Small "hometown newspapers" mean different things to different people. On vacation recently, I bought a copy of the local weekly newspaper-published in a quaint beach town for the past 142 years-and the store owner jokingly said, "You gonna go fish? That is the only thing people do with that paper! " There may be some people in my hometown of Newville who would say the same thing about the Valley Times-Star; but I believe that paper is a valuable source of news of what is happening in the community. A small "hometown newspaper" fosters the sense of community that is important to people whose interests and activities, in many cases, are focused on jobs and institutions away from their home towns. The Valley Times-Star is successful because of its "down-home" point of view. Newsmakers range from Friday night's high school football star or top volunteer at the senior citizen center to the person arrested for drunk driving. A person who lives in or near Newville is likely to recognize at least one name in every issue of the paper.
Consistency in publishing articles important to the community is the key to this small newspaper over the past 139 years. It would be safe to wager that each week's issue will publish reports of town council actions, senior citizen center activities, and school sports, notices of church services and activities, school menus for the week, the County Agent article, an editorial or two, and, of course, births and obituaries. Readers quickly become familiar with the paper's format and layout, and know where to turn in each issue for the features they read regularly.
Being able to present objectively the events of a small community without irritating or flattering people who, for various reasons, find themselves the subject of an article, is one of the special qualities of this century-old newspaper. The Valley Times-Star has carried its readers through local social and economic changes as well as unsettling national events. In its first year of publication the paper carried stories about a couple who left the area for Pike's Peak to "strike gold." In more recent times there have been articles about men in the armed services, such as the front-page photo of Corporal Samuel Nailor, who "celebrated his 19th birthday in Japan." The appearance of the Ku Klux Klan in the area was brief and unwelcome, as the headline on January 13, 1954, made clear: "Police Are Really Out To Get Fiery Criss Burners." 1 One of the recent controversies was over implementation of a sewage system in 1972; the paper helped keep the neighborhoods accurately informed.
My family and I have called Newville our home since 1836, and members of each generation were avid readers of the Valley Times-Star; even from its beginning as The Star of the Valley. This paper was established by J. M. Miller and John C. Wagner as a non-partisan publication in 18582 The long (and dusty) trail of the Valley Times-Star indicates that there have been only four publishers in 139 years, and that the present newspaper is the result of mergers over the years with four other weeklies in the surrounding area. If one had to guess why these four were short-lived and unsuccessful, one might offer the unfortunate names of three of them: The Weekly Native, Cupid's Corner and The Central Eagle.
The life of successful newspapers, especially small ones, depends on the editors' ability to sense the pulse and temperament of intensely loyal readers. Personally knowing the people who make up the audience is essential for continued success, as well as for meeting their needs and providing information and entertainment. Richard Conniff, a successful freelance writer who began his career writing obituaries for a small paper in New Jersey, wrote the following in Smithsonian magazine about readers of "hometown" newspapers:
While daily papers flounder in competition with television and other modern diversions, the successful weeklies have carved out a niche. They enjoy special loyalty because they carry the town name on the masthead, pictures of the neighbors' kids on page two, and an item in the police blotter about the burglary down the street. Scoffers describe what weeklies print as "refrigerator-door journalism." But it works. 3
The Valley Times-Star is meaningful to the many residents of the local retirement communities, who depend on the paper to keep them connected with the world outside their confining four walls. Some of these residents are lifelong Newvillians and some are transplanted from other parts of the country; but this friendly little paper appeals to all who read it and makes even strangers feel at home. A national survey has reported that "newspaper readership increases with age, usually peaking in the forties and fifties and then declining somewhat in the sixties and seventies. "4 The statistics seem to differ from those regarding Newville's retirement community, where a majority of residents who read the Valley Times-Star are in the "declining" age brackets. The paper's friendly style is a drawing card for these "golden agers" and is another reason why the paper has been so successful for so many years.
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