The Times is going in some new and exciting directions.
Ever since this newspaper was founded in 1981, it has published on Wednesdays.
In 1986, a Saturday edition was added, and two editions were published each week until April, 1998. At that time, the Saturday edition was changed to a Friday publication date, and a Sunday publication was added. The Sunday publication continued until June, 2009.
The trends in community newspaper publication are changing — as they are in all forms of media. There are many factors in this.
Many of our customers, who support this publication by choosing The Times for their advertisements and advertising supplements, have said they are interested in ensuring that their customers have enough information in their hands on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This allows customers to take advantage of sales and special events.
Thursday delivery is particularly important, as these businesses want people to make shopping decisions and visit their businesses on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. These are three of the busiest shopping days of the week, as can easily be seen in the parking lots of any Langley retailer on weekends.
Times management has carefully considered all aspects of these issues, and made the decision to change publication dates. In addition, they wished to give customers and readers the most notice possible.
So as of Tuesday, June 28, The Times will now be published on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We believe this will give our customers a better ability to reach their customers, and also allow for the superior news coverage offered by The Times to be on people’s doorsteps a day earlier.
Of course, there are challenges. Press schedules and inserting times must be changed. Carriers must be alerted, and customers need to know what the new deadlines are for print advertising and flyers.
Here at The Times office, we will have new deadlines for advertising and news content. We are still working out some of the final details.
Despite earlier publication dates each week, The Times’ website will continue to be updated as news breaks in our community. Readers can always keep up to date at www.langleytimes.com.
Our staff are excited about the changes and challenges that lie ahead. They are proud to work for a newspaper named best in B.C. in its circulation class in 2010, and second this year.
Our strong readership is shown by the response to news stories and ads; by letters to the editor; by the community reaction when important information is published in The Times.
We get a lot of great feedback from readers and advertisers every single day, and we appreciate it. It is the single best way we have to refine our product and have it better meet the needs of this special community.
As always, the feedback on our new publication dates is greatly appreciated. If you have comments, questions or concerns, please e-mail them to me at newsroom@langleytimes.com or to our publisher, Dwayne Weidendorf, at publisher@langleytimes.com. I can also be reached by phone at 604-514-6751.