West Virginia daily oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1894-1902, 1901-12-26
LOCAL NEWSPAPERS.
THEIR GREAT VALUE AS ADvERTlS-
ING MEDIUMS.

frequently skirmish with edged tools
for the first reading Of the weekly pa
per, says Henry e. Snow in The Ma
tional Advertiser. And don't for mo-
ment believe, reader, but what the pa
per is well thumbed after the last men,
Der of the family has absorbed the To-
cal news. But ;nat Is not all. The pa
per is filed for future reference. Even
the cook is interested. and you won't
find her using the local newspaper to
kindle the kitchen fire with. She wants
to read it also.
There was a time when the tallow
candle posed for luxurious lighting
and the town crier with his bell served
as the distributor of news, but tina
was in the dark ages. What the cleo
:ric light is to the tallow candle the To-
cal newspaper is to the town crier to-
day. In both cases the evolution has
been perfectly natural and brought
about by the law of supply and de-
mand. The gossip of the town, once
retailed around the old iron stove at
the corner grocery, is just as interest
ing today as it was then. Human ma
ture hasn't changed much in the last
hundred years, and human nature
woEt change much in the years to
come.
The local newspape: spreads the To-
cal happenings Of the town for the day
or the week in less time than a single
item of news Travelled by word of
mouth years ago. The local newspaper
exists because it is necessity. 1t will
continue to exist because it will con-
tinue to be necessity for all time.
The writer lives in a suburban town
and knows whereof he speaks when he
states most emphatically that the value
Of the local newspaper to an advertiser
consists largely in the eagerness with
which the paper is read from beginning
to end-from the top left hand column
on the first page to the bottom right
hand column on the last page. More
over, after the first outburst Of energy
has subsidized over the local happenings,
the reader falls naturally into the habit
of reading whatever else the pages c0u-
tain.
Advertisers do not use the local pa.
per enough, and If they use it at all
they figure its advertising space so low
that it scarcely pays for the work Of
the compositor who sets the advertise
ment.
The local paper goes into the home.
Please remember that. There is no
waste circulation to 1t because there
can't be. Nine-tenths Of the people
who read 1t are subscribers who pay
their subscription by the year. The
local paper is not generally sold in the
railroad train or on the electric cars or
at the neTsstands. You must subscribe
for 1t If you want to get it, and when
you get it you are in your own home.
If you leave it around, it is still in your
home. If VOC can't find it when you
want it or don't get it when you ex-
pect it, there's trouble right away.
Not all local papers are valuable as
advertising mediums, but it is very
easy to separate the chaff from the
wheat. Not all the publishers of local
newspapers are conscientious, but you
must start with the assumption that all
men are innocent until they are proved
guilty.
Do not forget that the claim is made
that the great value of magazine adver-
Using comes from the fact that the
magazine goes into the home and offers
something attractive in its pages for
every member of the family. Do not
forget that the local newspaper does
the selfsame thing! In addition, it pos
sesses peculiar virtue that the maya
zine does not, and that is-local news.
Again. there are magazines without
number to choose from, but there Is
only one local newspaper. 1t is the To-
cal newspaper or nothing for the local
news.
There's the club and the church and
the town meeting. There's the new
family that has just moved In. That
corner lot has been sold, and the paper
says, 1.-THE finest house in town Is GO
ing up on t." This all makes mighty
interesting reading for the suburbanite
so interesting that he is not going to
miss it If he can raise enough money to
pay for yearly subscription to the 10
cal paper. and there are few suburban
ties who can't do that.
The local paper doesn't suffer from
competition because there is no COM
petition to suffer from.
There comes a time In the life OF ev-
cry suburbanite when he wants to see
his name In the paper. Perhaps he
claims he doesn't. but way down deep
I'm his heart there Is an Unborn desire
TO have IL there.
And SO the reasons grow why the
local newspaper has the strongest kind
OF claims for real dyed In the wool
value TO the advertiser. Let Us give
credit where 1t is due.