From the Publisher’s Desk
Owner & Publisher
Well, it’s been 20 years already. Two decades!
I know they say time flies, but wow. It seems like just yesterday I was reaching out to Adirondack Trust and a few other key local businesspeople about my idea.
5 Case Street, Saratoga Springs
At that point I had been in the print media industry for about 15 years. During that time, I noticed an interesting trend; as paid newspaper readership was declining, I saw free community newspapers popping up around the country and gobbling up all those lost readers, as well as a whole new group of readers.
So, I reached out to those publishers and picked their brains. Everything I heard sounded promising, albeit challenging. The next step was to create a budget, build a talented team, get commitments from some big advertisers, and secure a business loan.
After accomplishing those initial tasks, the date was set for the first edition: April 5, 2006.
Most of you don’t know this, or won’t remember this, but we began as a 3-day per week newspaper: Monday, Wednesday, Friday. The idea was that Monday would kickstart everyone’s week; Wednesday would give everyone a good mid-week update; Friday would be a weekly wrap-up and include weekend entertainment news.
On paper it sounded great; in reality it was a disaster. Readers, and sometimes the staff, were always confused about which edition was on the street. Also, because our paper is 100% local news, it became challenging filling 3-days’ worth of papers per week with only local news.
So, a few months into our new venture, we pivoted to 1-day a week, publishing every Friday morning. We also made some significant content and layout changes. BINGO! Week by week the community became used to the new schedule and format. Saratoga TODAY slowly became the ‘Paper of Record’ for our area; A weekly snapshot of everything locals need to live, work and raise a family in our great region.
But, as we quickly learned, it still wasn’t enough to keep the company profitable. Between rent, printing, insurance, and payroll, we were losing money quickly. Don’t forget, all our products are FREE to the public, we don’t have any subscription revenue. We live and die on advertising revenue, so visit those advertisers! By around September (5-6 months in) we had lost a little over $100,000. Needless to say, I had MANY sleepless nights. I can still vividly remember lying in bed on a few occasions almost hyperventilating. I was worried about my staff, my investors, my personal savings, and my sons college education.
The reoccurring thought “What the heck did I get myself into?” regularly popped into my head. (And it popped into my head regularly.) But as soon as the thought began, I would chastise myself and say to myself “Chad, stop whining, and figure this out.”
Despite the fact that the newspaper was gaining market share month-by-month, I knew bigger changes were required. The solution: double down and launch magazines and events. (Go big or Go home.)
It wasn’t perfect immediately, but eventually everything fell into place. The varying products worked together symbiotically. The newspaper promoted the magazines; the magazines expanded on the newspaper; the events complemented the print products; and the website pulled everything together under one cohesive platform.
As I am sure you are aware, one of the important departments in a newspaper is distribution. They are the people who deliver our newspaper to hundreds of outlets throughout Saratoga County. During our first two years, weekly distribution increased 66%, from 6,000 copies to more than 10,000 copies per issue. Currently the print run for Saratoga TODAY is 10,2000 copies every Friday.
Have you ever wondered where we go through the most papers? Tied for the TOP SPOTS are the West Ave YMCA and Healthy Living Market in Wilton. Right behind them are the Hannafords in Wilton and Ballston Spa. And of course, Stewart’s Shops is also at the top of the list, providing readers with copies of Saratoga TODAY from exit 16 down to exit 10.
From the very beginning I was blessed to have a talented and experienced team by my side. I recruited the initial Saratoga TODAY team from a few local newspapers, but mainly from The Saratogian. In the beginning I think we had about 50 years of print media experience between us….now we are closer to 100 years!
Throughout the last 20 years, we have had a lot of success, and a handful of flops. But as Winston Churchill said, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” One of my favorite flops was Simply Lake Placid magazine. While it seemed like the perfect market for our high-end magazines, we quickly found that region to be a very parochial community who didn’t take well to outsiders coming in. Either way, it was a fun project, and I enjoyed my time deep in the Adirondacks.
Were there other bumps in the road? ABSOLUTELY! For example, we certainly didn’t plan on the 2008 housing crash and subsequent financial meltdown. And none of us guessed that 12 years later the world would shut down due to the Covid pandemic! But as they say, the strongest steel is forged in the hottest fire.
Looking back at this journey, it was certainly nerve racking, but it was also pretty darn exciting! Although I only earned my Bachelor of Arts while in college, I feel as though I have earned my Masters in Business in the real world.
-Chad
