Change coming to Frontiersman website

My first job in journalism was at this newspaper. I was sports editor here in the mid-1990s. Back then, we published just twice a week, on Wednesday and Friday.

We had no printing press of our own and no website. The Internet was around, but it had not taken hold yet as a source of news and information that would shake the newspaper industry a decade later.

I returned to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman in 2005, this time as managing editor. A few short years after my first tour of duty here, the Valley was in the midst of a major growth spurt and the newspaper was caught up in the forward motion.

By then, we had increased publication to three days a week. Our fledgling website, frontiersman.com, was on its way to becoming the most visited online site in the borough. The pace of change was tangible.

When I returned to this newspaper in December as publisher, it was with a great sense of pride. My years and travels in journalism brought me into contact with many other Frontiersman alums. I knew the great tradition this place has and the long list of accomplishments posted by folks who cut their journalistic teeth here, before going on to be published authors, distinguished academicians and Pulitzer Prize winners.

But there is also pride in being part of something that has been part of this community since 1947. As the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman stands at the threshold of its 65th year of chronicling the people, places and events that comprise our history, it is change, again, that will start a new chapter for us.

For as long as we’ve been around, readers and advertisers have relied on this newspaper to advocate, share ideas, build businesses and deliver local news and information. Sixty-five years after opening its doors, the Frontiersman remains the dominant source of local news and information in the region.

How have we stayed on top? We’ve done it because of you. Our newspaper reflects the best of what and who we are as a community.

Today, more people than ever are reading what newspapers produce, and they’re receiving their news in a variety of ways. In addition to the print edition, online readership of our product is soaring as an increasingly connected community visits frontiersman.com through tablet computers, smartphones and other mobile devices. The future is likely to bring more options.

This newspaper will continue to be a part of that future, which we know depends on providing you with the content you want, whenever and however you want to receive it. A change we’re introducing Monday will help take us there, when we begin charging non-print subscribers for full digital access to our website.

Our new system will have little effect on the thousands of occasional visitors to frontiersman.com or to subscribers to the print edition, who will continue to have free access to the website for the duration of their subscriptions. But frequent, dedicated readers will notice restrictions on the website that put some content off limits to nonsubscribers.

All visitors to frontiersman.com will be allowed to view five articles per month for free. To read more content than that will require a subscription — or “Press Pass” — that will start at the low base price of $4.95 per month for unlimited access, including archived content from past editions. A yearlong subscription, at $45, brings substantial savings over the monthly charge.

There will continue to be a significant number of free features on the website. All visitors to frontiersman.com will have full access to the home page, plus some breaking news events. Reader polls, classified and retail advertising, public notices, special sections and the online calendar of events will be accessible to all, too.

The decision to add digital subscriptions recognizes that what we produce has value. Like with any other business, giving the product away is not a sustainable model for longevity and profitability.

This change will help us protect what we’ve built. It will also help us continue to have the resources to provide the quality local news that readers and advertisers have come to expect.

We appreciate the tremendous support for the Frontiersman in this community, and we look forward to continuing our role as the Valley’s go-to source for information.

Mark Kelsey has been the Frontiersman’s publisher since December 2011.