Covering the Morning Field
By FRANK JENKINS
Editor Morning Register, Eugene.
Eugene is often referred to as the best newspaper field in Oregon—excepting, of course, the city of Portland—and many have been kind enough to say that The Register has made an unusual success as a morning newspaper in a field of this size. Therefore, I am very glad to respond to Mr. Turnbull's request for a few words about how we "get away with it."
I want to say first, because I consider it most important, that we cover our field. In fixing our circulation radius, we take into consideration the retail trade radius of our city of publication and attempt to make the two coincide as nearly as possible. We regard circulation outside this radius as of very little value, while circulation within it is extremely important. This gives us a field of fair size, because Eugene draws trade from the summit of the Cascades to the coast, and from 30 to 40 miles to the north and south.
In extending our circulation radius, as we do from time to time, we determine upon communities that ought to trade in Eugene, and then make an intensive campaign in thee communities. We believe implicitly that the most effective trade missionary in existence is the daily newspaper, and we go on the theory that people whose everyday reading is Eugene news and Eugene advertising will be quite certain to do most of their trading in Eugene. I mention these things because they are an essential part of our theory of newspaper building. We regard circulation in the light of giving service to our customers, and we use our circulation department as an effective means of extending the trade area of the retail merchants of Eugene who spend money with us.
It might be well to mention that our circulation is gained by personal solicitation and is held on merit. We enter into neither clubbing arrangements nor contests. We keep a solicitor busy with an automobile all the time in our territory outside the city Our circulation is audited by the A. B. C.
We get and hold circulation by giving the people of this territory a newspaper that answers their needs. We take the full leased wire service of the Associated Press, and while we do not use all of this splendid service, we get the meat out of it. We took it on in the first place in order to get complete and readable stories instead of the necessarily abbreviated bulletins of the pony service.
In addition to this, we maintain a local staff that covers adequately each day the happenings of the city of Eugene. We do not try to ape metropolitan dailies by eliminating small personal news, nor do we give
