10. BRAINERD DISPATCH MOVES TO MORNINGS
Dispatch becomes morning newspaper, launches redesign
This newspaper made news of its own in 2004.
It will be remembered as the year the Brainerd Dispatch became a morning newspaper.
The change came April 19 after several years of planning.
Nationally, most newspapers are published in the morning as opposed to the afternoon. In the bigger cities, the problems of getting an afternoon newspaper to readers through heavy traffic is a daunting task. And the trend also indicates that advertisers like the idea that their ads presumably will stay at readers' fingertips longer with a newspaper that is around all day long. Then there is the fresh news factor. In this day of the news conference timed to catch the evening newscasts most news is made after the old afternoon edition went to press.
Pressmen handled the first morning edition of the Brainerd Dispatch April 19. Brainerd Dispatch/File photo
Most Dispatch readers now get their newspaper by 6 a.m. weekdays. The Sunday edition, which is mainly delivered Saturday nights, was not affected.
More and more Dispatch carriers are adults now. By Dec. 1, the youth carrier force had dropped to 13 boys and girls.
Changing the time the newspaper goes to press wasn't the only change in 2004 for the Dispatch. The name was changed from The Brainerd Daily Dispatch to just the plain Brainerd Dispatch as part of a redesign of the newspaper.
The new look includes the nameplate design, several elements designed to make the newspaper easier to read and restructuring of where some of the favorite pages may be found each day.
Additional press units were installed in 2004 that gave the Dispatch increased color capacity. Now on many days three and four separate sections have color photos and ads on the first page of each section, as well as on several inside pages in each section.
ROY MILLER can be reached at roy.miller@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5855.