KIRKWOOD, Mo. (KMOX) - Hundreds of local newspapers across the country have folded over the last two decades, leaving their communities without a central source of information.
Thanks to a group of employees who invested their own time and money, a weekly paper is still in print for thousands of homes in the St. Louis region.
On the upper floor of a century-old store front on Lockwood Avenue, the page layout for the latest edition of the Webster-Kirkwood Times is displayed across a series of raised, angled wooden desks.
The paper dates back to 1978. The former publisher kept cranking out the weekly, even with demands for continual online content. Then came the pandemic and that forced a shutdown of print operations.
"People kept asking 'when are you coming back in print?'" said Jaime Mowers, Editor-In-Chief of Webster-Kirkwood Times. "'When will the times be back in print?'"
"People in the Kirkwood, Webster Groves community want the print product."
But after four decades, the owner at the time was ready to turn the page, with the owner pitching to employees that he would have to sell the paper and he was ready to actually retire, according to Mowers.
Mowers, along with two other employees, including publisher Randy Drilingas, started talking about buying the publication from the previous owner.
"When the opportunity came to purchase the paper, combined with all the people still wanting it to come back in print, it made it an easy choice to open it up," said Drilingas. "But we had a lot of meetings, and a lot of things to try to make it work."
"We didn't know if it was going to work, but we're thankful the community really supported us and still does."
Drilingas says advertising is still a big component in how the paper and the publication can generate revenue to stay operational.
"People see the newspaper, they see the logo of advertisers in there and then they visit those advertisers," said Drilingas. "We have long standing advertisers that the paper works for them."
"Advertising is the number one way we generate revenue to pay for the print, the building, delivery, salaries, and all that. But we also take donations and things of that nature. And obituaries is an area where we can get some revenue."
Drilingas says the experience of grabbing a physical newspaper and reading the news is an entirely different experience than reading the news digitally and that's what Kirkwood and Webster Groves residents like.
"It's relaxing to sit there and (read the newspaper). It's like reading a book," said Drilingas. "It's relaxing. It doesn't call to you. Our paper isn't addictive, so they don't have to keep checking it. It's just a relaxing thing that people enjoy and value."
"One of my favorite things to hear is people have something from the Times like their granddaughter's photo that was in the paper from 10 years ago that is still on their refrigerator," said Mowers.
"People are doing that right and I can guarantee you now with this weeks paper there is something in there that someone is going to clip out, put on their fridge, and it will be there from now until they move out of the house."
The paper is hyper local and a lot of the newsgathering is based on the relationship with the community.
"Most of the time, people just simply come to us," said Mowers. "They call us, they tell us what is going on and we love that."
"That's how we find out about a majority of our stories. I'm only sorry we can't do them all."
The paper also uses in-house staff and stringers to cover local city councils, school districts, and other government bodies.
"This is where peoples daily lives are," said Mowers.
Roughly a dozen employees are responsible for delivery the paper. Every week more than 35,000 copies are printed. 29,000 go to home deliveries and the rest are distributed to stores in the area. It's always free.
"News is important, so we never charged for it and just don't want to," said Drilingas.
Two other local papers are under their ownership: the former South County Times and West End Word.
But those are still in limbo. Like the Webster Kirkwood Times, they will need community and advertiser support to make a go of it in print.