Marcia Van Dyke, publisher of the South Whidbey Record and the Whidbey News-Times, announced this week that both newspapers would move to Coupeville in early April.
The News-Times is moving its office from Oak Harbor to Coupeville because the current, aging building on SE Barrington Drive is too large for the staff and too expensive to maintain.
Faced with the dilemma of finding new office space, Van Dyke decided to consolidate space with its sister newspaper, the South Whidbey Record.
“The two newspapers will be able to share other valuable resources. By sharing the best assets of each newspaper in every department, we will see an improved product in both markets,” said Van Dyke, who is publisher of both papers.
Van Dyke said the move will not affect news coverage, the papers’ commitment to the Oak Harbor and South Whidbey communities, or the look of the papers. The two newspapers already share a number of management-level employees.
The two Sound Publishing-owned newspapers will remain separate, editorially independent news entities that cover the different communities of Whidbey Island. There are no plans to change from a twice-weekly newspaper. There will not be a staff reduction.
More people are reading the Record and the News-Times than ever before. The Record has a print readership of nearly 10,000, while the News-Times has a readership of 15,000 people. The Record has also developed a strong online readership, with more than 14,000 unique visitors and more than 125,000 pageviews last month.
It is well known that newspapers across the country are struggling to survive in the face of tough economic times and the rise of the Internet. For Sound Publishing, the move will cut overhead costs and keep the newspapers vibrant for years to come.
“In looking at alternative sites, we decided that maintaing one office for our two newspapers would be the most cost effective and efficient way to run our business,” Van Dyke said.
The Whidbey News-Times building is falling apart and extremely cost-prohibitive to maintain, so Van Dyke has been exploring other options for office space. She decided on a building in Coupe’s Village, on the south end of Coupeville, that has an energy-efficient building large enough for the two newspaper offices.
Both newspapers have a long history on Whidbey. The Island County Times was established in Coupeville in 1891. Publisher A. Glenn Smith merged the Island County Times with the Oak Harbor News in 1959, creating the Whidbey News-Times.
The Whidby Record [“Whidbey” was spelled without an “e” in those early years] began publication in 1923 in Langley, and was published for 80 years in the Village by the Sea before moving to Bayview in 2004.
The relocation to Coupeville will be the sixth time the paper has moved.
Van Dyke said, “I want to assure all of our readers and advertisers on Whidbey Island that this move in no way changes our commitment to producing the best quality news known on Whidbey Island. “We plan to be as present in Oak Harbor and Langley as we have always been and will continue to support those organizations, non-profits and community projects and events with the same enthusiasm as has been our tradition.”
Van Dyke said she will miss the old News-Times building on Barrington Avenue, despite its drawbacks.
“I’ve spent the last 15 years of my life here,” she said. “That’s longer than I’ve lived in any house.”
Both papers are scheduled to complete the move to the new Coupeville office in early April. The News-Times property in Oak Harbor is for sale.
