Effective Friday, Jan. 4, the Gilroy Dispatch will convert its print edition from a five-day-a-week published Tuesday through Saturday to a twice weekly published Tuesday and Friday.

Subscribers who have paid in advance for home delivery will automatically have the remaining term of their subscription extended based on new subscription rates.

The newspaper industry is in transition as readers and advertisers commit more time and money to alternative methods of getting their news and communicating their messages. We're not immune to these trends but we are certainly not abandoning our 140-year tradition of serving Gilroy. The printed Gilroy Dispatch has survived the birth of radio, television and now the Internet. Its credibility and relevance to the community is a legacy that, without question, will endure for generations to come.

Yet a new and revolutionary chapter in the proud history of the Gilroy Dispatch is rapidly unfolding. For several years our advertisers have made it clear their choice of print publishing days are Tuesday and Friday, where more than 80 percent of our total revenue is derived. And while we have managed to grow our subscriber base in the past two years, single-copy sales at racks and stores have also shown consistent growth on Tuesday and Friday. We also began home delivery of the Friday Dispatch to an additional 4,275 Gilroy homes last September and the resulting advertising response was dramatic and immediate. Through the Gilroy Dispatch and our new South Valley Express, formerly South Valley Direct, advertisers' printed messages now reach every home in Gilroy every week. No other media can make that claim.

During the past year we have also introduced a number of exciting new initiatives. Our print publication has undergone a major facelift and reader feedback has been very positive. South Valley Newspapers' Web initiatives now offer readers and advertisers a number of creative alternatives and enhancements to our local coverage, including our popular www.whoboughtwhat.com, where you'll find stories about who bought and sold homes in your neighborhood, along with the most comprehensive listing of local home sale transactions.

Remarkably, page views of our South Valley Newspaper Web sites now exceed 850,000 each month and that number is growing exponentially as new features are introduced. Our Internet revenue has also grown sharply in recent months as advertisers experience impressive response to their digital messages.

We also realize local news happens every day and the constraints of a five-day publishing cycle made it difficult to allocate the reporting and other resources necessary to fill that void. With the change to a two-day print cycle and through our soon to be launched expanded news coverage via the Web, we are positioned to offer you a Gilroy Dispatch every day and are reassigning and training personnel to meet that objective

No question, these are exciting times. But the best is yet to come. Actually, a healthy dose is being introduced Friday in the form of a new and vibrant www.gilroydispatch.com, complete with a significant menu of new features. Also, look for expanded Tuesday newspaper coverage that will include a section spotlighting local business news and other features.

As always, we want to hear from you and welcome your thoughts on how we can make the Gilroy Dispatch an even better newspaper.

From all of us at the Dispatch, best wishes to you and yours during the coming year.

Steve Staloch, publisher

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