By: E&P Staff The weekly Suburban Journal newspapers that ring St. Louis are converting from a free-distribution to paid circulation business model, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch siblings announced Wednesday.
Starting Nov. 5, home delivery of a Journal edition will cost $19.99.
"Our economy is changing, and the news industry is no different," Suburban Journal Group Publisher Bob Williams said in a front-page announcement in the weeklies. "We have to adapt to continue to improve the quality of news and the services we offer."
The change affects 27 weeklies that are distributed each Wednesday to about 700,000 households in St. Louis and its suburbs. The chain also distributes about 400,000 copies of the paper on Sundays, and some 62,000 households in St. Charles County just north of the city get delivery of a Friday edition.
In an article posted on the St. Louis Business Journal Web site, staff writers Kelsey Volkmann and Christopher Tritto report that Suburban Journals Publisher Williams believes a subscription model will give the paper better access to apartment buildings and gated communities.
"Beyond that, based on the level of response, we'll know which communities to increase coverage in and which topics we need to cover more extensively," he added. "We'll also be able to provide better customer service when our subscribers need to start or stop a paper."
Last spring, the weekly chain, a division of Lee Enterprises Inc., closed a printing plant with a loss of 42 jobs.
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