Press of Atlantic City ends home delivery, will only print three newspapers a week

The Press of Atlantic City will stop newspaper home deliveries in April and cut the number of print editions back to three days a week, executive editor Buzz Keough announced on Sunday.

The Press had been the last daily newspaper in the state to focus on local news.  Many Gannett newspapers stopped printing Saturday newspapers last year.

“Starting Monday, April 3, the print edition of The Press will transition from being delivered to our subscribers’ homes via a traditional newspaper delivery carrier to mail delivery by the U.S. Postal Service,” Keough said.  “Our local print edition will move to a different publication schedule, with delivery three days a week: Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.”

Joe Kelly of WPUR 107.3, a South Jersey radio station, said that the announcement of The Press’ new format was done “with the sneakiness of a thief in the night.”

“What are you going to use to wrap your fish or line your birdcage?” Kelly wondered.

What’s not clear is how old the news will be before it reaches subscribers.  Keough did not immediately respond to an email at 5:52 PM on Monday asking about the print deadline.  Newspapers must be printed and delivered to local post offices if they want the mail carrier to meet target delivery dates.

Like many struggling old media operations, Keough sought to plug his digital site, saying a new E-edition would be available daily.

“Every print day, you’ll experience a ‘Sunday” reading experience, and you’ll get to dive into a print edition that’s bursting with local news and opinions, enterprise and watchdog journalism, personalities and profiles, sports stories that take you beyond the results of a game played a day or two ago, and a deeper look at the businesses and market leaders in our community and the world around us,” Keough said.

Last August, the newspaper closed six weekly newspapers in Atlantic and Cape May counties.

The Atlantic City newspaper, founded by future New Jersey Gov. Walter Edge in 1895, has had three owners since 2013.