The process of working on a weekly newspaper is, in some ways, quite fast-paced. I’m sure it’s not as hectic as a daily paper, but in most cases, especially in sports, we have only a few days with a story to perfect it before we must send it out to the printer, knowing that hundreds of readers will see it.
With each story, I get to interview and learn about people and teams in the area. On most occasions I spend about two to three days working on an article, which mostly includes speaking with a few people then listening to interview recordings over and over again, looking for a certain detail I remember hearing that would fit perfectly into a particular place in the narrative.
After days of working on a story, the whole editorial and production team works to comb through the last details of each article and the layout of the paper. On deadline days we go back and forth trying to get the last details right. Once our deadline hits and the issue has been accepted by the printer, we finally let out a sigh of relief.
Sometimes, due to the quick routine, once a paper is out it feels like the job is all done. Although our part is finished, the paper’s journey has only begun. The Tri-City delivery team works as the true link between the team in the office and our readers. The delivery team personally distributes stacks of our paper from as far north as San Leandro and Castro Valley. From mom-and-pop shops to libraries, and even to subscribers’ doorsteps, our delivery drivers are the final Tri-City Voice link that the paper sees before reaching the public.
With the personal delivery service that the team contributes, they often have moments of connection with our readers that we in the office don’t always get the privilege of having. Readers and subscribers have a few moments to speak with delivery drivers about a certain story or just how much they enjoy reading our paper. One article came about because a delivery driver had a moment with a subscriber and saw their garage filled with a full model train system.
We work hard in our office to make sure community stories are being told. But we couldn’t reach our community the way we do without the continuous labor the delivery team does—wind, rain or heat—to get the paper into the hands of our readers every single Tuesday.
