Operations

The Slave River Journal prints 1,950 copies each week for 51 weeks of the year. Sandra says, "Close to 500 go to different vendors in almost very community in the Western Arctic." The major source of revenues is advertising. Less significant income comes from newsstand sales and classified advertising.
Advertising is handled by a full-time employee. Sandra notes, "Advertising comes in the mail every day; it comes on the phone and it walks in the door. Our advertising person conducts various campaigns, such as our high school graduation campaign for congratulatory ads from businesses and family of the grads."
The office is open Monday through Friday. The staff put the newspaper together "camera ready" late Tuesday night. Then it is printed in Yellowknife on Wednesday. Sandra notes, "It goes out on the 8:00 a.m. flight to Yellowknife and it comes back at 7:00 in the evening. They do a good job and this is the best turnaround we've ever had."
Promotion of the newspaper involves a variety of methods. Free papers are given to the local airline and are distributed in several smaller communities in order to increase circulation. The newspaper gets additional publicity by sponsoring community-based events that attract people to Fort Smith from across the country. Don states, "We do support a lot of tourism and sports activities to bring people into the community. We sponsor sporting events, including a triathlon. I personally am very active in promoting tourism on the Slave River. I'm in the process of negotiating with Canadian Airlines to bring in some very high-profile

whitewater paddlers and set up the western Canadian championships in 1991. I believe that within five to ten years we're going to see a large influx of American and European whitewater paddlers. There are a tremendous number of very wealthy whitewater paddlers who would come to a place with an uncontrolled unspoiled river with magnificent rapids, in a wilderness setting."
Interest is not charged on overdue accounts, mainly because of diffculty administering a penalty. Statements are mailed, but if a bill is outstanding after sixty days then a telephone call will be made to the customer. They have tried to recover several debts in small claims court but have never been successful because the customer left town. Don notes, "If it is new business, we might ask for cash up front for advertising. We are getting stricter and asking people to pay before the ad runs because it's easier on our bookkeeping."
The newspaper's major advertising customer is the territorial government. The government will make interim payments on big projects, but otherwise they only make the final payments within thirty days after recieving the invoice. Don states, "There are a couple of departments that are slow and we have to phone them. But it's common for invoices to go astray in the government because they are so busy."
Recent cutbacks in government advertising budgets have affected the newspaper. Don describes their strategy in dealing with this threat. "We have to respond by exploring new market areas. If you don't stay flexible and you lock yourself into one market then you run the risk of that market drying up and running into financial trouble." One area that has grown steadily is Cascade Graphics.
As mentioned before, the newspaper's computer use is negligible on Wednesday and Thursday. The slack is taken up by Cascade Graphics.

Don and Sandra decided to diversify rather than cut staff to part-time during the weekly slow period. Cascade Graphics offers a wide variety of services including newsletters, business cards, letterhead, logo design, and flyers.
Sandra and a production person work on the newspaper and on Cascade Graphics. A part-time office staff member works with printers and customers. Sandra states, "We have made arrangements with six different printers in Yellowknife, Hay River, Edmonton, and Winnipeg." The choice of a printer depends on the project and the quality required. With the recent purchase of a desktop publishing system, Sandra says, "We'll have more options to work with and it will definitely enhance our Cascade Graphics area. We will be able to offer some of those services much faster." Don spent the better part of a year researching the best system to purchase and shopping for the best deal.
Don desribes some of their other services. "We've expanded our darkroom operation and now do passport photos and photo orders. For example, I just did a shoot for a lawyer who had a court case and he wanted two sets of twenty prints. We've also done a few slide shows, which is an interesting area." No deposits are required for orders except on large jobs and full payment is made when the jobs are picked up. Regular customers are allowed thirty days to pay their accounts.
Don recalls that one of their more interesting display projects was a series of panels for display at the Northwest Territories pavilion during Expo. "We did panels with graphs, charts, and big photographs for the Renewable Resources department. It described the different things that Renewable Resources does for wildlife management and fire fighting."

Staff

In addition to Don and Sandra, the business employs two full-time reporters and one full and one part-time general office staff. The full-time office person handles advertising, circulation, and reception, as well as providing photocopying and fax service. The part-time person does the bookkeeping and manages some of the job printing. They also have a full-time summer student. There is one full-time production person and Jaque's teenage son handles darkroom duty and janitorial services after school. Sandra works very little overtime. She says, "I like to spend some time with the three kids now and be involved in their school. I try to take it a little bit easier now. I don't work past eleven on Tuesday nights.

I can't stay up all night anymore because it's too tiring." They currently have well-trained and reliable staff so they were able to take an unprecedented month of holidays in 1990. Sandra says, "Don and I went away for two weeks for ourselves and then we took the kids for two weeks."
Staffing is the major ongoing problem for Don and Sandra. There is a limited skilled labour pool to draw from locally, but the turnover among the people who are brought in from the south is high. There is strong competition from the government for skilled people, and there is a scarcity of trained Native reporters. The Jaques cannot match the salary or the benefits offered by the territorial government. As a result, it is difficult to attract and keep skilled employees. The local labour shortage is one of the main reasons that the Jaques are putting off further expansion.

They have thought of opening a retail outlet or doing consulting work but are hesitating because of the anticipated staffing problems. The journalists and graphic people they require for the newspaper and computer graphics service are usually brought in from the south. Local people are hired for other areas of their business.
Sandra points out, "We really prefer to have local people because they have houses and are raising their families in the community. When we bring somebody in from outside, we have to find them a place to live and it is a hassle. People from outside aren't committed to our community for the long term. We've had some really good people come through who have used us as a stepping stone to further their career. At the same time we've drawn on their expertise, and the quality of our publication grows with each person we hire."

Competition

There are no other local newspapers operating in Fort Smith. Their main competitor is News North, but the Slave River Journal has the advantage of its local focus. Their reporters are able to cover a wider range of topics of interest to the local readership. In 1990, the Jaques mounted an aggressive marketing campaign to increase circulation. Sandra explains, "We sent papers to schools and all the government offices for a few months.

We generated some subscriptions and increased our exposure."
The major competitor for local advertising isthe local television station. The owner offers a channel of continuous business advertising for a very low price. His major source of revenue comes from subscribers and television rentals, and so he can offer excellent advertising rates. Don and Sandra admit it is a problem but hope to try several ideas to overcome it. The services offered by Cascade are not duplicated in Fort Smith.		 Other graphic arts firms operate in Hay River and Yellowknife, so that Cascade Graphics has to keep its prices competitive. They do not have the advantage of access to the local market. Sandra notes, "We occasionally get our competitors to do something for us, if we have a job that they can do better. Many of our printers do graphic arts as well, so we may send things to them. But the nice thing about Cascade Graphics is once we've done a good job for somebody, they come back for reorders and that's a nice way to make money because there's not too much work involved."