Times Publishing Newspapers, Inc.
About 30 years ago, while working at a daily newspaper in Lancaster, PA, Donna Allen began to see a wave of newspaper failures and a new way forward in the publishing business.
“Newspaper circulation was on the decline in the late 80’s and early 90’s,” Donna explained. “As a regional manager of co-op advertising, I also began to see a decline in corporate advertising in pass-through vendor support and small business advertising including mom & pop shops.”
Later in her work in the Philadelphia publishing market, again the writing was on the wall. “People didn’t like the negativity nor the large geographical coverage,” she explained.
“Advertising clients would say… ‘why would a I want to advertise 25 miles away from my store when people will only drive 5 miles for a pizza?’ as a frequent response … or … ‘I hate all the bad news and sensational stories they cover.’”
“I’d always find the ‘feel-good’ stories coming over the fax, just landed in the trash.”
So, 25 years ago Donna Created a new kind of newspaper – The Morrisville Times, a non-sensationalized, “All the good-news that’s fit to print,” publication that focuses on Hyper-Local news coverage. News and events happening within a small, close-knit community.
Now, she owns and operates Times Publishing Newspapers, Inc, with 10 such Hyper-Local publications covering Central and Lower Bucks County. The Yardley Voice, Newtown Gazette, Northampton Herald, Langhorne Ledger, Lower Southampton Spirit, New Hope News, Doylestown Observer, Warwick Journal, and the Fairless Focus.
And the circulation? Direct-mail, saturation coverage with the total number of households delivered at almost 130,000 addresses once monthly and upward of 324,000 readers. The website, www.timespub.com and social media Instagram and Facebook accounts round-out a print and digital package to reach even more Bucks County residents.
During the COVID crisis, instead of giving up because there was no good-news to cover, Donna and her staff pivoted and began telling the stories of local businesses and how they were continuing to operate during the crisis. These “Spotlights” were very effective for our small businesses because of the dedicated, direct line of communication with readers. Together they pulled each other through.
Moving forward, Times Publishing Newspapers, Inc. is expanding their advertising base with reader generated advertising and the possibility of new publications in neighboring communities. Success is measured in supply and demand and this model certainly meets that criteria.
BCEDC was able to help Times Publishing Newspapers with a low interest loan during COVID 19. The loan was used for TPN to continue with going to press and distributing their papers.