Compact, early Northern Advocate a day closer

Take a good look at this edition of the Northern Advocate - it is the last Monday afternoon newspaper produced by Northern Publishing, and the last this size.

Next Monday you will be holding a compact (A3) shaped Northern Advocate, and if you are a subscriber, it will have been delivered to you in the morning - not the afternoon.

You'll notice some other changes next Monday. Rosemary Roberts' local business page is moving to Thursday, where it will form the main feature package along with our rural pages. Monday will now include a bumper television liftout, and our local, national and international sports coverage, plus up to three photo pages from local events.

We will also be moving other what we call "furniture" about. This is out of necessity. When you convert from a large broadsheet to a compact shape, not everything can stay in the same place.

Our back page in the new paper will be sport. The inside back page will be a full page of television listings, next to a left-hand page featuring a full page of weather.

Our classified section will still end on the page adjacent to the puzzle features, on the pages next in from the weather and TV listings. Regular features such as Startalk and our Jumbo Crossword will also change pages and days - the Startalk will be on page 10 each day and the Jumbo Crossword will be in Saturday's paper - not Friday's.

We have tried to keep these changes to a minimum, and will guide you through them each day for at least the first month so it's easy to navigate your paper.

One last piece of change ... Saturday's newspaper is staying as a broadsheet "Big Read", but will also be delivered to you in the mornings.

So let's recap - next Monday we'll be compact, and early, with a final five pages that will run classified (the death notice page), puzzle page, weather, television listings and sport on the back page.

Thanks for continuing to support your local newspaper and being part of these historic changes. As always, call me on 470 2852 if you have questions or want to discuss something in your local paper, or community.

And remember, what won't change next Monday is our commitment to be being Northland's primary news gatherer, and a champion for this fantastic region.

Being a morning paper will boost our readership, and reaffirm our position as a Northland-wide paper.