Another Happy MidWeek Birthday
Del.icio.usHappy Birthday to us! With the publication of MidWeek‘s weekend paper last week, we began the paper’s 24th year of publication.
And to think that some media wise guys predicted MidWeek wouldn’t last two years.
I was a daily columnist at the Advertiser when the first MidWeek hit homes on July 18, 1984 - Joe Moore was featured on the cover, wearing his Columbia Inn Roundtable All-Stars softball uniform. But what I really remember is the immediate hit the Advertiser took in advertising revenues when the supermarkets began choosing the little weekly paper to carry their inserts. I remember it because my expense account got severely whacked.
By the way, for those of you who are old enough to remember my years of daily columnizing, I’ve now been at MidWeek longer than I was at the Advertiser.
Especially gratifying is the growth of our readership. A year ago we passed the Sunday Advertiser in readership - we’re at about 467,000 and growing, making MidWeek the most popular publication in Hawaii.
And of course there are now two MidWeeks every week. Our fantastic staff also produces four MidWeek Islander community newspapers for Windward, West, East and Central Oahu, as well as Oahu Military Star, an independent weekly military newspaper.
And far from the little shopper that was MidWeek in 1994, we’ve won a number of journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Hawaii Publishers Association, including being named the best non-daily paper in Hawaii.
I give a ton of credit to Ron Nagasawa, who after being promoted from assistant publisher to publisher in late 2001 has instituted some exciting changes, and has given us stable and smart leadership. With this issue we introduce Doctor In The House, a weekly medical Q&A column in which Lisa Asato interviews a different doc each week.
Another key but quiet member of our staff is senior editor Terri Hefner. I dread the weeks she goes on vacation. And Dennis Francis has brought great energy and ideas to the company since coming over from the Advertiser to become company president three years ago.
We’re grateful that you and so many of your friends, family, colleagues and neighbors choose to spend part of your busy week with MidWeek, and are always mindful that we are writing stories and shooting photos for you.
We are also grateful to our advertisers, so please support them, because they pay the bills so we can bring MidWeek to you.
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