AREA WIDE CONNECTION TO CEASE OPERATION JULY 1

The Area Wide Connection, a free-distribution advertising publication of Second Century Publishing, Inc. that serves residents of Hutchinson, Turner and McCook counties, will cease publication at the end of the month. The final issue will be published Tuesday, June 24.

Jeremy Waltner, president of SCPI and publisher of The Courier, said the decision is due to the high cost associated with printing and mailing to 4,600 households across the area, and an ongoing decline in advertising over the past 25 years.

“We simply cannot afford to maintain publication of the Area Wide Connection any longer, particularly with the rising cost of postage,” he said, noting his fixed weekly expenses total just under $1,900 — $1,100 of which is for mailing. “With the drop in retail advertising revenue over the years, we’re not even close to covering that.

“I feel badly pulling the plug on something that has been part of the community since the 1980s, but given the bleak financial picture, this decision is a no-brainer,” Waltner continued. “I would much rather put my energy and resources in maintaining publication of The Courier.”

The Area Wide Connection has long been the platform used by Freeman’s grocery stores, Jamboree Foods and the Freeman Shopping Center, as well as Norm’s Thrifty White Pharmacy, to promote their sales. It has also been used by other businesses and organizations, both on a regular and occasional basis.

With that no longer an option starting in July, Area Wide Connection advertisers are being encouraged to use the pages of The Courier, instead, to promote their sales and services. That will significantly help bolster revenue critical to the survival of the weekly newspaper, Waltner said.

Jamboree Foods, the Freeman Shopping Center and Norm’s Thrifty White Pharmacy all plan to roll their weekly advertising sales into the well-read Courier that serves the larger Freeman, Marion and Menno communities beginning the first week of July. Those advertisements will also be available online at freemansd.com, as well as in the stores themselves.

To help better accommodate their weekly sales dates, The Courier will also be moving from a Thursday print distribution to Wednesdays, with the online edition going live every Tuesday afternoon.

The Courier deadline will change from Monday at noon to Friday at noon.

“While this will be a change for both advertisers and those who regularly read the Area Wide Connection — and us —I feel confident this will ultimately be a good fit for everybody,” Waltner said. “While not without financial challenges of its own, The Courier is a strong publication that will be made even better by the value of the advertisers that will take advantage of its readability and broad reach, both in print and online.”