120 South Illinois St. Belleville, IL 62220-2130 618-234-1000 www.bnd.com The Paper The Community

The Paper

Motto/Mission Statement: Serving Southwestern Illinois

Founded: 1858. In 1883, the Weekly Democrat merged with the Belleville News to become the Belleville News-Democrat. Since its founding, the newspaper has had a succession of owners. It was a family-owned newspaper from 1891 to 1972, until its purchase by Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. Knight Ridder acquired the newspaper in 1997. McClatchy acquired the newspaper in 2006 with its purchase of Knight Ridder.

Key Executives:
Jay Tebbe, President and Publisher
Jeffry Couch, Executive Editor
Randy Atkisson, Vice President, Finance and Operations
Melissa Mason, Advertising Director
John Grove, Circulation Director
Jeanne Newton, Human Resources Director

General Hiring Contact: Human Resources Director Jeanne Newton: 618-239-2515 or e-mail jnewton@bnd.com

Distinction: The leading newspaper and online site in Southern Illinois

Market: The second-largest metropolitan area in Illinois, the metro-east is a bustling, fast growing, diverse region just outside St. Louis, Mo. The News-Democrat is the leading daily newspaper in Southwestern Illinois.

Circulation Area: Eight Illinois counties; delivery is primarily St. Clair (populatoin 266,300) and southern Madison counties

Customers: 53% of the News-Democrat readers are female; the mean age of readers is 46 years; 64% are married; 39% have one or more children under the age of 17; 75% are homeowners; 27% are college graduates; 71% are white, 25% are African American and 4% other.

Site: The News-Democrat's main office is located in downtown Belleville and houses the editorial, advertising and administration staff. Circulation is located across the street from the main building. The printing facility is less than two miles away. The paper has bureau offices in Collinsville and Edwardsville, Ill. The Belleville Weekly Group, consisting of six weekly publications, has separate offices in Highland, O'Fallon and Sparta, Ill.; its printing is done at the central printing facility in Belleville.

Readership: 150,000 daily; 185,000 Sunday

Circulation: 53,387 daily; 65,760 Sunday

Size: 36 average daily pages; 60 average Sunday pages

Single-Copy Sales: 15% daily; 21% Sunday

Production: 14-unit Urbanite press vintage mid-1960s with Jardis 1040 pasters (7); U-809 folder and 1030 DGM quarter folder; 7-unit Community press vintage mid- to late-1960s; 2 Creo Trendsetter 70 CTP; 2 Anocoil plate processors; 1 Burgess plate bender

Color: 32 pages; collect run of press allows 12 pages process color and 20 pages of spot color.

Newspaper Website: www.bnd.com

Average Monthly Page Views/Unique Visitors: 2,408,913 average monthly page views; 331,567 average monthly unique visitors

Employees:
News-Democrat: 216 full-time, 39 part-time
Community Weeklies: 29 full-time; 13 part-time

Newsroom Staff: 26 full-time journalists

Bureaus: Collinsville, Ill.; Edwardsville, Ill.

Major Awards: The newsroom won two National Headliner Awards in 2007, including the grand award for print, and has won five overall in recent years. It also won the 2007 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, Domestic Print; was a finalist for the ASNE's award for accountability reporting in 2007; an honorable mention for an IRE award in 2007; and won 15 statewide journalism awards in 2005 and 2006, including first-place awards in community service, best news reporting and government beat reporting.

Major Advertisers: Macy's; Dillard's; Walgreens; Best Buy; Circuit City; Kmart; Target; Lowe's; Home Depot; Wal-Mart; Sears; JCPenney, Sprint, Kohl's, Value City Discount, Office Depot

Creative Ventures: Lipstick Women's Show

Special Publications: Advertiser Direct, TMC product; Highland News Leader; Highland Advertiser Direct; O'Fallon Progress; Command Post (serving Scott Air Force Base); Metro-east Weekender; The Legal Reporter; Sparta news-Plaindealer; Pinckneyville Democrat; Marissa-New Athens Journal Messenger; The Saturday Morning Shopper; Southern Illinois Homes Guide, 12 times a year, quarterfold; "From House to Homes," four times a year, glossy, full-color magazine; "Lipstick Magazine," six times a year, glossy cover, tab; "Adult Lifestyle" magazine, six times a year.

Well-known Newsroom Personalities: Cartoonist Glenn McCoy -- his editorial cartoons, daily comic strip, The Duplex, and daily comic panel, The Flying McCoys (produced with his brother, Gary McCoy), are syndicated in hundreds of papers around the world; food columnist Sue Boyle; local columnist Wally Spiers; Cardinals columnist Joe Ostermeier; parenting blogger Jennifer Bowen; Cardinals fan blogger Scott Wuerz; and pop culture bogger Elizabeth Donald.

Community Involvement: The News-Democrat participates in and co-sponsors events and projects for more than 100 nonprofit organizations, campaigns for nonprofit organizations and serves as the media representative on various community projects. The newspaper's support encompasses diversity programs, youth education, music, art, health, drug awareness programs and various other societal and social programs.

The Community

The Market: Just a river's width from St. Louis' Gateway Arch, the Southwesten Illinois portion of the St. Louis metropolitan area has experienced unprecedented economic growth during the past few years and continues to be a hot sport for development. Known in today's real estate circles as the Metro East Submarket, the area offers thousands of acres of prime development sites supported by one of the most cost-effective "intermodal" transportation systems in America, located literally in the shadow of the downtown St. Louis skyline. Composed of Madison and St. Clair counties, Southwestern Illinois has invested billions of dollars on modern river, rail, highway and air transportation and infrastructure. The area is home to Scott Air Force Base and MidAmerica Airport.

Location: Belleville is located in the heart of the United States, just 20 minutes from downtown St. Louis, providing access to all of southwest Illinois, the greater St. Louis area, the Midwest, the United States and beyond.

Transportation: Southwestern Illinois is currently served by Lamber-St. Louis International Airport, MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in St. Clair County and two regional airports -- St. Louis Regional in Madison County and St. Louis Downtown Airport in St. Clair County. Transit services in Southwestern Illinois are provided by Metro, a lightrail transit system that links Belleville and Scott Air Base with East St. Louis, downtown St. Louis and Lambert Airport. Madison and St. Clair counties offer 122 miles of interstate highway, including I-70, I-55 and I-64. These three major interstates are linked via I-255/270, which forms the St. Louis metropolitan circumferential loop. They are an integral part of the east-west and north-south national interstate road network, which converges in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

Population: Southwestern Illinois: 526,734

Households: Southwestern Illinois: 196,150

Household Growth Rate: 1.3% in Southwestern Illinois, with single-family home sales up 67% since 2000

Education: 83% high school diplomas or higher; 19.8% bachelor's degree or higher

Ethnic Makeup: 78% white; 18% African American; 3% other

Median Age: 36.6 years

Average Annual Income: $47,128

Median Home Value: $138,242

Average Rent: $600/month for a two-bedroom apartment

Climate: Southwestern Illinois enjoys a seasonal climate, which transforms its beautiful landscape four times a year. Average temperature in January is 29.5 degrees, while July has an average temperature of 80.5.

Major Employers/Industries: Scott Air Force Base; Olin Corp.; Wal-Mart/Sam's Club; Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; U.S. Steel/Granite City Works; Memorial Hospital; Southwestern Illinois College; St. Elizabeth Hospital; Southern Illinois Healthcare Systems; Casino Queen; Schnucks Stores; Midcoast Aviation

Major Retailers: Macy's, Dillard's, Walgreens, Best Buy, Circuit City, Kmart, Target, Wal-Mart, Sears, JCPenney

Higher Learning: Washington University, St. Louis University, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Southwestern Illinois College, McKendree College, Lewis and Clark Community College

Culture: Southwestern Illinois offers residents and visitors to the region a range of cultural experiences, from the impressive art collections at local universities to the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. The Lewis & Clark Confluence Memorial marks the point of departure for their famous American expedition into the West. The region's prime location, just minutes from downtown St. Louis, also provides easy access to the city's many arts and culture centers. On any given day, the sights and sounds of the Fox Theatre, The Muny Opera, the St. Louis Art Museum, Grand Center and the University City Loop are just a short trip away.

Sports: St. Louis Cardinals baseball; St. Louis Blues hockey; St. Louis Ambush soccer; St. Louis Rams football; Gateway Grizzlies, independent Frontier League baseball

Major Annual Events: Art on the Square, held in downtown Belleville each May, is ranked No. 5 of art fairs throughout the nation by Art Fair Source Book; Fair St. Louis, held every July under the St. Louis Gateway Arch; Scott Air Force Base Air Show

Tourist Attractions: The St. Louis Gateway Arch; St. Louis Art Museum; St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; St. Louis Zoo; Missouri Botanical Garden; riverboat gambling; thoroughbred horse racing; Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site and Monks Mound, the largest prehistoric earthen construction in the New World; Our Lady of the Snows Shrine; Carlyle Lake, Illinois' largest inland lake with 26,000 square acres of water.

Recreation: Tremendous recreational and sports opportunities also are available in Southwestern Illinois. Race fans can enjoy professional motor-sports events at Gateway International Raceway. Located about five miles away from downtown St. Louis in Madison, Ill., the $25 million facility is one of the newest professional motor-sports facilities in the United States. For cyclists and walkers, Madison County Transit offers 75 miles of user-friendly bikeways and walking trails. The region also is home to the St. Louis Zoo, the National Shrive of Our Lady of the Snows, Raging Rivers Water Park and more.

Nightlife: 20 minutes from downtown St. Louis

Claim to Fame: Founded in 1917, Scott Air Force Base is one of the nation's oldest. Named for Frank Scott, it is the only U.S. base named for an enlisted man. It is home to the U.S. Transportation Command and the Air Mobility Command and is the largest employer east of the Mississippi River. Mid America Airport, St. Louis' second regional airport, is located just outside the base gates.

Famous Citizens: Opera singers Christine Brewer and Erie Mills; tennis champion Jimmy Connors; jazz musician Miles Davis; actors Buddy Ebsen and William Holden; pro golfers Bob Goalby and Jay Haas; former National League Baseball manager Whitey Herzog; Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner Kersee; director Ken Kwapis; trumpeter Clark Terry; rhythm and blues artist Ike Turner; NASA astronaut Sandra Hall Magnus; "The Alton Giant" Robert Wadlow (8'11")

Trivia: Cartoon character Popeye was "born" in the small Illinois river town of Chester, 50 miles south of Belleville. At the Looking Glass Playhouse in nearby Lebanon, northeast of Belleville, visitors can watch a performance of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" on the very street that Dickens walked. In 1882, Jacob Brosius of Belleville announced that he had invented -- and planned to manufacture -- the folding lawn chair. He died two weeks later. At Wood River, 30 miles north of Belleville, on the morning of May 14, 1804, the Lewis and Clark expedition, called the Corp of Discovery, began its epic journey to find an overland route to the Pacific Ocean.

Area Information:
Greater Belleville Chamber of Commerce
216 East A St.
Belleville, Ill. 62220
618-233-2015
www.bellevillechamber.org

Recent Issues of the Newspaper:
Belleville News-Democrat
Circulation Department
618-234-1113 circulation@bnd.com

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