Appleton gets another newspaper

While many daily newspapers are struggling to survive, a local news group feels a weekly paper will fill a needed void in Appleton.

"What can't the readers get off the internet or 24 hour television? This stuff," Times-Villager Newspaper Group General Manager Bart Landsverk said pointing to his new paper.

Wednesday morning, the Appleton Journal will make its first appearance. Landsverk says it will be his fourth subscription-based weekly in the Fox Valley. One, he bills as the little paper that could.

"We're basically a scrapbook for moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas, that's all we are," he said.

Landsverk says the Appleton Journal isn't trying to compete with daily papers or TV news. Its focus will be on the city's five high schools and the stories he says aren't being told.

"The solo ensembles, that's never put in a daily paper," Landsverk said. "Maybe a poster contest at a grade school."

"People are always looking for what's happened locally, they just can't get that in the national papers," Piggly Wiggly Manager Dan Schneider said.

But even with a targeted niche, UW Oshkosh Journalism Chair Mike Cowling says the Appleton Journal is entering a challenging landscape. Circulation is taking a big hit from the internet and advertising revenue isn't what it used to be.

"There are a lot of things newspapers are trying to do," Cowling said. "Some have disappeared, some have had to have a lot of cutbacks in staff."

Just this week, the New York Times announced it was cutting 100 newsroom jobs. But Landsverk feels the Appleton Journal will succeed by staying small and local.

"We're not trying to be everything to everybody, we're going to be what we are in our little bitty world and everybody will go oh that's the cute little friendly paper, yup that's what we want to be," Landsverk said.

He says his staff isn't trying to win awards, just a spot in local hearts and hopefully in hands.

The President of the Appleton Post Crescent says she's looking forward to seeing the new paper, but doesn't see it as competition because of its size and target audience. The Appleton Journal is printing around 5,500 copies, while the Post Crescent prints an average 60,000 on Sundays.