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Responding to repeated requests from readers and retailers, the Reporter will begin distribution in Lockport and the Tonawandas--and expand distribution on Grand Island--beginning with this issue.
"The paper will now be carried by nearly 500 outlets," said Publisher Bruce Battaglia. "We're going to have to increase our press run to accommodate them."
In addition to Lockport, North Tonawanda and Grand Island, the paper is available at hundreds of locations in Niagara Falls, Wheatfield, the Town of Niagara, Lewiston, Youngstown and Buffalo, Battaglia added. The press run will be upped significantly to cover the new territory.
"The Niagara Falls Reporter is the fastest-growing newspaper in Western New York," he said. "A day doesn't go by that we don't get a request from someone asking if they can distribute the paper."
Many readers around the county--and around the world--first became aware of the Reporter through the paper's online edition, www.niagarafallsreporter.com. More than 21,000 people have logged onto the site since it was first posted in July.
Contributing Editor Rebecca Day, who designed and maintains the site, said readers and advertisers alike enjoy the Internet presence.
"The Reporter is the only paper in Niagara County with a Web site, and it's proven very popular," she said. "From the advertisers' perspective, the links provide an added value to the space they buy in the print edition."
Battaglia said the tremendous growth of the Reporter is due in part to the marked decline in the quality of the daily papers serving the Falls, Tonawanda and Lockport.
"With all the problems they're having, they've lost a lot of credibility with the readers," he said. "At the same time, we've been able to pick up some of the best writers and editors working in Niagara County, because the other papers could no longer afford to keep them."
That talent is primarily what has made the Reporter--which will celebrate its first anniversary next month--such a success, he added.
"Our product is second to none, and people appreciate that," he said. "The Reporter gets read, and that's the bottom line."