The Lake Today

Today, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011, is a special day for me for two reasons. Tonight my kids and grandkids will descend on the Lake Area so we can begin our annual Thanksgiving celebration together. Today also marks the third anniversary of one of the best jobs I have ever held and creating the best product I have ever had a hand in producing –The Lake Today.

I had worked in the newspaper industry for more than 30 years and had just turned 65 when I decided to retire in 2007. I moved away from the Lake and spent the next several months bored stiff. Less than a year into my leisure time, I received a call asking if I would consider returning to the Lake to help start this newspaper. My answer was, of course, a resounding, “YES!”

I moved back to Camdenton and a few weeks later had my first interview with Paul Smith, the president of our parent company WEHCO Media, Inc. My niece Samantha Edmondson, who also had years of journalism experience, accompanied me to that interview and we were both hired on the spot and asked to begin the necessary steps to launch a weekly newspaper.

We actually began working on that launching using my home computer that was, at that time, located in the spare bedroom of my duplex.

Over the next few weeks we worked with Mike Vivion, manager of Central Missouri Newspapers in Jefferson City, and his right hand person, advertising director Jane Haslag, to find an office, hire employees, set up distribution points, brain storm over how we wanted the paper to look, what tone its “voice” should take and what it would be named.

Then Sam and I began to gather the news, take photos and generally get everything ready for that first issue.

Through all this, Mike, Jane and Paul trusted that Sam and I knew the Lake Area and what type of newspaper would appeal to the wonderful people who make up our community.

With some expert help from Van Anderson, of Anderson Creative Marketing, we opened our office, hired a sales staff and had our first full-color newspaper on the stands the day before Thanksgiving in 2008.

At first we direct-mailed to all the households in Osage Beach, Lake Ozark, Kaiser, Horseshoe Bend and the North Shore and put papers out at various distribution points in Eldon, Camdenton, Linn Creek and Sunrise Beach. Then over the next 18 months or so, we gradually expanded that distribution to include the Laurie, Gravois Mills and Versailles areas.

Last spring, we decided it was time to change our distribution style to include anyone in the three-county area who would like to have the paper delivered directly to his or her home. So began our “opt-in” program.

We placed subscription cards in each paper and direct-mailed them to every mailbox in the various regions around the Lake. Giving the householders the chance to opt-in as a subscriber, at no charge, by simply filling out the card and mailing it back.

We knew we would have a good return of subscription cards, because of the hundreds of compliments we had received about the quality of our product, but we never expected the Lake Area to take us to their hearts the way they did. Throughout the summer and fall we have literally received hundreds of the filled out subscription cards on a daily basis.

So that today our subscribers number 8,335 wonderful readers from all over Camden, Miller and Morgan counties. In Camdenton alone we have more than 2,000 subscribers. We also have very large numbers of subscribers in Lake Ozark, Osage Beach, Eldon, Linn Creek, Rocky Mount, Sunrise Beach and Gravois Mills. And, smaller readerships in nearly every town in the three-county area, including cities as far away as Richland, Stover, St. Elizabeth, Iberia, Macks Creek and Tuscumbia. And we have nearly 100 paid subscribers in places as far away as St. Louis, Kansas City, Iowa, Florida and Texas.

In addition to our subscribers, we direct mail to another 767 Lake Area homes at the request of our advertisers. And, bright and early every Wednesday morning, our distribution staff drops another 4,898 papers at various points throughout Miller, Morgan and Camden counties.

From those early days when Sam and I made up the entire staff of The Lake Today, we have grown to include an outstanding writer, Dianne Steingrubey, two hardworking sales executives, Stephanie Borrelli and Brittany Wakeland and a dynamic General Manager Jennifer Vanderpool. We also have at our disposal the excellent staff at Central Missouri Newspapers who help us put the paper together each week, including the excellent guidance of Managing Editor Gary Castor.

But, most of all we have you, our wonderful readers and advertisers, who have welcomed us into your hearts and homes, and turned our fledging newspaper into the success it is today – THANK YOU!