Last month Colorado Central ran a reader’s survey and I wanted to thank everyone who responded. We’ll be compiling the data and selecting the winners of our prizes right after the end of September. It did occur to me that we left off an important question, one that speaks to our coverage of the region, not just Salida. By nature of where the magazine was founded and where we are based, Salida naturally has greater representation, both in advertising sales and in editorial content. This issue, with an emphasis on Smeltertown, might easily come across as very Salida-centric.
The fact is, the largest majority of our subscribers are in Salida, followed by Buena Vista and other parts within Chaffee County, but, we also have many subscribers in other parts of Central Colorado including: Gunnison, Hillside, Moffatt, Leadville, Parlin, Howard, Fairplay, Westcliffe, Alamosa, Coaldale, just to name a few. Within Colorado we send of bunch of magazines to, not only the Front Range, but towns and cities as remote and diverse as Black Hawk, Idledale, Estes Park, Montrose, Dolores, Paonia, Silverton, Grand Junction … the list goes on.
Nationally, we cover the gamut from Anchorage to Fort Lauderdale. We even have overseas subscribers. Many of our out-of-state readers are former residents of Colorado, wanting to stay connected with their former homes. Others may own a second home or hope to move or retire here someday.
I do feel a great responsibility to present content that is relevant to the entire region we define as Central Colorado. The original mission statement, conceived by Ed and Martha Quillen goes thus: “Our goal is to publish an interesting and informative magazine which builds a sense of place, a regional community, and a local culture in Central Colorado and the San Luis Valley.” We’d like to hold true to that as much as possible. There are talented writers dotting the region, many of whom are aware of our piteously low pay. We are offered content queries at least three-four times a week, not to mention all the random, “you should do a story on …” I get just going out for coffee.
Unfortunately our budget doesn’t quite allow for boots on the ground in all corners of the region. This is, after all, the 21st century, and much of the bad news surrounding the printed media is not hype. It is real. Postal rates rise, as do raw materials, phone and internet costs, taxes, fees, etc., yet Colorado Central has kept its advertising, shelf and subscription rates the same for four straight years and we’re still hanging in there, paying the bills, the writers, the post office and Uncle Sam (I guess I’m part of the 53% who pay taxes …), and will continue to do so as long as we keep our subscription numbers up.
We are looking specifically, though, for more voices from the San Luis Valley, South Park, Leadville and Fremont County. There are so many great stories to be told in this region and we want to tell as many of them as we can. If interested in helping out, please visit our “Submissions” page on our website then contact us. And to one particular subscriber on a ranch down in Del Norte, yes, I can take a hint!
Several weeks after Ed suddenly left us in June, our subscription database quit working. This was very inconvenient – and scary – given that Ed had written the program language and was no longer around to help. Thankfully I have a friend here in Salida, Andrew Koransky, who not only came to the rescue and helped us get a brand-new, 21st century database up and running, he didn’t charge us a dime. Consider this an official shout-out and a huge thank you to Andrew. – Mike Rosso
