Editor's Notebook

 

December 24, 2020



n my 50 years with The Express, I’ve investigated a number of ideas that were to bring new revenue to the newspaper business. Most have not lived up to their projections although some were ahead of their time.

One of the first was the copy machine. Now most everybody has a way to make copies. If they don’t have a copy machine, many people have a way to scan and print documents with their cell phones and computer related equipment.

Our first copier here at the newspaper was a monstrously heavy machine. To discourage its use, we put it in the basement. Later our office supply department stocked “personal copiers.” They were about the size of a typewriter and sold for less than $200. It has been sometime since we stocked or sold one of those machines. Earlier this month a customer asked if we had one. We didn’t but I checked with our office machines supplier. I expected they would offer a selection of several but they didn’t have a single personal copier available. All they had to offer was combination machines that served as a computer printer, scanner and copier.

Only a handful of customers this Christmas season asked to use our copy machine to duplicate their Christmas letter. In previous years we would have had many more requests.

The fax machine was similar. I remember when businesses hung neon signs in their windows offering to send customers’ faxes. At that time we added a phone line and offered to both send and receive fax messages. One Christmas we participated in a promotion in which youngsters left their letters to Santa at a downtown Superior store. A few minutes later, Santa sent a faxed response to the letter writer. That was so popular our fax machine was overloaded. We only offered that promotion once. Now most fax messages are sent as email messages via the internet.

Low power television was another innovation I explored. I considered turning the rooms above the newspaper office into a television studio and beaming the signal to a transmitter located on Blauvelt’s Hill. From there I expected to serve people living in the Republican River Valley. I’m not glad I never executed that plan.

Audiotext and 900 phone numbers were both based on the premise that people would use their telephones to call in for timely information. The Express never had a 900 line but it did for a time have an audiotext line people could call 24/7 for news updates. It was not a popular feature and has been discontinued.

Newspapers were encouraged to partner with cable television service providers and host the local television channels. I explored that idea and met with representatives of the company then providing cable television service. Thankfully we never got to the starting point. Today cable television service isn’t even available in Superior.

When those electronic ideas were being promoted, it was thought internet service would never reach the rural areas.

One idea I probably shoudn’t have given up on was broadcasting school events over the internet. At that time, dial-up internet service was all we had. The schools I contacted were agreeable but the cost of installing and maintaining landline telephone connections to the football fields and gyms along with buying the portable computers and cameras discouraged the idea in our small market. Had we had the system operating, this year with the COVID-19 pandemic, the service would be popular.

The Express has had an internet since the 1990s which is rapidly growing in popularity. All who subscribed to the mail edition can on request receive a free subscription to the internet product. For those who don’t subscribe, internet only subscriptions are available.

Earlier this week a longtime subscriber to the mail edition wrote our office and asked that we discontinue mailing the paper to him each week. He has gotten so accustomed to reading the online version that he no longer wants the printed version. I still like to hold the paper in my hands while reading it, but, I’ll admit reading papers online is growing on me. I miss Sunday afternoons reading the big daily papers, But weekdays I enjoy the convenience of reading the daily versions online.

Speaking of computers and the internet, The Express once had a computer dealership, was the local agent for both dial-up and wireless internet companies and offered computer back-up services. Last month, while cleaning a storage space, I threw away the 3.5 inch floppy installation disks we had left from the days when we represented a dial up internet service. These days it is hard to find a computer that will read the 3.5 inch disks.

The late Bud Jones got me interested in making videos for posting on the internet. Before his death he told me his horse training videos were earning him more than $200 a month.

I took the advice of newspaper consultants who were also promoting video coverage of news events and started filming. One of my first events was a Superior High School graduation which has been watched 556 times. Perhaps, my least popular was Lady Vestey Victorian Festival parade video which has been watched 27 times.

Only a handful of people have watched most of the videos and the royalties have returned only $100.

I’ve become selective in my choice of events to video and thus far in 2020 I’ve posted on the web only 28 minutes of video. This week I learned my first video was posted 4,622 days ago. I did the math and learned it was made more than 12 years ago. My most popular video was posted six years ago and has been viewed 158,000 times.

In 2020, people invested 32,993 minutes in watching my videos, shared them 353 times and left 99 comments.

While that may sound like a lot, I have concluded my working time should be invested in products that include the written word. For me, video will never be more than a recreational activity to be pursued when other activities are not available. However, I still keep a video camera in my camera bag, just in case. However, I’ve learned I can not predict what will be popular. I just shoot what catches my eye, post and wait to see if others like it.

Earlier this week I was looking for a picture we printed in this newspaper in 1976. I haven’t found it but I found a black and white photo I took in the 1960s of my family home on Blauvelt’s Hill. The Christmas lights were burning on a snow night. I didn’t think it would interest others and started to put it back in the box. On a whim I decided to share it on my social media page. I’m glad I did for it has generated many comments and likes. It has even been shared.

 

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