A Report to Customers and the Community

Tom Mullen, President

The Gazette about two weeks ago began the 131st year of service to Colorado Springs and the area by this newspaper and its predecessor,

directly linked publishing companies. Our history is traced all the way back to the first issue of Out West, March 23, 1872, the same year

Colorado Springs was founded. There are very few local businesses or institutions of any kind with 130 completed years of continuity,

accomplishment, indeed survival. We look forward to many more decades as a vital part of this community.

Today you may wonder how many

copies of The Gazette are sold each

morning. Are we adding readers or

losing readers for our core product, the

printed daily newspaper?

The independent and nationally

recognized source for newspaper copy

sales is the Audit Bureau of

Circulations. The bureau recently

released its report for the 12-month

period ended Sept. 30 last year. The

Gazette's audited sales numbers are

impressive and growing.

Monday through Saturday, Gazette

audited paid circulation is 100,127.

That is a major increase of 9.1 percent

from the Sept. 30, 2000, audit. For

Sundays, Gazette audited paid

circulation is 118,957. That is an

impressive 4.3 percent increase over

the previous annual audit.

Remember that paid circulation

numbers understate actual readership.

The Gazette has much higher

readership totals because a copy of the

newspaper frequently is read by more

than one reader.

Independent research shows Gazette

readership averages 235,000 adults on

a typical weekday. On a typical

Sunday, it is 279,000 adults. Over the

course of a typical week, The Gazette's

reach is 320,000 adults.

Despite all the competition and

various forms of media, despite

changing lifestyles and habits, The

Gazette today serves a tremendous

audience of readers and delivers a truly

powerful market for advertisers. While

all forms of regional news, information

and advertising media fill a role and

have their place, The Gazette clearly is

the No. 1 medium in the Pikes Peak

region.

In November last year, we

commissioned a market and readership

study by a nationally recognized,

independent research company --

MORI, Minnesota Opinion Research

Inc. The research covered the Colorado

Springs metropolitan area, El Paso and

Teller counties.

As is the norm for newspapers across

America, Gazette readers tend to be

more affluent, better educated and

somewhat older than the general

demographics of the market, according

to the MORI research.

Adults more likely than average to

read The Gazette on a typical weekday

include those age 50 and older -- 78

percent versus the 60 percent adult

market average overall. Also, college

graduates (66 percent) and those with

household incomes of $50,000 or more

(66 percent).

Adults with Gazette readership

below the overall market average of 60

percent include young adults under age

35 -- still a very respectable

readership number at 43 percent for a

weekday. And also, those with no more

than a high school education (50

percent), those with household

incomes below $30,000 (48 percent)

and renters (47 percent). Readership

among these demographic groups is

somewhat higher on Sunday.

The survey shows there essentially is

no gender gap in Gazette readership.

With 60 percent of adults in the market

reading The Gazette on a typical

weekday, readership among women is

59 percent, among men 62 percent.

Let's look more closely at Sunday

readership. The Gazette reaches

279,000 readers on an average Sunday.

This is 71 percent of all adults in the

metro area. Sunday Gazette readership

is 11 percentage points higher than our

average weekday reach.

Nearly everyone who reads a

newspaper on a Sunday in El Paso and

Teller counties reads The Gazette. The

survey finding is 95 percent.

Next, take a look at weekday

readership. The Gazette reaches

235,000 readers on an average

weekday. This is 60 percent of all

adults in the metro area.

Nearly everyone who reads a

newspaper on an average weekday in

El Paso and Teller counties reads The

Gazette. The survey finding again is 95

percent.

Over five weekdays, 75 percent of

adults in the market read at least one

copy of The Gazette. This represents

292,000 readers.

A sure sign of The Gazette's market

strength is the survey finding that over

the course of a full, seven-day week

this newspaper reaches 82 percent of

all adults in the two-county area. This

translates to 320,000 adults.

One point I often emphasize is the

fact The Gazette is an important

regional business in its own right, with

a significant economic impact.

Our company's current employment

level is 475 FTEs, full-time equivalent

positions. We issue about 520

paychecks every two weeks to

full-time and part-time associates.

Additionally, this newspaper and

related products are delivered by 255

self-employed, independent contractors.

These carriers earn extra income or

even a full-time livelihood providing

deliveries to our customers every day

of the year. Of course, we also buy a

lot of other services and supplies right

here in our home market. And we pay

a lot of taxes. Other than payroll, our

biggest single operating expense is for

the paper we print on, the newsprint

itself.

We contribute importantly to the

economic vitality of our region by

connecting buyers and sellers in

thousands and thousands of ways each

day. Useful, informative and creative

advertising links to the huge consumer

market we provide, and this powerful

combination is an essential contributor

to the commercial life of our region.

We help build community through

our news and information services. We

are the leading, most complete source

of local news and other useful

information about the life and times of

Colorado Springs and the region. Our

opinion pages provide a unique and

continuing forum for community

dialogue on the issues of the day.

Through our journalism and other

information services, we tell this

community about itself in ways that

none of our competitors can match. We

have, by far, the largest news staff in

this area -- the full-time equivalent of

125 news associates.

We own and operate the two leading

regional news and information

providers on the Internet. Our regional

portal is coloradosprings.com. The

Gazette's own brand web site is

gazette.com. And we have a leading

web development and service business,

Wow! Marketing.

The No. 1 local Web site is

coloradosprings.com. It has more than

60,000 unique users monthly and a 16

percent share of overall Internet traffic

in our region, according to market

research by Media Audit. Gazette.com

is the No. 1 local news Web site. It has

a 14 percent share and more than

53,000 unique users each month.

These two Web sites together generate

more than 2 million page views per

month. When we add in other local

sites sold by our company under our

Colorado Springs Internet Advertising

Network, these Web services average

more than 3 million page views each

month.

Just days ago we launched the

ultimate local jobs site on the Web,

with links to our print services. Springs

Jobs and springsjobs.com are a

joint project of The Gazette, KOAA

television, The Employment News and

coloradosprings.com.

We provide each year to area school

classrooms more than 1 million

newspapers as a learning tool.

Subscriber donations, corporate

sponsorships and fund-raising provide

this service at no cost to the schools.

We have a relatively new product

called The Slice. These are zoned

weeklies for neighborhood news and

advertisers. The first Slice weekly was

launched last October and serves the

rapidly developing east-side Powers

corridor. Other Slice editions are

planned to roll out this year to serve

additional neighborhoods. The North

and Woodmen zones launch in May.

Examples of other products in our

lineup include Home in Colorado

magazine, The Broadmoor magazine

and a new dining, shopping and local

entertainment magazine called

Experience Colorado Springs. There

are the popular Wellsprings regional

history book, Pikes Peak Parent

magazine and the Springs Savings

coupon book.

We are involved in many events and

promotions each year. There are

Gazette-sponsored job fairs, The

Armchair Quarterback, bridal fairs, the

Fine Arts Fest and an upcoming

cooking show.

We are in the commercial printing

business. For example, we print the

Space Observer, the official publication

serving Peterson Air Force Base. And

we print Hispania News.

We also contribute to community

progress through a variety of programs

under the banners of The Gazette and

Gazette Charities. Collectively these

programs amount to about $2 million

per year. Backing our commitment to

do our part to make this a better place

to live, last year we contributed more

than $1.2 million in cash awards and

donated advertising space to many of

the region's nonprofit organizations,

fund-raisers and events. And we

provide significant staff support.

We directly sponsor or partner with

others on a wide variety of community

projects. There is the very successful

Gazette-El Pomar Empty Stocking

Fund. It raised $572,000 in its most

recent annual campaign to help the

least fortunate and most needy citizens

of our area. Others include the Pikes

Peak United Way, the Komen Colorado

Springs Race for the Cure and the

Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame.

We support the Carnegie Library

historic building restoration, the Fine

Arts Center, the Symphony and The

Gazette's Best and Brightest annual

awards recognizing a very select and

distinguished group of high school

seniors.

The list totals more than 100

nonprofit human services, health,

sports and cultural organizations

assisted by The Gazette each year. Our

employees volunteer with dozens of

community activities and projects. We

are proud of this special community

we call home, and we are committed to

being an active, good and caring

corporate citizen.

We are part of Freedom

Communications Inc., a privately held,

California-based media company.

Freedom Communications owns 27

daily newspapers across America,

eight network-affiliated television

stations, plus niche magazines, dozens

of weeklies and specialty publications.

Freedom has established a growing list

of Internet businesses as well.

Because our various enterprises in

the Colorado Springs area have

evolved and expanded, we recently put

all our business units here under a new

umbrella structure. All news,

information and advertising products

and services now are part of Freedom

Colorado Information Inc.

This new entity, Freedom Colorado

Information, in turn, is part of a new

division of Freedom Communications.

This Metro Division was formed last

summer and is building collaboration

and synergy to better serve three major

markets. The three Metro Division

markets in Freedom Communications

are Phoenix, Orange County, Calif.,

and Colorado Springs.

Service to you is a responsibility we

take seriously -- a responsibility we

work hard every day to fulfill. We

thank each of you for your trust and

reliance on us. Each of you is a unique

and important customer. The

employees of Freedom Colorado --

The Gazette and all its affiliates --

greatly appreciate the opportunities we

have to serve you.

Copyright 2002
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.