Tri-Valley Herald: Keeping Locals Informed for 128 Years

Whether you're trying to find out the score of your favorite team's game the night before, looking for movie reviews, or trying to keep up on important current events, you probably start your day reading the newspaper. While a few specialty newspapers exist to track specific topics like business news, most people enjoy reading their local newspaper because, along with finding out what's going on around the world, they can find out what's going on in their own back yard.

If you live or work in the Tri-Valley area, its namesake paper, the Tri-Valley Herald, is probably where you get your local and world news. The Tri-Valley Herald started in 1874 in Livermore as the Livermore Enterprise and is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Alameda county. "It's older than the Oakland Tribune," says Tim Hunt, associate editor. "I think we're about three years ahead of them. We're both in that 120+ year range."

The Tri-Valley Herald publishes three editions: one that serves the San Joaquin Valley, one that serves Contra Costa (primarily the San Ramon Valley), and a Tri-Valley edition that serves Livermore, Pleasanton, and Dublin. The Herald's 50,000 square foot headquarters in Hacienda is located at 4770 Willow Road, where the paper has 200 employees and two printing presses. "We have one large press that we run the daily newspaper on (pictured, right) and a second smaller press that we run our specialty publications on, like the Sunday TV book and special advertising section inserts," Hunt says.

Growth is one of the main reasons the Tri-Valley Herald hasn't had to add another press in its Hacienda location. Its parent company, ANG Newspapers, acquires presses every time it expands by acquiring newspapers within the region. At press time, ANG was in the process of acquiring the Vacaville Reporter, and in the past few years it has purchased the Alameda Times Star, the Tribune, and other local papers. Certain sections of the papers, including inserts like the Bay Area Living section, are common to a number of them and don't need to be printed in a certain place, providing some flexibility in the printing schedule. "There's actually expansion space in the press room where we could add another major unit," Hunt says. "We just haven't needed it."

The location of the presses was a key issue in the Tri-Valley Herald's decision move to Hacienda in 1989. "The Hacienda location is very central for our market," Hunt says. "Prior to getting into this building, our presses were located in Hayward, so all the printing was done over there. By coming out here, we actually picked up about 30 minutes on deadlines, which has helped us stay competitive in terms of making sure we have late local news." The additional time before going to press can be especially helpful when a city council meeting or an A's game runs late. It can make the difference between people getting up in the morning and reading what happened in the Herald or getting their news elsewhere.

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