Tomorrow, December 21, is a big day. First, it’s the winter solstice and, therefore, the shortest day of the year, which is a big deal for the vampire I am. I love the dark (and almost hate the sun). Second, it’s my wife’s birthday! Third, and this one may trump 1 and 2, according to the Mayan Calendar, it may be the end of the world. (Doomsday? Darkness? Yes, the jokes abound about my wife’s birthday being the darkest day of the year and possibly the end of the world to boot!)
But for all the doomsday hype, I doubt tomorrow will be met with much upheaval … other than the annual earthquake that occurs in my home every year when my wife turns another year older (actually, it may as well be the end of the world)!
I take the comic-strip perspective of the Mayan doomsday: The guy writing the calendar ran out of chalk. I like the meso-
America and South American cultures’ idea that December 21, 2012 is the end of one era and beginning of another and is cause for celebration, mainly because it happens to coincide with the end of another successful year for the Sun Day, which is my main reason for celebrating.
2012 was a huge year for the paper and me personally. We expanded to the community of Edgewater in Elgin and switched to a weekly format. For a newspaper, those are massive advancements, none of which could have been done without our readership support, both from Sun City, who gave us the motivation and momentum to make such moves, and from Edgewater, who accepted the Sun Day so willingly. Personally, I can’t thank you enough. And further credit needs to go Sun Day Managing Editor Mason Souza and his staff of writers and columnists and our staff of advertising representatives who smoothly and effectively secured our expansion process and made the transition. Thank you to everyone.
Part of safely growing a company and maintaining its quality is monitoring feedback. After running the Sun Day on a weekly schedule for six months, we found that the majority of Sun Day readers prefer our biweekly format to our weekly format and enjoy more content and a thicker paper over frequency. This said (and for the additional reasons that follow), when we return from our yearly break with our January 17 edition, the Sun Day will move back to a partial biweekly format. For approximately the first three quarters of the year, we will run a biweekly schedule, publishing every other Thursday (from January 17 through the end of September). In October, November, and December, we will run on a weekly schedule.
Again, this decision came from constant evaluation and a direct result of reader feedback and, of course, our want to “give the readers what they want.”
Additional reasons are:
1) Space Allotment
A return to our biweekly format will naturally and automatically increase page count, giving us more room to provide more content, including scores, which has always been a challenge area for the Sun Day. It will also allow us to expand our creativity and design approach, enabling us to create more intelligent and visually pleasing designs and graphics and run more photos.
2) Edgewater
Although the Sun Day runs weekly in Sun City, we’ve maintained a biweekly format in Edgewater. My next comment, I say as the newspaper owner: Personally, I feel that the community of Edgewater is missing out on the full experience of the Sun Day. By not publishing weekly in Edgewater, Edgewater residents are missing about half the paper. They miss interesting stories, great columns, and, most important, when we run a series story that takes place over several parts, they miss entire conclusions. This way, Edgewater residents will enjoy the same Sun Day as Sun City residents have enjoyed since day one.
3) Our Readers
Since there is a maybe a remote chance that the Mayans were on to something and tomorrow is the end of the world, if I had a last personal message to give to you about the Sun Day, it’s that the Sun Day’s entire staff/contributors and I are wholly committed to its readers and the improvement of the Sun Day for our readers. You are our top priority and the reason we do what we do. I have no illusions about the Sun Day’s place in the journalism kingdom. We are not a daily, breaking-news media monster. We are not blowing the toupee off Rod Blagojevich’s head to see what’s going on in there. From time to time, yes, we do run hard news stories and ask the hard questions, but for the most part, we are, not to sound too much like artist Bob Ross, a happy place where your community gathers.
With that, thank you for making the Sun Day the valuable publication it is today, thank you for your continued support and your momentum. Best wishes and happy holidays.
Reminder: The Sun Day will take its yearly break, starting after the publication of the December 20 edition. We will return with a regular publishing schedule with our January 17, 2013 edition.
