(The Olathe News (Olathe, KS)(KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Feb. 29--The history of The Olathe News is understandably filled with moments mundane and spectacular. We've covered City Council meetings that never seemed to end. School budget meetings filled pages when there weren't any juicy murder trials, bizarre bank robberies or hostage situations.
In fact, our history is as spectacular as the community itself. This paper survives today because Missouri's William Quantrill and his drunken raiders burned down the wrong newspaper almost a year before they went to Lawrence. They burned the pro-slavery Herald instead of the anti-slavery Mirror. Thankfully -- through a variety of name changes, owners and publishers -- your hometown newspaper has provided news for Olathe residents for 147 years.
Starting April 2, a new chapter will begin to be written. The Olathe News is changing from a five-day daily to a twice-weekly newspaper. Wednesdays, we will distribute a free paper to all of Olathe's 35,500 single-family homes. Saturdays, we'll deliver to our paid subscribers, who crave the high school sports coverage, coupons and features our weekend paper offers. We'll continue to deliver the Sunday Kansas City Star at no additional cost to our paid subscribers.
Before the bleat about the demise of print begins, let me draw a picture. Our Lenexa Centennial is delivered to 15,500 Lenexa homes. Hometown Journal reaches every Gardner, Edgerton and Spring Hill home and business. With this move, we'll deliver our family of products to almost 65,000 households. More important, readership will total almost 225,000 Johnson County residents when combined with our online audience.
We're giving readers news when they want it, where they want it, how they want it. We're reaching more readers today across Johnson County than we've ever reached. Does this sound like a demise?
The move has been pondered since I've been here. The time is right for a number of reasons.
Newspapers around the country have been challenged by print circulation losses. Meanwhile, we forget to talk about exploding online readership. We can't think of ourselves as merely a newspaper. We're an information provider. Our online audience is growing and becoming more sophisticated. We're now providing news, weather and sports to those who want to get it on their cell phones. Readers can choose to receive news headlines via e-mail. Starting today, you'll be able to access historical archives on our online site.
From day one, I've challenged our team to "own our backyard." In order to own our backyard, we need to reach every driveway and computer in Olathe.
We'll devote more resources to online. We have launched an exciting new look at www.theolathenews.com. We'll update our Web site seven days a week. We'll add video later this year. Print customers still are our core audience. But we will attract more readers with an enhanced online presence.
If we can give every resident news about what's happening in this town, imagine the impact on life here. More people will be informed about community needs or service opportunities. Voter turnout could improve because more people will feel informed about the issues. Businesses will be more successful because more customers will know about their sales.
We'll share more on how the change affects our subscribers in the coming weeks. Thank you for inviting us into your home and spending part of your day with us. We hope you continue to welcome us every Wednesday and Saturday after April 2.
Olathe's a special place. We are privileged to share Olathe's story with you every time we get the opportunity to do so.
-- Dan Simon is the publisher of The Olathe News. Contact him at 764-2211, ext. 101, or dsimon@theolathenews.com
To see more of The Olathe News or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.olathedailynews.com/.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Olathe News, Kan.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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