Things change, even in Ashcroft - and we aren’t talking about the weather.
We’ve had a lot of changes at The Journal office in recent years, not all of which we’ve been excited about in a good way. But this is one of the good ones.
This is the last Tuesday issue of The Journal. After this one hits the streets, we switch gears and start publishing on Thursdays.
After all, we wouldn’t want our readers to get complacent!
Last week I was thinking, 119 years has a lot of weight if The Journal has always published on a Tuesday. So I looked at some of the random issues we have around the office. Apparently, we’ve tried out many publishing days over the years.
We were also a Thursday paper in the 1940s and didn’t change to Tuesdays until somewhere in the 1970s. At the turn of the century, we came out on Saturdays! (Back when the Publisher/Editor/Printer hand-cranked it out himself.) There was also a Wednesday publishing date in those old issues somewhere.
So, we’re not breaking new ground here, but it’ll be new to most of us. It’s been a Tuesday paper in the 10 years that I’ve been here, even if my deadlines have changed and even if Dave, our distribution guy, gets it out on the street on Mondays after he brings it back from the pressroom in Williams Lake.
But, no more. Don’t call us on Sept. 11 wondering where your Journal is, because it’s not coming out until the 13th.
Instead of seeing the weekend events that just happened, you’ll be hearing about them just before they happen. Local government and police news will be more current - as current as a weekly newspaper can be..
Editorial and advertising deadlines will change for those of you who pay attention to such things, and we’re going back to Monday closure and Friday opening.
We’re still wondering exactly how this is all going to affect us here in the office, and nothing is ever absolute. But we’re expecting the good to outshine the bad. And we hope that you’ll all be more than pleased with the outcome.
Wendy Coomber is the editor of the Ashcroft-Cache Creek Journal