Made In Salina: The Salina311 Newspaper 2.0

For 14 months, we have printed the Salina311 Newspaper and delivered it to doorsteps across Salina (and mailboxes across the country).

As we have grown, we have heard many questions and requests, but two have been consistent:

1. "I want a daily newspaper."
2. "Is it printed locally?"

We've had unsatisfactory responses to these requests until today.

Newspaper printing has returned to Salina this week for the first time since the Salina Journal moved its printing out of town many years ago. Printing a newspaper locally was a challenging problem, and we are incredibly excited about the solution.

While we pride ourselves on being "local only," we were never able to find a local printer that could handle traditional newspaper printing, called offset printing. The closest printer that we could find offering offset printing is in Valley Center. While they did an excellent job, there were a few problems:

1. It wasn't local, and we are determined to have all of our operations local.
2. It required us to send a driver to Valley Center each Thursday, which increases the cost of the paper.
3. We had to complete all the content two days before anybody would receive the paper, so many fresh stories were omitted.
4. The printer only printed on Wednesdays.

There was no possibility of printing more often.

Broadsheets are great (traditional newspaper style), but again, the only way to print on them is via offset printing (back to the previous problem). So, we began exploring other formats.

Considering the volume of photography we do here at Salina311, we decided to explore a format closer to that of a magazine. The photos stand out more in this format and most importantly, this type of printing can be done in Salina.

While we still view the Salina311 Weekly as a newspaper, it will now be in a hybrid format, a cross between a newspaper and a magazine.  The paper contains the same content as before, but with better pictures. The early reviews have been stellar.

Now, to the next big announcement.

When we started the newspaper, we had the end goal of delivering a daily newspaper. It's the request we hear most often.

Now, we are one step closer.

Starting in February, we plan to begin delivering Sunday and mid-week papers. This change will enable us to put out more stories and more timely news. The mid-week paper will be the same as it has been, but the Sunday Paper will capture more stories and be a little larger. Further, in late Q2, we plan to test out a daily paper (assuming there is enough demand for it).

For those who have already subscribed, you'll continue receiving your mid-week paper and have the option to switch to the Sunday paper or bundle up the mid-week and the Sunday paper.

The new format makes the Salina311 newspaper truly local and opens the door to a daily paper.

As always, we want this to be the community's paper, so we want your feedback. Let us know what you like and what we should improve on.

Thank you for being a member of Salina311!

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