Kelowna's 'daily' newspaper goes down to twice-a-week publication

Kelowna's daily newspaper is no longer daily.

Effective Nov. 1, 'The Daily Courier' became 'The Kelowna Courier' and reduced the number of print newspapers to twice a week.

"We'll now be publishing on Wednesdays and Saturdays and there will still be home delivery," said The Kelowna Courier's operations supervisor and senior accounts manager Ric Bach.

"While the number of print editions will be reduced, our content will be increased because there will be more news in those papers and multiple puzzles and crosswords. There will also be a C section in each paper (previously there were on A and B sections). We're not decreasing content at all."

In its heyday, 'The Daily Courier' was a true daily, publishing seven print editions a week.

As times started to get tough during the digital information age for so-called 'legacy' media (newspapers, magazines and broadcast radio and TV), 'The Daily Courier' dropped its Sunday edition and became a six-day-a-week paper.

Over the past few years, as times have gotten only rougher for legacy media, it's been a five-days-a-week paper, not publishing on Sundays and Mondays.

On the front page of Friday, Nov. 1's edition, the name, in big red font, had noticeably changed from 'The Daily Courier' to 'The Kelowna Courier.'

An accompanying story on the front page was titled 'Daily Courier's distribution changing'.

The article went on to say: "Owners of the Courier said that after careful consideration and thorough evaluation of distribution expenses the decision was deemed necessary to align operations with financial realities."

The story went on to say subscription rates will remain the same and it is hoped this will help align expenses with revenue, ensuring the sustainability of operations.

In other words, revenues are down, so expenses, such as publishing more than twice a week, also have to be reduced.

The article went on to say: "Readers can look forward to much larger editions as puzzles, features and columns will still be included. In essence, readers will still be receiving the same content and number of pages each week, in fact, even more, but delivered over twp days instead of five."

Besides home delivery by subscription, The Kelowna Courier can also be found on select newsstands for $2.39 a copy and its website kelownadailycourier.ca is accessible anytime.

The story announcing the reduced publication summed up with: "The Courier appreciates the support of subscribers, readers, advertisers, carriers and drivers and looks forward to continuing to be the newspaper of record for Kelowna."

The newspaper has been around, with various publishing schedules and locations in the city, since 1904.