The Center received an email this week from Dale and Lana Rideout, publishers of the Texoma Enterprise, announcing that as of the first of this year the Enterprise would be available only as a digital edition. The Enterprise is certainly not the only paper in Texas facing some of the issues that led to this decision, so we asked Dale to write an open letter telling why they chose to convert to a digital platform for the paper. Here are excerpts from that letter:
“Lana and I are both 66 years old and ready to slow down some. We have tried to sell our newspaper and thought we had a buyer ready to take over, but she backed out as of the first of the year. That is probably the main feature that caused us to make the change.
“Our thinking on the matter is that for several years we have not been able to maintain the advertising necessary to keep up with our costs. We have not wanted to leave our readers without a newspaper of some type but just did not have the time and energy at our age to keep on as we were going. We found out on Friday, Dec. 31, that the sale would not be taking place. We had to do something. It had crossed our minds back in October to close our newspaper, but we had this potential buyer so continued under her direction until she backed out.
“Now, what to do. We could not keep on with the printing costs and postage. We also were driving about 200 miles a week to get the paper printed, addressed, and delivered to post offices and retail stores for sales.
“Neither Lana nor I wanted to just drop the business of providing news coverage. I had taken several short courses at TCU, compliments of the Texas Newspaper Foundation. Much of what I learned we put into practice. One of the courses dealt with the use of websites. I told Lana that if she agreed we were at the right time and place to discontinue a print edition and go with a full-time website. She agreed, so as of the very first issue for 2011 we no longer offer a print edition.
“We will continue selling advertising for the website and a small edition handed out locally. Again this small edition came from the TCU classes. We print on our copy machine an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, folded in half to make four pages. It looks very much like a "baby" edition of the newspaper. It contains some of the most important information and advertising from those who purchased advertising on the website. We have it available for free from various locations in the three-town area we have been covering for years — Howe, Van Alstyne and Tom Bean. This small edition is for the convenience of the folks who have never learned to use a computer and have no interest in doing so. It also is a great place to advertise our website and mention other articles and subjects available there.
“Just did a quick survey of the email answers my wife got from her announcement of our change: Every single one congratulated us on the change and wished us the best. No one was unhappy with us for our decision. Only one subscriber requested a refund. Another subscriber was ready to send us a check to subscribe to the web site. (We have decided to make it free also.) Here are a few of the comments we received ‘…James and I can keep up with what's going on when we're away…Won't get my paper a week late…A website is the way to go…I think this is great…Perhaps you can pick up the Pottsboro and Denison Daily News crowd (referring to two other Grayson County papers that have gone out of business in the last few months).’
“I guess I have only two major regrets about this decision. First, we can no longer carry public notices and legal notices meeting the legal requirements of the state. We had a lot of faithful folks that used us for that. Second, we can no longer be members of Texas Press Association unless we can get some affiliation with another newspaper.”
We wish Dale and Lana well in their new digital venture. The Enterprise joins such publications as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Christian Science Monitor and U.S. News & World Report seeking a successful life online after many years in print.