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Show THE ZEPHYRJAN-FE- 1996 B PAGE 7 1 A LETTER TO THE ZEPHYR READERSHIP ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THIS NEWSPAPER This is the 76th issue of the Zephyr. Since I took Volume 1, Number 1 to the printer in Cortez, Colorado on March 14, 1989, this newspaper has experienced a number of changes and evolutions. Writers and politicians have come and gone. Issues have come and gone. Now that I mention it, I feel like I've come and gone a few times. The very tone of the Zephyr has changed a lot in seven years. Now it's about to change dramatically. This is the last monthly edition of the Canyon Country Zephyr. On March 14, 1996, exactly seven years after its first press day, this newspaper will be published (every other month). It will be distributed FREE in the Moab area, with additional limited distribution points in Salt Lake City, Grand Junction, Colorado, and several southern Utah communities. Subscriptions will continue to be offered as they are now (for more on subscriptions, paid subscribers will find an attachment in this issue). And the coverage of the Zephyr will expand to include other southern Utah issues, stories, and controversies. Moab will still be the vortex...whether we like it or not, Moab always seems to be in the center of the storm down here. We are a barometer for growth for the rest of southern Utah. But a lot is happening beyond the borders of Grand County and this paper would like to devote more time to those stories. So why am I doing this? First there is the matter of economic survival. I'm not kidding when I insert the little sidebar each month that says 2 out of 3 readers steal this paper. The Zephyr loses almost $10,000 yearly in lost revenues due to newsstand theft, intentional or otherwise. Many people, visitors mostly, don't even realize the Zephyr has a newsstand price. Especially since two free Salt Lake magazines began depositing their publications in large numbers locally next to the Zephyr, collections have dropped even more. Just getting someone who has never even heard of this newspaper topick it up, much less pay for it, has always been a challenge. And since, more than anything, the publisher of a newspaper wants it to be read, I feel like I have no choice but to make the Zephyr a free distribution paper as well What that kind of change requires is the support of the advertisers. The fates go up, but the number of copies increases as well. Presently, this paper prints between 1700 and 3000 copies each month. In March, the distribution will jump to somewhere between 12 and 15,000. When I first proposed these changes, I had some hope of maintaining a monthly schedule, but I could not find the advertising support I needed. However, I discovered that most of the Zephyr advertisers would stay in schedule. if I went to a But financial concerns played only a part in my decision to make these changes. When I started the Zephyr, I wanted it to be a local alternative newspaper. After seven years, I have to admit, it hasn't really happened. Certainly, there is a solid core of readers in this community who have supported me, and I can't tell you enough how much that support has meant. But, rs in Moab still think I am a after all this time, half the communist and half the newcomers think I am an fanatic. Most of them don't...or won't...even read this rag. It's an assumption they have made and nothing is going to convince them otherwise. But this newspaper has never been content to print press releases and call it news and it has never been afraid to express an opinion, even if it is an unpopular one. And that is not about to change. Much of the enthusiasm for the Zephyr has come from people who don't live here but who love this area with all their bi-mont- hearts and who support this paper's goal of trying to protect some of it. What happens to Moab in the future will most likely be decided by persons who haven't even arrived here yet. And I think they deserve another perspective on Moab, other than what the Travel Council and the Chamber of Commerce can provide. The increased distribution can help accomplish that goal. And finally...folks, I am fried. Now, it's not like I work 80 hours a week, 52 weeks a year on the Zephyr. As Ed Abbey once said, "I don't work best under duress; I work only under duress." But assembling something like this every four weeks requires much more than putting in my time. It's like trying to assemble a car every month in a totally new and different way. Just trying to come up with 50 cartoon ads every four weeks has made me loopy as hell from time to time. And it is particularly difficult to always be immersed in unpleasant and sometimes heartbreaking issues. What's happening here in this town is very painful to watch, not to mention report, especially when you can remember the way it was. I have always been something of a cynical S.O.B. but lately, my mere presence in a room can wilt flowers. Anyway, to me and for all these reasons, the paper has suffered. I think there are stories that I have let slide because I didn't have the energy or heart to pursue them. I think the ads have lost some of their edge. I don't want to do something if I cannot feel proud of it. And lately I have not been proud of this hly paper. 're-tooli- ng' bi-mont- hly old-time- anti-grow- th . This has always been a very personal publication and I want to keep it that way. I am a lousy business man; after all these years, I still don't know how to balance a checkbook...I'm not even sure what it means. I like to write and I like to draw and the other stuff is what I tolerate so I can do what I find satisfying...or at least what I used to find satisfying. I don't want to hire a staff and deal with tons of paperwork and the IRS and the Social Security Administration and Unemployment Insurance. I have always tried to keep it simple and I am not about to change that now. Expanding the distribution will complicate things a bit. But I will have more time to put together a publication that I can feel good about, and which, hopefully, you will appreciate as well. the Zephyr. I I hope to spend part of the winter want to redesign the pages, create new departments, find new writers...basically I want to start from the ground up, but without sacrificing or compromising the aspects of the Zephyr that make it unique. It will still look at the world and particularly our neck of the woods with an irreverent eye. And.-.we'rstill mad as hell. So that's it. I'm crossing my fingers that this works. It's a scary proposition making such a big change. The Zephyr is like my baby and I feel like I am about to send her off to school for the first time. I hope that all of you, local readers, advertisers, and subscribers alike, will be pleased with the change. But regardless of what happens in the future, thanks for your kind and generous support. Mfrv See you in the Spring, . e . |