Editor’s Notebook: The birth of a newspaper

We’re here to stay.

That’s the main message I want to convey to Northern Colorado’s business and political leaders, its employers and employees, its residents and commuters.

It’s a message I would have conveyed no matter what, but it’s one that seems even more poignant in the wake of the intense business-newspaper competition that has erupted around us.

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I used to think that Denver was the most competitive newspaper market in the country. I now know that not to be true. The most competitive newspaper market in the country is right here in Northern Colorado, where three business newspapers will duke it out for the hearts and minds of roughly 360,000 residents in Larimer and Weld counties.

It’s going to be a wild ride.

It used to amaze me working at The Denver Business Journal that no business newspaper existed in Northern Colorado, where beautiful cities such as Fort Collins, Greeley and Loveland offer so much in business opportunity and news.

Business newspapers have thrived across the country, from my alma mater of The Denver Business Journal – also the alma mater of several others on our staff – to our sister paper, The Boulder County Business Report, where my wife, Carol, and I both worked years ago.

We know the value and potential of a business publication. A market without a business newspaper is like a town without a brewpub; once it’s there, you wonder what you ever did without it. That’s what we want to instill in the residents of Berthoud, Dacono, Estes Park, Firestone, Fort Collins, Fort Lupton, Frederick, Greeley, Loveland, Windsor and all the communities in between.

We want to be viewed as a “must-read” for anyone who cares about what’s happening in the business community, who believes that information is power, that perspective on the critical issues of the day is not a luxury but a requirement, who simply wants to read a good article.

We want readers to seek out our newspaper with anticipation, wondering what news story we’ll break next. Want to know how your company’s doing on the stock market? Read us. Want to know the latest real estate or banking news? Read us. Want to know who bought the most-expensive house in Northern Colorado last month? Read us. Want to identify the largest health-maintenance organizations in the area? Read us.

We’ll provide all that and more.

We’ve designed the Business Report to serve you, the reader, in as efficient a way as possible. But we’re not done yet. We want to know what you like and what you don’t. Got a story idea? Call me any time. Want to advertise or subscribe? We can handle that, too.

Readers and advertisers in the coming months will witness an amazing competition. Whereas a day ago, there was no business newspaper, today there are three.

But it won’t always be that way. Eventually, this market will shake out, leaving only one such paper in its wake. I say that not out of spite or wishing my competition ill will; it’s simply an objective assessment of the market.

The competition will be intense.

We plan to be around when it’s over.