By John Carr

The Salisbury Post first began as an evening paper in 1905. For the next 115 years, the Post has weathered wars, national and local tragedies and the spread of many contagions.

While all of those events had economic as well as human costs, the current COVID-19-related effects on our community are unique. Certainly, in our lifetimes there has been nothing like it.

Through its history, the Post has prided itself on being the main source of news for Salisbury and Rowan County. This commitment to our community will not change, but the days of publication will. Starting this week, we will be dropping our Wednesday and Friday print editions, but maintain the same number of digital “e-editions.” That means the well-designed work of our newsroom will continue to be available online.

The reason is obvious: As goes Salisbury, so goes the Post. At a time when so many businesses are shut entirely or in cut back survival mode, one of the first things they put a hold on is their advertising.

Advertising revenue is just as important to financing newspaper operations as circulation revenue is. Even more so in fact. So, with this revenue lifeblood being reduced so quickly, we have to make bold and fast changes just like all the other businesses in our community and like many of our friends and neighbors.

It is ironic that readership has increased recently as revenue has declined. New print subscribers have increased significantly in recent weeks and digital readership has skyrocketed as readers hunger localized information related to COVID-19. Thank you.

We are pleased that advertisers that continue to be active with us during this time are getting more reach and readership for each ad placed. Starting this week, this will increase even more as each publication day will have a longer shelf life and newsstand availability.

We are certainly grateful for every such positive thing we can report, and it bodes well for the future. But we have to deal with the present, just like all of you.

Along with the Post, all local businesses need your support. Whenever you safely can, we hope everyone will support local businesses. We hope that, when coming out of the current crisis, we will continue to keep our local businesses top of mind. You are supporting your family, friends and neighbors when you do.

We at the Post need your support, too. Please read us, subscribe and frequent our advertisers.

In return, we remain dedicated to bringing local news coverage, most of which is not available elsewhere. While we strive to be excellent at many things, this exclusive, local coverage is the one thing we are dedicated to being best at.

We are here for you. We hope you are here for us, too.

To get access to the continued e-editions we’ll be publishing or help with circulation questions:

• If you are a subscriber but have not accessed the e-edition, you can click on a button at the top right hand corner of our home page and follow the prompts to sign-in. After getting set up, you should have instant access going forward. The e-edition link is in the top left corner of our website.

• If you have trouble getting set up or have questions, please email our circulation at circulation@salisburypost.com. If you wish to speak to someone by phone please call 704-797-4213 Monday through Friday.

John Carr is publisher of the Salisbury Post.