PUEBLO, Colo. — With advertising revenues on the decline, newspapers are looking for ways to keep their bottom lines healthy.

The Pueblo (Colo.) Chieftain isn’t feeling the effects of slumping revenues as much as other newspapers, thanks to the commercial work it sought out in 1998.

“Up until … three years ago, The Pueblo Chieftain hadn’t done anything other than our own internal work,” said Marvin Laut, general manager of the newspaper. “We had never taken the strengths and abilities that we have, and gone out and sold it to outside customers.”

Printing of the Colorado Springs (Colo.) Independent, 
Moffatone Report and other publications has helped 
The Chieftain offset softening newspaper ad revenues.
Graphic by Chere’ Martin

The newspaper spent more than $8 million on the expansion of its facility and the purchase of a new MAN Roland Uniset press, which was installed in 1997.

According to Ned Sutton, production director at The Chieftain, the newspaper worked out the bugs that typically crop up with a new press installation, and saw its print quality begin to improve.

The improvement was all the newspaper needed to obtain commercial clients, and Sutton said the newspaper hasn’t needed to hire a staff to sell commercial work.

“As our reproduction got better and better, we were getting noticed around the state,” Sutton explained. “One of the first accounts that came to us was the Colorado Springs Independent, a tabloid weekly newspaper.

“They had a lot of color requests, and we were able to meet all of those. Once we got that publication under our belt, more and more inquires came from people across the state to print (commercial work for) them.”

Sutton added that he and one of the newspaper’s pressmen handle most of the commercial accounts.

In addition to commercial work on the newspaper 
press, The Pueblo Chieftain also purchased three 
sheetfed presses and started 6th Avenue Printing, 
which can print everything from business cards 
and stationery to brochures and wedding invitations.
Photo by Kevin Juhász

In addition to the Independent, The Chieftain (daily, 51,461; Sunday, 54,085) also prints 130,000 TV programs each week for The Gazette in Colorado Springs, Colo.; Ag Journal, a weekly publication based in La Junta, Colo., which The Chieftain also labels, sacks and mails; a monthly publication focusing on the outdoors called EarthWorks; the Moffatone Report, a national full-color newsletter focusing on health and fitness with a circulation of 48,000; and occasional publications produced by The Chieftain that focus on the city of Pueblo. The newspaper will soon begin printing Colorado Adventure, a new sports tabloid set to begin distribution this month.

“We’re finding out it’s a very competitive market to get some of these accounts,” Sutton said. “One advantage we have is that our press has 32 couples with a lot of color capability, so we’re able to run some of these larger tabloids in one press run.”

Many of the publications transmit their pages already designed, but The Chieftain is a full-service commercial printer, so it can handle requests for design and prepress work.

The Colorado Department of Corrections includes a quarterly catalog, which features office furniture built by inmates, in its newsletter for employees. The catalog is a tabloid designed by The Chieftain, and the newspaper is in the middle of a redesign for the book.

Adjustments and cooperation are key

The biggest task The Chieftain faced was getting the newspaper organized to handle running its press for a larger portion of the day.

“Once we got involved in the commercial aspect and the deadlines that were required, we would make adjustments to our press availability,” Sutton said. “We have to rearrange our internal printing schedules to accommodate all of this new commercial business.”

The Chieftain’s main focus is still the newspaper, and Sutton said they also print a large amount of special sections. Sutton benefits from a staff that was very helpful, and allows the newspaper to continue serving its readers and handle commercial accounts.

“There’s been a tremendous amount of cooperation with everybody in the building, from advertising to editorial, to cooperate with production so we can accommodate these new commercial businesses. If it wasn’t for that, it would have been a very tough deal,” he said. “Anyone who wants to do something like this would have to have full cooperation of the entire paper or it can’t be done.”

Sutton also credited Laut with being a big help in getting the commercial work to fit into The Chieftain’s print schedule.

“Marvin Laut has really gelled all these departments together in a cooperation that will allow us to do this extra printing,” he said.

The Chieftain also opened a sheetfed commercial business, which is located at the newspaper facility, to meet demand in that area.

6th Avenue Printing, a commercial printing business owned by the newspaper, can handle everything from business cards to stationery and brochures, serving any size business. Sutton said its sheetfed business has grown more than 200 percent in the last two years.

“We saw there was sheetfed business in Pueblo to be done, and we felt like there was an opportunity for the city and the surrounding areas,” Sutton explained. “We do a lot of sheetfed work from eastern Colorado.”

All of the additional commercial work has meant some growing pains for the newspaper. The Chieftain is near breaking ground on a 9,000-square-foot expansion that will be used as newspaper warehouse for better management of the wide variety of paper needed.

The Chieftain also purchased new equipment to improve its services, including the installation of a T-1 line, a Müller Martini Bravo stitcher, a VideoJet system for publications that are mailed out and Rima commercial stackers to improve handling of the different-sized products.

Sutton said its Uniset press is running at about 50 percent of its capacity, and he and Laut are looking to add more work into the mix.

“We feel we have a niche in the market, and nothing would make us happier than to run that press 18 hours a day,” he said.

The Chieftain is privately held and did not wish to discuss the exact amount of revenue the commercial business generates. Laut did say, however, that the work has helped minimize the impact from The Chieftain’s decline in ad revenues.