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Journalism From Milwaukee to Minneapolis |
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Find Kaukauna, Wis. on Yahoo! See where Add-Inc. is located in the United States View the circulation changes of weeklies in the News Crossroads survey Read what former publisher Bill Haupt had to say about Hansen's operation Catch what editor John Faucher did to get people to talk on the record E-mail Campbell with questions or comments about this story |
Family buys newspaper back from corporate chain
UW-Eau Claire Journalism Seminar Student Wednesday, May 15, 2002 Women cried as they carried pictures of family and personal belongings home at 4 p.m. on a Wednesday, shocked to hear they had just lost their jobs at their small town newspaper centralized in Appleton, Wis. Those searching for a second part-time job to support their income at The Times would have to start looking for work someplace else or apply for unemployment benefits. Add-Inc. shut down this small Kaukauna newspaper, along with six others in the Fox Valley, after its last issue printed on Jan. 17. The venture, called Fox Cities Newspapers, lost circulation, as The Times declined from about 6,000 subscribers in 1999 to roughly 1,800 in 2002. The centralized operation lacked the hometown feel of local news that readers craved. It was a small period of corporate control that interrupted family ownership of the 122-year-old newspaper. In February 2002 Glenn Hansen made a deal with Add-Inc. to honor the 1,800 subscriptions. The current operation makes the present Times-Villager in Kaukauna one of the oldest and newest weeklies at the same time. Add-Inc. is a subsidiary of Journal Communications, which prints the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and owns over 100 weeklies, shoppers and other publications across the country. Hansen, who was a salesman for two of the seven newspapers, was dumbfounded by the shutdown on Jan. 16 at the office. “I thought things were going quite well at Fox Cities Newspapers,” he said. “I didn’t know it was going to happen.” The shutdown was an opportunity for Hansen to start over and reclaim the family newspaper for Kaukauna among popular support from readers. Hansen said he sold the newspaper because retail business in Kaukauna was declining, especially in shoes and home appliances. The town in 1999 could no longer support a shopper and a local semi-weekly due to economic downturn, he said. Readers called him the next day after they saw on television that their newspaper in the “Heart of the Valley” had been shutdown. Hansen emphasized the phrase “Heart of the Valley” and defined it as the cities east of Appleton: Kimberly, Combined Locks, Little Chute and Kaukauna. The title is also engraved on three plaques from the Kaukauna Chamber of Commerce in his front lounge at Quantum Printing, 1900 Crooks Ave. Add-Inc. had supplied the operation with new computers and Quark Express software in 1999, but dismantled and sold them to John Willey. He also bought the headquarters from Add-Inc. with hopes of publishing a competing daily against the Post-Crescent, Hansen said. “That kind of left me out of the picture." But Hansen beat him to the finish line by printing the first issue of Times-Villager on March 7; Willey was left with an office building and no newspaper. Two investors and friends had offered Hansen $25,000 and $20,000 to ensure the paper stayed in the Hansen family. “They wanted it back the way it was,” Hansen said. Even though Hansen said he was happy to be free of headaches from payroll and bills when he sold the newspaper, he was challenged by his friends to re-establish what his uncle, Carl Hansen, started in 1925. Carl Hansen and his wife purchased The Kaukauna Times from the former editor, John McCoy, who established the paper in 1880. “I was glad to get it back and do it again,” Glenn Hansen said. He learned from the mistakes of Add-Inc. and was motivated to have a fresh start with a familiar product. His uncle taught him that his work wasn’t finished until the job was done, and Hansen knew his job at the Times wasn’t finished yet. ‘We’re back where we belong’ The women who lost their jobs that Wednesday afternoon found themselves at a new operation within two months. Publisher Glenn Hansen reorganized his old staff of “quality people” with a few additions. Loyal staff members such as Editor Joyce Shubring said with a smile, “We’re back where we belong.” Other “old” faces include sales representatives Bart Landsverk and Diane Verhagen and production manager Brian Roebke. These “well qualified professionals” bring years of experience to the newspaper, Hansen said. Customers compliment their efforts by name for their ability to appeal to readers. Hansen also made changes in production and printing. While working for Add-Inc., he found that most advertisers wanted color ads. His former newspaper only ran color ads on the back page. Today, he plans to add a color printer to the Quantum Printing building so he can print color ads and not have to print the newspaper in Denmark, Wis., about 20 miles away. He recently purchased new computers with Quark for layout and production. Hansen didn’t have to pay a dime for his old newspaper; he only had to honor 1,800 subscriptions in Kimberly, Little Chute and Kaukauna. That started their subscription base and saved Add-Inc. about $50,000 in refunds, Hansen said. He was released from the no-compete clause of their 1999 contract when he sold the newspaper, Hansen said. “This way we were ready to start over.” He and his brother Lyle bought The Times from Add-Inc. at a reasonable price compared to when he sold it, although he didn’t identify exact amounts for either purchase. On the week of April 21 Hansen was offering two free newspapers and a $5 rebate off a $29 annual subscription to the Times-Villager to 2,000 former subscribers. With circulation at 4,200, he hopes it will be back at 6,000 in two months. There were about 200 new subscribers after the first week. He extended the offer for another week with the slogan, “We’re back, we want you back,” and gained around another 400 subscribers. Now Hansen prints 5,000 issues of the newspaper for the Fox Valley. Since Hansen bought back the newspaper, he’s gained an extended circulation area in the town of Darboy and the city of Kimberly. Hansen said an extended subscriber base builds confidence in advertisers by ensuring them their message is reaching the consumer audience. Hansen’s experience in selling ads for Add-Inc. gave him more connections and increased his advertising revenue, from which he plans to solely fund the Times-Villager. “We have a lot broader ad base than we had,” he said. He said florists, auto dealers and realtors from the valley are advertising in the newspaper as well as Kaukauna businesses such as a new art gallery and home décor shop. Hansen had few Appleton advertisers before he sold because his uncle protected Kaukauna businesses in the Times by refusing Appleton ads. Hansen said that type of advertising policy is “too complacent” to the hometown and contrasts with the new ideal of reaching the surrounding communities. Hansen also hopes to re-establish the Times-Villager as a semiweekly publication. He said stories like house fires and obituaries that occur on the day of publication need to be brought to the public in a few days. The brothers divide their roles in the newspaper operation, with Glenn as publisher and Lyle as operations manager of the press. Quantum Printing prints the shopper, maps and brochures for the Kaukauna Chamber of Commerce and notepads for customers. The two brothers gained control of the operation in 1991 from their uncle, with Glenn as president and Lyle as vice president. Newspaper declined under Add-Inc. The people in Kaukauna couldn’t let their 122-year-old newspaper go. They begged the Hansen brothers to restart the newspaper in Kaukauna after seeing it closed on television. Circulation for The Times dropped 70 percent in three years, from 1999 to 2002. Readers weren’t impressed by The Times’ centralized location or their subscription rates, Glenn Hansen said. While other communities received their newspaper for free, subscribers of The Times were obligated to pay for delivery. Add-Inc. planned to eventually charge subscriptions for the other newspapers, but they never did. “It built up a lot of resentment,” Hansen said. Readers couldn’t drop by to give news ledes or chat with a reporter or editor about a story because the entire operation was centralized in Appleton. During this time Hansen picked up suggestions from a drop box he left at Quantum Printing while working for Add-Inc. Add-Inc. marketed the seven community newspapers according to area school districts. The company planned to turn a profit in four years, Hansen said, by selling to families with $60,000 incomes and then branching-out to adjacent neighborhoods. The time seemed right for the economy and Add-Inc.'s investment. But last year's declining circulation and national interest in terrorists attacks killed optimism of turning profits. Hansen said the newspapers suffered from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel more extensive coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the war in Afghanistan. Add-Inc. spokeswoman Mary Alice Tierney said the poor advertising climate of 2001 overwhelmed the necessary earning levels for long-term success. When asked about Hansen’s comments she replied, “We had a different strategy for operating the Fox Cities Newspapers than the operation of an individual newspaper in just one community.” She further stated that she could not comment on the specifics of the business agreements with the Hansen family. Hansen shared letters and thank-you cards that community readers sent or gave him while shaking his hand at church and in town. One from Richard Ludvigsen, Palatine, Ill. read: “I had been a subscriber to the Kaukauna Times for many years. I was disappointed and saddened when I heard that they were closing their doors. I am glad that you have taken the opportunity to continue the rich tradition that the Times left behind.” Joan Bellin wrote, “The Post-Crescent does not care about our little community. Too much national news.” “Indeed we now have a paper in the VALLEY that provides information of the local school districts, village's news and city of Kaukauna. Welcome back and keep up the good work,” wrote Lloyd S. Kloehn of Kaukauna. Hansen said he had been getting letters since people first heard that the newspaper would return. At his interview for this article he carried one small letter in his shirt pocket from a Shiocton woman, and former classmate, who was happy to get the paper again. Although some in Kaukauna wanted to keep the city’s name on the masthead, the brothers agreed that the newspaper should appeal to the surrounding cities and towns. "We wanted to be more inclusive to the Heart of the Valley," Hansen said of the change in direction and title.
People appreciate the privacy the newspaper provides in the police blotter and in fire and robbery stories. Instead of printing someone’s name and address, they print which hundred block the incident took place.
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