By: Jim Rosenberg Always willing to take chances, Schurz Communications helped pioneer commercial radio, broadcast and cable TV, cold-type, keyless-letterpress, and color keyless-offset printing. But its real long shot came during this century.
With industrywide circulation in decline and ad growth sluggish, the South Bend, Ind.-based company launched the Noblesville Daily Times in the shadow of a metro owned by the largest newspaper group. The paper bucks other industry trends as well: It is a paid, general-interest, afternoon broadsheet delivered by kids.
Since mid-2003, the Daily Times has transformed from an 868-circulation weekly into a CAC-audited 8,000-circulation daily that's seen steady ad growth. "We sell face to face," using kiosks and carriers, says Circulation and Marketing Director Clif Blossom. Free "extended market distribution" takes the Saturday edition (36 pages, heavy on high school sports, with color comics and a substantial real estate section) to 19,800 homes. The staff's latest project, Fishers Weekly, goes free to another 20,200 nearby households the same day.
Not bad for a young daily that competes with The Indianapolis Star and its associated weeklies. In 2002, after Gannett had acquired the Star and Noblesville's Daily Ledger and converted the latter to twice weekly, Noblesville native and former Schurz executive Tim Timmons proposed buying the weekly Times and converting it to a daily.
"It's not been without its bumps and bruises," says Daily Times Publisher Terry Coomer, recalling a 90-day rush to launch, long days, and several hospitalizations. "I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't want to do it again." A Baptist pastor and former pro baseball player, Coomer had worked in circulation at several dailies, the Star and Ledger among them.
"We knew going in that this would be a tough grind," Charles Pittman, Schurz's senior VP of newspapers, says, adding that some personnel were changed before things stabilized. But the competition never lets up. Talent and coverage are costly, and managing expenses is difficult when a quarter-million-circulation daily sits in your backyard, he says. Besides Gannett's Ledger and its own new weekly for Fishers, the Star carries 'Fishers AM' and 'Hamilton AM' weekly sections. (Coomer declines comment on his competitors.)
In addition to public acceptance, the Daily Times took a third of Schurz's 54 state press association awards last year and the general excellence award, and it was the city's 2004 Business of the Year. In the spring, Coomer received a citation from the Ball State University Journalism School for his industry contribution. -- Jim Rosenberg
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