Columbia Basin Herald moves to morning delivery

MOSES LAKE — Starting May 1, the Columbia Basin Herald is becoming a morning paper to better serve readers and advertisers.

The only change for Moses Lake readers will be getting the news on their doorstep much earlier. The paper’s delivery window changes from the current noon to 5:30 p.m. to the new time of 6:30 a.m. to noon. Papers will be in stores and newspaper boxes throughout Moses Lake by 8 a.m. for purchase.

News deadlines stay the same, which means the Herald can still provide late-breaking sports, school board and city council coverage.

Traditionally an afternoon paper, the Columbia Basin Herald has evolved over the past 77 years to serve readers in both print and online formats. Today news can be found in the print edition, on the paper’s website and on the Herald’s social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The Herald also offers an electronic edition for subscribers and supplements news coverage with live video.

“The Columbia Basin Herald has evolved over the years to become a multimedia news provider. The move to morning delivery will further leverage our position as the Columbia Basin’s largest local news source,” said Lynne Lynch, managing editor. “This is exciting news and we look forward to serving readers well into the future.”

As newspapers are being sold across the nation in response to the industry adapting to the Digital Age, the company’s support of morning delivery speaks volumes, Lynch said. The Herald is owned by the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho-based Hagadone Corporation and is the company’s only daily newspaper in Washington state.

The local push for morning delivery came from Herald publisher Caralyn Bess, who was instrumental in getting the details finalized at the corporate level. Efforts began during the paper’s budgeting process in October, when initial work was done by Herald circulation director Susan Cant and business manager Denise Lembcke, Lynch explained. Bess started working at the Herald in December and immediately began visiting with community leaders, business owners and readers to learn more about what they wanted to see in their local paper.

Having a morning paper that focused on local coverage was a main theme, Bess explained.

“You spoke, we listened,” Bess said. “We are very excited to be able to accommodate the needs of our community in bringing you more local content, digitally (through our website and social media channels) our new newsletter that is emailed every Monday morning by 6 a.m. and now in getting the printed news and advertising information out to you earlier. Same-day mail delivery was key to improving customer service to our subscribers living in the outlying rural areas. In town, Moses Lake will remain carrier delivered.”

The change helps solve the problem of finding carriers to serve routes consistently in the Herald’s large rural service areas, which includes homes in the far-reaching areas of Grant and Adams counties, explained Cant, the paper’s circulation director. Subscribers in the rural areas have already been notified of the change.

“The best move for our subscribers was to get papers out there as soon as we could,” Cant said.