Today’s edition of The Telegram is arriving unexpectedly in the mailboxes of all postal customers in Torrington, Lingle, Fort Laramie, Veteran, Huntley, Yoder, Hawk Spring and LaGrange. We are taking advantage of a program known as sampling made available by the U.S. Postal Service.
We hope you look this sample edition over closely. There’s plenty to see inside.
I’ve been in the newspaper business for several years now and I’m still amazed at the amount of information we offer readers every day – news and advertising, legal notices and comics, classifieds and court news, police reports, columnists and plenty of local sports coverage.
Maybe I’m being intentionally vague, but I can’t think of another business that produces so much, so often.
Lately all the talk is about “transparency.” Heck, everything a newspaper does is transparent. It’s all there for readers to see – the good news and the bad, our best work and our mistakes – twice a week.
If we’re doing our jobs right, somewhere in this edition you’ll find a big advertisement offering a special deal on subscriptions, $119.99 for a year’s worth of Telegram's and a gift card to pick up local groceries at Main Street Market.
And we need you. If you want the Telegram to continue to serve the community five years from now, 10 years from now – we are asking you to support us. That’s how we will save local journalism – one paid subscription at a time.
I got into journalism because I’m better with words than I am with numbers, but I’ll take a shot at doing the math. We publish two days a week, 52 weeks a year. Divide $119.99 by 104 and that comes to roughly $1.15 an issue. Plus, you get to support two local businesses with your gift card.
As you’ve likely noticed in print, online and through social media, The Telegram staff has been working full throttle – overtime, days, nights and weekends – to keep you informed with accurate and timely local news that impacts our communities.
We can only do that with the support of you, our advertisers and subscribers.
News, ads, sports and more for less than the price of a can of soda. No wonder newspapers are going out of business.
The newspaper you’re holding in your hands right now is not our only means of communicating with readers. We also offer an electronic subscription, a digital version of The Telegram you can read on your computer, tablet or phone. If you haven’t yet, go check out our newly designed website at www.torringtontelegram.com.
All of us at the Telegram hope you look this sample edition over closely. We think you’ll find this newspaper is the best, most complete source of local news, sports and advertising.
We hope the next time you get The Telegram in the mail it won’t be unexpected but rather the start of a new, informative reading habit.
Rob Mortimore is the publisher of The Torrington Telegram. Contact him at rmort@wyomingnewspapersinc.com
