There Ya Go
Ihad the strangest dream the other night, one that woke me up out of an otherwise, and rare, deep sleep.
I dreamt that Tara and I bought three more newspapers.
I know, scary. Where did that come from?
Scary? Maybe. But it wasn’t a dream. Yes, you read it right on this week’s front page — Tara and I are playing the risk-reward game once again, as we have purchased the Tyler, Hendricks and Lake Benton publications.
When we bought the Headlight way back in 2019, I remember conversations I had with people about it and how they would tell me how great it was that we were taking over. Everyone said the right things, but as I absorbed what they were saying, I couldn’t help but wonder if they were thinking, “What the hell are you doing? You’re buying a newspaper in this digital age? Are you nuts? You know papers are dying, right?”
That last one always gets me. It’s a mantra that has been in the news for years. And it used to really bother me when I heard people repeat it over and over again — “Newspapers are dying.”
It bugged me because deep down I might have thought they were onto something. And given the fact that I’ve devoted most of my life to putting out newspapers and quite frankly don’t know a hell of a lot about anything else, I was petrified.
Think about it. If you are an artist, and art was all of a sudden banned, what would you do? If you are an insurance agent, and for some reason having insurance wasn’t a thing anymore, what would you do? You can say that about any profession, really.
So, it did scare me. Newspapers are dying? Crap!
However, when I hear someone say that today, I laugh. I actually love when I hear some say it. Why? Because it motivates me. I want to prove to all the naysayers that not only are they way off base, but that newspapers are still here, and many of them are here to stay. Yes, I want to shove it in their face that we’re not going anywhere.
Enter our decision to buy three papers in Lincoln County. As I told Tara a long time ago, this will go down as either the best decision we’re ever going to make, or the worst. How can it be the best? Simple. We work our butts off, and we believe in the importance of small towns keeping their papers.
We don’t like to see papers close, but it happens quite often, even locally, where we’ve lost papers in Balaton, Slayton, Fulda and Heron Lake in the last few years. In light of that, I know I sound contrarian when I say that newspapers aren’t dying, but we figure that saving as many as we can will go a long way to shutting up those who think we’re about ready to go the way of sour milk.
We’ve never taken this decision lightly, and we wouldn’t have even considered taking ownership of these publications if they weren’t good ones. I’m more familiar with the Tyler paper than the others, and I will vouch for it — it’s a great small-town weekly. They all are. But, similar to the situation at the Headlight when we took over, the owners are at the age where they are ready to step away.
Our goal is the same: Bring these papers back in the black so they can continue to provide thorough coverage of everything from local government, to youth sports and fine arts, and even the features on your neighbors. We need newspapers. If you don’t believe it, ask someone in Fulda what it’s like to not have a hometown paper, something you’ve been used to getting every week to read about local news and sports for so many years. If you think Facebook is going to replace papers, think again. Newspapers are the original social media and are more reliable than anything you’ll see on social.
Facebook is fun, but so is candy, and that rots your teeth.
This is why we’re taking the leap and investing in these three papers. Will it be seamless and perfect? Not likely. There will be bumps along the way, but it’s on us to smooth them out.
To close, I want to take this time to ensure all of our readers that buying these three papers won’t change what we do here in Tracy for our town, as well as our surrounding communities. Tracy will always be my No. 1 priority when it comes to coverage, and quite frankly I don’t plan on covering that much in our neighboring county.
And yes, I’m still a Panther, even though I just might be cheering for the Knights on occassion. “Once a Panther, Always a Panther (but Sometimes a Knight?”). Does that make sense? That said, Tara and I do want to make it a point to be present in those other towns as much as we can.
As Andrew Carnegie famously said, anything in life worth having is worth working for. This is why I work seven days a week — because the Headlight is worth having. And, we believe, so are our three new papers.
