Daily Circulation: 10,125
Sunday Circulation: 11,450


List the major steps you have taken in the last four years to increase readership. Please organize your response under four headings: content, brand, service, culture.

Content
Added a daily "briefing" report modeled on the readership institute's "update" concept.

Added useful entertainment-oriented weekly feature, giving people information about events coming up the following weekend.

Added weekly local personality profile called "Our Neighbors."

Added very local weekly column called "The Buzz" to get in more local chicken-dinner stuff that used to fly below the radar.

Added a question-and-answer column.

Brand
Extensive internal discussions about what we're about, resulting in a focus reflected in our tagline: "Serving Your Need To Know."

Use of that tagline in all house ads, external communications and promotions.

Put in place a system to promote same-day content in house ads.

Service
Put in place service-oriented incentives for circulation staff

Culture
Overall focus on readership as a key issue for our future.



What is the most innovative, successful or noteworthy thing you have done on readership that you think other papers might learn from or want to emulate?
The daily "briefing" has been well-received by light readers. It's difficult to do right, but can serve a good purpose.



What is the most persuasive indication you have that your readership efforts are producing results?
Circulation is up this year after sliding for many years.



What is the most important lesson you have learned as you have worked on readership in the last few years?
That the war is winnable.



What would you like to do on readership that you have not been able to do and why haven't you been able to do it?
Develop a product of more interest to the college-age crowd. We're still working on it; it's just that we haven't found the right formula yet.

Getting Traction on Readership

Survey Responses by Topic & Newspaper