In the New York Times, you can read about the tale of M.E. Sprengelmeyer, a former star reporter with the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News who recently purchased a small weekly newspaper in the Route 66 town of Santa Rosa, N.M., and is determined to make a go of it.
The newspaper is the Guadalupe County Communicator, and he didn’t buy it on a lark. He’d been thinking of buying a small-town newspaper for years, and had scouted such operations in Iowa and other states before settling on the Communicator in his native New Mexico (Sprengelmeyer grew up in Albuquerque).
As for the newspaper …
Sales of The Communicator are up, in part because of eight sidewalk boxes that Mr. Sprengelmeyer bought from The Rocky and posted around Santa Rosa. He will not say how much money the paper makes, but says it is more than enough to support him, and he has visions of expanding to two days a week.
“If a house burns down, everybody here knows it, saw it, knew the people, probably hugged them, but they still want to read about it in a paper that comes out four days later,” he said.
That excerpt alludes to an important part of Sprengelmeyer’s business model. He’s been adamant on the newspaper’s Facebook page (which has double the fans of the daily Albuquerque Journal) about not giving away content on the newspaper’s bare-bones Web site. If you want to read about it in the Communicator, you likely have to buy a paper.
It must be working, because Sprengelmeyer has already hired a couple of former Rocky Mountain News employees. I also see no reason to disbelieve Sprengelmeyer’s claims of profitability, as each copy of the newspaper I’ve received has ranged from 50 percent to 60 percent advertising — an excellent sign.
As big newspapers continue to lay off employees because of crippling debt or bad long-term decisions, you’ll see more journalists such as Sprengelmeyer take a plunge into small weeklies. Many of these operations do not have Internet sites, and you’ll see readers respond positively to a resultant increase in professionalism. Sprengelmeyer writes many of the Communicator’s stories, and his journalism background comes through in the engaging prose and willingness to stick his nose into things (such as his chiding of a fractious city council in the editorial page). Even more mundane items, such as an obituary about a former longtime Route 66 business owner in nearby Cuervo, are interesting to read.
If you want to subscribe, as I have, send an e-mail to the Communicator to comsilvercom(at)plateautel(dot)net and cc: ersthap(at)hotmail(dot)com. Write that you want a year’s subscription and that your $45 check is in the mail. Mail the check to The Communicator, P.O. Box 403, Santa Rosa, NM 88435. You’ll probably get the newspaper in less than a week.
Three cheers to the new owner. He’s living the dream many, not just journalists, have and would love to do. What’s neat is that Santa Rosa could use his brand of journalism. I live and work in Washington, DC and know of his reputation. The local crooks had better clean up their acts in the area.
He’s right about what he brings to this small town. The people there could use some real news coverage.
Along those lines, I’m hoping he’ll take some time to look at Route 66 and its unique history in the Santa Rosa area. Club Cafe and all the others. What a history. Maybe Joe Campos will tell him about Joseph’s Catina, and the hotels, etc.
I’m going to order the paper and have it mailed to me here in DC. You never know, I might just pull out of this place and head west, a modern day Route 66 vagabond, looking for a job.
I really envy him, even with all of the hard work. When you love what your doing, the work is something you do because you want to. Bet he’s glad to be the heck out of this place.
Just like Then Came Bronson, sans motorcycle.