By Pat Davis, publisher
The Corrales Comment is truly something special. More than 2,000 communities across America have lost their local newspaper in the past decade or so, but the Comment is bucking the trend because it is rooted in a community that knows how special it is and is fiercely protective of it.
For 40 years, Jeff Radford and a small team of volunteers kept the Comment printing thanks to pages of ads bought by local merchants and more than a handful of annual $12 subscriptions payable in a drop box on his porch.
Since his retirement in 2022, keeping the Comment going hasn’t been easy. Dual challenges of rising printing and postage costs (up almost 25% in 4 years, just like a lot of things lately) and more readers and businesses moving online for news and ads sometimes force us to print fewer pages than we’d like, but you, our readers and advertisers, have been patient and understanding because the Comment is special – and you know it.
Late last year, we sent out a survey to ask what you wanted to see from the Comment. This past winter, I checked in with friends and readers over a few beers at Ex Novo and lunch at Perea’s to talk about what we should do next. The responses were absolutely clear: keep it local and make it easy to access.
You asked, and we listened.
Starting next month (with the May 22nd edition), the Comment is moving to a free home-delivery model to every household in the village. That means you no longer have to worry about managing subscriptions by mail or online. If your subscription expired earlier this year, we already extended it for you at no additional cost. If you recently paid to renew, be on the lookout for our email or letter with information on how you can request a refund or donate the balance to a local nonprofit.
This also means local businesses and governments can reach every household in Corrales (almost 3X our current circulation) twice a month for less than half the cost to mail them all yourself. Our ad rates will increase just a little to account for more readers, but businesses based in the village get a special discount to keep their current rate in place for the rest of the year.
By mailing to every household in the village, we’re also able to invite more Coralleños to 1) participate in our local democratic process (that’s the point of what we do, after all) and 2) find new ways to keep their dollars local with village vendors.
In addition to expanding our reach, we’re also hoping to expand our content. We’re looking for new columnists or community reporters to contribute an occasional story or column about a new business, community event or go deep into a topic we don’t normally cover. If that’s you, reach out to Editor Kevin Hendricks (kevin@newmexico.news) with your ideas.
Yea, it costs more to do this but we think Corrales is worth it. We hope you do too.