Going back to our roots

When The Storm Lake Pilot began publishing in October 1870, it was a weekly newspaper. When The Storm Lake Times began publishing in June 1990, it was a weekly newspaper.

Over the years, as times and fortunes changed, these two long-lasting publications morphed into various forms to serve this community, from twice a week to three times a week to daily, then back to twice a week.

We’re going back to our roots as a weekly newspaper beginning next week, when the Wednesday and Friday editions of the Times Pilot will be combined into one big issue every Friday from now on.

As we mentioned several weeks ago, the move was precipitated by President Trump’s announcement that on March 1 he would invoke 25% tariffs on products from Canada. Most newsprint for North American newspapers is manufactured in Canada. Similar tariffs will be enacted on steel and aluminum, not only from Canada but also Europe. Newspaper presses use a lot of aluminum printing plates.

We could not survive a 25% increase in our printing costs as a twice weekly publication. We didn’t want to raise the price of a subscription to an unaffordable level, and we certainly did not want to take cost-cutting measures that would reduce the quality of our newspaper. We figured our best alternative was to combine the publications into one weekly issue.

The feedback we have received from you, our readers, has been understanding. We greatly appreciate that and pledge to make this new combined issue even better.

We think it will help circulation too. Our highest circulation was when we were weekly in the early 1990s. It dropped significantly when we went daily in 1993, then rebounded when we went twice a week in 1994. It has risen again significantly in recent years, both print and online. We think circulation will continue to increase with our new publication schedule, enabling us to flourish in this fast-changing media environment.

The other concern we face is the postal service. In 1970 the Post Office was set up as a separate wholly owned subsidiary of the federal government, mandated to run on its own and managed by an independent Board of Governors.

Then last week President Trump announced plans to take control of the Postal Service, even though this move is legally dubious because USPS was chartered by Congress to keep it free from political interference. We have no idea how this might affect the mail, but when we see how Trump’s businesses have fared — bankruptcies for his Trump Casinos, Trump University, Trump Airline, Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump board game, Trump Magazine, GoTrump.com online travel booking, and Trump Mortgage company — we question if he can get a newspaper delivered from here to Alta.

In addition, our postal rates have increased by double digits each of the past three years, with more hikes projected under Trump’s control. This is significant for us, as we are the Storm Lake Post Office’s largest customer.

To this end we have been working on enhancing our online presence. While our print readership has held steady over the past few years, we have seen growth in our online service, www.stormlake.com. We can give our readers the best of both worlds. We can present breaking news every day online, with a comprehensive print report in our big Friday issue, out just in time for your weekend planning.

Plus, if there are issues with the mail, especially out of state, you can log on to our website and get up-to-the-minute news.

I’m old school. I don’t believe you can beat the printed product, where there’s plenty of space to present the news and photos in an engaging graphic display. It’s easier on the eyes than a computer screen or tiny cellphone.

But so many folks get their news today on their phones, and we need to serve our readers wherever they are. In the past some newspapers catered more to advertisers than readers, and those publications ended up in trouble. We’ve always been a reader-first publication, figuring that advertisers want to be where eyeballs will see them. Our readers buy stuff because they trust us.

More people in Buena Vista County get their news from the Storm Lake Times Pilot than from any other source, including Facebook, X, Instagram and Truth Social. Plus, you can trust the Times Pilot, where experienced people report fairly and objectively on the matters that affect our community. You won’t find information about local taxes, or what happened at the school board meeting, on Facebook, but you will in the Times Pilot. That’s why we’ve been around for 155 years — longer than any other business in Buena Vista County. Longer than the City of Storm Lake has existed!

The changes we are making are designed to insure that the people of Storm Lake and Buena Vista County will continue to get their news from the Times Pilot for decades to come.

Thank you, and your parents, your grandparents and great-grandparents, for inviting us into your homes for generations. If you have ideas for stories or pictures, let us know. If you have something you like or don’t like, let us know. You’re always welcome in our Times Square home.

See you again next Friday!