PUBLISHER’S NOTEBOOK: Reasons to celebrate!

Reason Number 1: A tremendous opportunity

This past week we enjoyed two reasons to celebrate at the Frontiersman.

First, Wick Communications, the Frontiersman’s parent company, inked a deal to begin printing and packaging the Alaska Dispatch News. Taking the lead on negotiations was Ryan Binkley, Publisher, of The Alaska Dispatch News and Nick Monico, Chief Operation Officer from Wick Communications. They worked tirelessly and struck a great deal for both parties. We have begun remodeling our pressroom with the help of Valley contractors to accommodate new equipment. Our plan is to hire five to six new full-time employees and 10 to 12 part-time employees. This is an exciting opportunity for not only the Frontiersman and Wick Communications but for the Mat-Su Valley. Anytime jobs are created it’s good for all of us. The goal is to begin printing the ADN in mid-October. We have a lot of work ahead of us to meet this goal so we’ll all be working hard and sleeping fast.

We publish five publications: The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, Anchorage Press, The Eagle (Eagle River-Chugiak) The Arctic Warrior (JBER) and the Talkeetna Press. We also print 10 other weekly publications and two monthly publications that are distributed in various communities across the state. Our production facility is led by Production Manager Ryan Sleight and his knowledge, attention to detail and customer service is second to none. We are very grateful to the Binkley Family and Jason Evans, new owners of the ADN, for this opportunity.

Reason Number 2: 70 years young!

Sept. 17 marked the 70th anniversary of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. This past Friday we celebrated with an open house, including food, beverages and an anniversary cake.(Note to Eugene Haberman, I stated anniversary and not birthday).

We were really pleased with the turn out. Thank you to our readers, past employees, and local legislators and or their representatives for helping us celebrate. Watching our guests read through our archived editions was enjoyable. Viola Daniels, who started the Valley Frontiersman on Sept. 17, 1947, was on my mind most of the day. Publishers and Editors have come and gone but we all owe her our gratitude.

Fundamentally the same

Viola Daniels in her first editorial lays out her policies and plans for the Frontiersman and fundamentally they haven’t changed. After stating she won’t write columns hastily and without due research she also invites the community to submit editorials to the Valley Frontiersman “writing over your own name.” In other words, she’d publish it but the writer has to own it. You, too, are free to submit your opinion or letter to editor and as long as you are “writing over your own name” we’ll publish it.

Early printing

It appears early on that the Frontiersman was printed by the Anchorage Times which caused an accusation as to who really owned the publication. A competing publication titled The Hi-life believed that the Anchorage Times actually owned the Frontiersman. “A new newspaper hit the local streets yesterday as the Valley Settler, datelined Palmer, appeared edited by Viola Daniels.” The Hi-Life appeared to give Ms. Daniels a backhanded compliment for aligning herself with such a sturdy organization as the Anchorage Times. Ms. Daniels was having no part of it. She called out the Hi-Life for calling her publication the “Valley Settler” which had been published in the Matanuska Valley for many years under the editorship of Mrs. Dorothy Bell. Ms. Daniels would go on deciphering every backhanded compliment given by the Hi-Life editor and calling them out for what they really were intending. She also revealed that both her and the Hi-Life Editor, whom she never names, worked for the Anchorage Times and, in fact, sat at desks across from each other.

You have to love newspaper wars!

Seventy years later and of the three publications mentioned, only the Frontiersman survived. Here’s to you, Viola Daniels!

New printing facility

It has proven to be a very wise investment. Soon we will be running two press shifts and printing the state newspaper. We’ve come a long way from the days of Viola Daniels and her early trials but her entrepreneurial spirit lives on here at the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

Thank you for reading Viola Daniels’ Valley Frontiersman!