Looking ahead to the new look of the Frontiersman

As I worked on the Friday sports section Thursday night, I caught a dose of nostalgia.

Whether we like to admit it or not, sports writers can be a bit sentimental at times. Sometimes we’re down right sappy.

I’m sure most of you have run across our, “It’s going to be huuuge,” campaign the Frontiersman has been promoting over the last several weeks. We’re on the verge big change, huuuge change, good change.

In addition to a new circulation model that will triple our home delivery, the Frontiersman newspaper is getting a bit of a makeover. Without boring you with the technical aspects of different sizes or formats of a newspaper, starting with the Sunday edition, the paper will have a completely new look.

It’s exciting.

But after putting together the sports section with the same paper size and format for more than 14 years, I can’t help but feel a bit nostalgic. That’s more than 2,000 sections, if you are counting.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not opposed to the change. I welcome change that has the potential to excite our current readership and broaden our audience. But it’s kind of like when one of your favorite players on your favorite team retires. You are still going to love your team. You’ll just miss the player.

And there’s part of me that’s going to miss the old school look of the Frontiersman.

Sometimes it’s hard to face change in this business, especially when things are changing so dramatically, so quickly. Mere months away from my 40th birthday, I’ve officially been in this industry more than half my life. I am constantly amazed just how much print journalism has changed in my career. When I started, some photographers were still using film cameras. Now everything is digital, and sometimes the go-to tool in your camera bag is your iPhone.

Growing up, your local newspaper was the only paper to find your local news, especially where I grew up.

Small towns like Fort Morgan, Colorado, and Palmer, Alaska.

In elementary and middle school, if I wanted the local sports scores, my source was the Fort Morgan Times. After moving to Alaska at the tail end of my eighth grade school year, the Frontiersman became this source.

And the Frontiersman will continue to be that source.

It’s just going to look different.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.