1729 Grand Blvd. Kansas City, MO 64108-1413 816-234-4636 www.KansasCity.com The Paper The Community

The Paper

Mission Statement/Motto: Since 1880, The Kansas City Star has been our area's pre-eminent communications company because of a commitment to one ideal: Building our community through knowledge.

Philosophy:

Leadership: A great newspaper forges a union with its community that is both professional and personal. We must continue to nurture that relationship by encouraging and leading the public debate. We must help our customers understand the issues of today, conquer common problems and thereby enrich our shared lives. Customers: Providing superior service means listening closely to our customers -- readers, subscribers and advertisers -- and dedicating ourselves to their success. We must anticipate their needs and then exceed their expectations. Customers: Providing superior service means listening closely to our customers -- readers, subscribers and advertisers -- and dedicating ourselves to their success. We must anticipate their needs and then exceed their expectations. Employees: Our greatest corporate asset is our people. Therefore, we are committed to fostering an open and supportive workplace. We encourage teamwork, initiative and individual growth. We stress accountability and reward good performance. At the same time, we realize that innovation and risk-taking, even failure, is fundamental to good performance. News and Editorial Commitment: We will be both first and best in covering news and presenting opinion of consequence to our readers. We will be constantly accessible but remain fiercely independent. We will protect the weak, listen to the voiceless and endeavor to make sense of complex events. In our editorial pages we will debate the issues of our day, and we will say where we stand on those issues. We will unmask wrongdoing. We will serve the truth. Diversity: Our success depends on creating an environment that embraces mutual respect, acceptance of differences and the desire to help all employees reach their full potential. Our product also must reflect the people and concerns of the community we serve. Stewardship: We pledge to conduct business in an environmentally safe and sound way. We will continue to support financially and editorially the people, resources and important causes of our community. Ethics: We will be honest and demonstrate integrity in everything we do. Innovation: We remain committed to providing our customers their information in whatever form or time they want it, using the most advanced technology available. We pledge to aggressively search for new, more efficient and more versatile ways to serve our customers' needs. Shareholders: To fulfill our mission, we must continue to set an industry standard for long-term profitability.

History: For more than a century and a quarter, the Star has chronicled Kansas City and crusaded for it, too. Founded by two Indianans, William Rockhill Nelson and Samuel E. Morss, The Kansas City Evening Star first appeared Sept. 18, 1880. In rooms rented on the second story of a building just up the hill from the Missouri River, those first four-page copies were printed on a small flatbed press. Today, the newspaper rolls off state-of-the-art presses inside a glass and copper building that overlooks Kansas City's downtown renaissance. Also, the Star serves a growing internet audience.

Through the years, The Kansas City Star has watched and reported as its city grew from cow town to boomtown to Midwestern metropolis. Morss departed the Star not long after its founding, and Nelson rose to sole ownership. For more than three decades, Nelson's ideas flowed through civic debates, and after his death his successors carried on his crusades. Along the way, the Star pushed for municipal parks and boulevards, promoted public health and uncovered corruption in city and state governments.

In the late 1920s, the Star was sold and most of the proceeds turned over to a new art collection for the city. The purchasers were a set of employees -- an ownership that lasted until February 1977, when the newspaper was purchased by Capital Cities Communications. In 1996, Capital Cities was bought by the Walt Disney Co. One year later, Disney sold the Star and other newspapers to Knight Ridder, which itself was sold to The McClatchy Company in 2006.

Mark Zieman, President and Publisher
Mike Fannin, Editor
Tim Doty, VP Advertising and Marketing
Chris Christian, Vice President, Circulation
Chris Piwowarek, Vice President, Human Resources
Miriam Pepper, Vice President, Editorial Page
Lewis Diuguid, Vice President, Community Resources
Randy Waters, Vice President, Production
Bryan Harbison, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

General Hiring Contact: Human Resources, 1729 Grand Blvd, Kansas Ciy, MO 64108, 816-234-4280. For job listings, call 816-234-4253. Other job resources include CareerBuilder at www.careerbuilder.com and classified advertising help-wanted ads in The Kansas City Star.

Distinction: The Kansas City Star is one of the most historically rich newspapers in America; the training ground for such celebrated writers and journalists as Ernest Hemingway and William Allen White; and the former employer of two presidents, Harry Truman and Theodore Roosevelt.

Market: The Kansas City Star/KansasCity.com reaches more than 1 million readers, or 75 percent of the market, in a week and nearly nine in 10 adults in a month. The Kansas City Star is not just a newspaper. It's the metropolitan area's No. 1 source of news and information and its primary retail shopping resource.

Circulation Area: The Kansas City DMA consists of 33 counties, including the following 15 counties in the Core Based Statistical Area (Kansas City is no longer an MSA): Franklin, Johnson, Leavenworth, Linn, Miami and Wyandotte counties in Kansas; Caldwell, Clay, Clinton, Platte and Ray counties in Missouri north of the Mississippi River; and Bastes, Cass, Jackson and Lafayette counties in Missouri south of the River.

Customers: The Kansas City Star's strong relationship within the market provides powerful reach within nearly all demographic categories. However, readership does trend toward higher levels of education, household incomes and professional employees.

Site: The Kansas City Star's historic brick structure at 18th Street and Grand Boulevard was built by the newspaper in 1911 and was at the time the largest newspaper building in America. The building, the sixth occupied by the newspaper, houses news, advertising and accounting departments. In 2006, the Star opened its Press Pavilion, which covers two city blocks immediately northeast of its headquarters building. The Pavilion houses production, packaging and distribution operations.

Readership: 565,223 daily; 760,434 Sunday (Source: ABC Audience FAX, September 2008)

Circulation: 259,258 daily; 357,450 Sunday (Source: ABC Audit Report for the 12 months ending March 31, 2007)

Size: Published on a 48-inch web, the Monday-Saturday Star averages 76 pages; the Sunday Star average 150 pages.

Single-Copy Sales: 11% of daily sales and 27% of Sunday are single copy.

Production: The Star uses four KBA Commander presses in two press lines. Two presses have double folders, six total folders, 216 total couples, 36 towers, 40 Pastostar RC automatic reel stands, on-line stitching, and six section capabilities. The presses were launched June 4, 2006. Upgraded to 48-inch web-width.

Color Capacity: The Star's presses accommodate 80 pages straight with 40 pages of full color and 16 spot color, including two four-page, full-color pull-outs in two sections, full-color double trucks in all sections or 72 pages with 48 pages of full color for the daily and Sunday papers. The presses can print a stand-alone product with up to 24 consecutive pages of full color..

Newspaper Website: www.KansasCity.com, an award-winning website featuring thousands of breaking news stories, blog posts, photo galleries and news videos each week.

Online Average Monthly Page Views/Unique Visitors: www.KansasCity.com records average monthly page views of 26 million and average monthly unique visitors of 3.2 million.

Other Websites: www.PickleDish.com, a national quilting website featuring historic Star patterns. The Star also is currently launching several "virtual stores" for other newspapers in and outside of McClatchy, including www.thepost-dispatchstore.com in St. Louis.

Employees: 1,096 full-time employees; 321 part-time employees

Newsroom Staff: 299 journalists.

Bureaus: The Kansas City Star staffs two state capitals -- Topeka, Kan., and Jefferson City, Mo. -- and Washington, D.C. Locally, the newsroom operates four bureaus in Independence, Mo.; Kansas City, Kan.; Overland Park, Kan.; and in north Kansas City, Mo.

Major Awards: The winner of eight Pulitzer Prizes, four George Polk Awards and the Missouri Press Association Gold Cup as the best papers in the state for 12 of the last 13 years, The Kansas City Star has a celebrated tradition of outstanding journalism.

2007	Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award in the business/economics category Institute on Political Journalism Award for Excellence in Economic Reporting Society of Business Editors & Writers A Top 3 Best in Business Award for projects reporting Associated Press Sports Editors Triple Crown for ranking in the top 10 in daily, Sunday and special sports sections Society for News Design 10 general excellence awards Society of American Travel Writers (Central States Region) Best travel section among large papers Association of Food Journalists A top 3 ranking for best food section American Society of Newspaper Editors Finalist in the commentary category of the writing awards Kansas Press Association 14 first-place awards
2006	Society of American Business Editors and Writers Award Best in business for overall excellence among large newspapers with circulation of 250,000 to 375,000 National Headliner Awards In the sports photography category, Shane Keyser won first place for "Wizards Choke"

Major Advertisers: Nebraska Furniture Mart, Dillard's, Macy's, CVS, Verizon, Sprint, JCPenney, HyVee, Price Chopper, Walgreens

Creative Ventures: Direct marketing initiatives include Star Direct's (direct mail) Target Finder initiative that introduces Claritas Prism NE to advertisers unfamiliar with what Claritas capabilities can do for their company. Target Finder creates a customer profile for the advertiser, including demographic, psycho-graphic and geographic information allowing advertisers to better understand their customers. The Star is in a better position to recommend specific marketing strategies using its range of products and services.

Specialty publications provide clients with the opportunity to be their own publisher. Special sections allow clients to tell their own story in their own words. A vendor section is perfect for a new construction project, an expansion project, an anniversary, grand opening or announcing an organization's success by securing secondary sources of financing from vendors and business partners to underwrite a majority of the cost.

The Star also operates StarInfo, a retail operation that includes a line of quilt books and merchandise; staff and custom book printing; and a line of online newspaper stores in Kansas City and across the country, including St. Louis, Boise, Fort Worth and Biloxi.

Special Publications: Grand Communications is the targeted publications and event-marketing division of The Kansas City Star. With nearly 1.4 million copies published each year, Grand Communications provides some of the most targeted and best-read magazines in the Kansas City area, including "Kansas City Spaces," "KC Weddings," "Goin' to Kansas City," "Moving to Kansas City," "Indulge," "Savor" and local and regional tourism pieces. In addition to publishing magazines, Grand Communications produces Bridal Spectacular, one of the largest bridal shows in the Midwest.

Well-Known Newsroom Personalities: Past newsroom employees include the writer Ernest Hemingway; newspaper editor William Allen White; journalism pioneer Eugene Pulliam; and former President Theodore Roosevelt, who penned a column syndicated by the Star. Current journalists include sports columnists Jason Whitlock and Joe Posnanski, who twice has been named the top sports columnist in America; columnist, author and documentary filmmaker Charles Gusewelle; and nationally recognized TV critic and blogger Aaron Barnhart.

Community Involvement: The Star is a major sponsor of Project Warmth -- a mission to make winter months more livable in Kansas City for the working poor. The newspaper has partnered with KCTV, a CBS affiliate, for 25 years. The Star organizes an annual coat and blanket drive through schools, churches and businesses to collect 60-plus tons annually, which are distributed free by the Salvation Army. KCTV hosts a telethon asking for pledges and directs donors to look for their self-addressed, postage-paid envelope in the Sunday Star. Annually, more than $200,000 is raised to assists with utility bills, rent and weatherization.

The newspaper also sponsors Greater Kansas City Day, an annual event held on the Kansas City Royals' opening day for the past 20 years, in partnership with area Rotary Clubs and the Kansas City Royals Baseball Club. The Star donates the newspapers and Rotarian volunteers sell them on street corners, with all proceeds benefiting the Rotary Youth Camp here in Kansas City, as well as a dozen other children's charities. The effort raises about $100,000 annually.

The Star also hosts an internal United Way campaign, with employees pledging more than $225,000 annually, ranking the newspaper in the Top 100 companies locally.

Finally, the newsroom has created Hooked on Books in partnership with the Junior League of Kansas City. It is an annual summer reading program that has distributed more than 400,000 books to area school children. The newsroom also created the Coda Jazz Fund, which has raised more than $150,000 for the funeral and burial expenses of destitute jazz musicians in Kansas City.

The Community

The Market: Located in the geographic center of the continental United States, Kansas City offers a wealth of attractions. The striking landscape includes boulevards, beautiful parks, fantastic architecture and more than 200 fountains. The city's diversions include world-class museums, a vibrant arts scene, superb shopping, delicious steaks and mouth-watering barbecue and great blues and jazz clubs. It's a community of big-city fun mixed with small-town hospitality.

Kansas City is a bi-state area that straddles the Missouri-Kansas state line. An extensive, interlocking system of parks and boulevards set aside by visionary planners in the 1890s, prompted writers to call the Kansas City area "Paris on the Plains." The downtown is undergoing a $7 billion renaissance that is adding major new attractions, including the new Sprint Arena and a nine-block Power & Light district that features restaurants, nightlife, shopping and entertainment venues.

The greater Kansas City area consistently leads all major cities in affordable housing, with neighborhoods that range from art district lofts to downtown condos to golf course communities and country homes. The suburbs of Kansas City have some of the best public schools in the country. Kansas City's cost of living is one of the lowest in the nation. All of this combines to form one of the nation's most attractive metropolitan areas for doing business and raising families.

Location From Major Commerce Centers: 1,200 miles from New York; 1,860 miles from San Francisco; 555 miles from Dallas; 1,480 miles from Miami; 610 miles from Denver

Transportation: Kansas City International Airport (airport code MCI) is in the northern portion of the area. There is a smaller downtown airport. Major highways include I-70, I-35, I-29, and I-435. Bus transportation is available throughout the city, and a ballot measure recently passed to introduce light rail.

City Population: 2,325,000 in DMA (31st largest) and 1,955,00 in CBSA, including 1.46 million adults.

City Households: 769,000 in CBSA

Household Growth Rate: Households in CBSA projected to grow 5.9% from 2006 to 2011

Education: 33% have a high school degree (or equivalency); 35% have some college; 21% have a college degree; 11% have a post college education (Source: Claritas 2006)

Ethnic Makeup: 83.3% white; 12% African American; 5% Hispanic; 5% all other

Median Age: 36.3 years old

Average Income: $68,000

Median Home Value: $139,000

Average Rent: Median cost of apartments in Kansas City is $580 per month

Climate: Kansas City's climate is hot during summers when temperatures tend to be in the 80s and 90s and very cold during winter with temperatures in the 30s and below. The warmest month is July with an average maximum temperature of 90 degrees, while the coldest month is January with an average minimum temperature of 20 degrees. The annual average precipitation in Kansas City is 35.51 inches, with rainfall fairly evenly distributed throughout the year. The wettest month of the year is June, with average rainfall of 4.73 inches.

Major Employers/Industries: Entertainment and Food -- Hallmark Cards, AMC Theaters, Applebee's, Farmland, Interstate Bakeries and Russell Stover candies; Technology -- Sprint, Cerner, Embarq and Garmin; Financial Services -- American Century and H&R Block; Transportation -- YRC Worldwide and Kansas City Southern

Major Retailers: Nebraska Furniture Mart, Macy's, Dillards, Home Depot, Lowe's, Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City

Higher Learning: The University of Kansas, University of Missouri, Kansas State University, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City Art Institute, more than a dozen liberal arts colleges, five theological colleges, a chiropractic college, an allied health university, and a technology institute

Culture: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Truman Presidential Museum & Library; Kemper Art Museum; Kansas City Symphony; Lyric Opera; State Ballet of Missouri; Alvin Alley Dance Company (second home is in Kansas City); Starlight Theater; New Theater Restaurant; Negro Leagues Baseball Museum; American Jazz Museum; Liberty Memorial and WWI Museum

Sports: Kansas City Chiefs Football Club (NFL); the Kansas City Royals Baseball Club (MLB); the Wizards (MLS); the T-Bones (minor league baseball); the Brigade (arena football); the University of Kansas Jayhawks; University of Missouri Tigers; Kansas State Wildcats; University of Missouri-Kansas City "Kanga Roos"; the Kansas Speedway; the Woodlands race track; the Champions Tour Golf Tournament; and the Guardians Classic Basketball Tournament

Major Annual Events: Blues and Jazz Festival, American Royal, Big 12 Conference Playoffs, Plaza Art Fair, Country Club Plaza Holiday Lighting Ceremony on Thanksgiving, St. Patrick's Day Parade

Tourist Attractions: Kansas City Zoo, Worlds of Fun, Oceans of Fun, Science City at Union Station, Truman Presidential Museum & Library, Country Club Plaza, City Market, Riverboat Museum, Casino Gambling, Kansas Speedway, Kansas City professional sports, Jesse James Farm and Museum, the National Frontier Trails Center, and Liberty Memorial and WWI Museum

Recreation: The Kansas City area has 41 public and 21 private golf courses, 61 public swimming pools, 109 tennis facilities, 22 country clubs, 600 parks (28 with 250 acres or more), 400 shopping areas, 24 public lakes and 162 indoor movie theaters.

Nightlife: The Kansas City area sports a thriving nightlife district known as Westport, as well as a variety of clubs, bars and casinos throughout the city.

Claim to Fame: Kansas City is ranked first in the nation in underground storage space, claiming the largest underground business facility in the world. Kansas City is the largest rail hub in America and has two of the top-five most productive auto plants in North America (Harbour Report). Kansas City ranks 12th in "Best Cities and States for Business Attraction" ("Expansion Management"); third in the number of festivals, fairs and cultural gatherings per capita; third for large metro areas ideal for relocating families (Worldwide ERC); fifth in value-priced vacation destination (Hotwire); and first and fourth in two lists of the nation's most underrated cities (Los Angeles Times, MSNBC). Aviator Charles Lindbergh founded TWA in Kansas City, and local aviatrix Amelia Earheart rode the inaugural cross-country flight. Kansas City inventors created the McDonald's Happy Meal, Teflon, Rival crock pots, jazz jam sessions, the fire pole, M&M candy coating and Eskimo Pies.

Famous Citizens: Director Robert Altman; actors Ed Asner, Don Cheadle, Wallace Beery, Eddie Griffin and Chris Cooper; artists Thomas Hart Benton and George Caleb Bingham; football Hall-of-Famer Len Dawson and baseball Hall-of-Famers Leroy "Satchel" Paige and George Brett; Olympic gold medalist Maurice Green; pro golfer Tom Watson; basketball inventor James Naismith; actresses Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, Betty Lynn and Dee Wallace-Stone; outlaw Jesse James; musicians Charlie "Bird" Parker, Lester Young, Count Basie, Burt Bacharach and Eminem; dancer Ginger Rogers; baseball manager Caey Stengel; President Harry Truman, cartoonist Walt Disney (modeled Mickey Mouse on a roommate during his KC days); and author Ernest Hemingway

Trivia: Kansas City, not St. Louis, is the true Gateway to the West, the launching point for three famous overland trails -- the Santa Fe, California and Oregon. It's also the one-time watering hold, hideout and/or final resting place for outlaws and lawmen including Jesse James, Billy the Kid, William Quantrill, Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickock, Frank Nash, Bonnie & Clyde and Bugs Moran (Al Capone's target for the St. Valentine's Day massacre -- he escaped). It also lays claim to the birthplace of beef steak -- most steaks today come from Herefords, first introduced at Kansas City's American Royal. And although Texans disagree, legend has it that Charles Hyer of Olathe, a Kansas City suburb, was the first to invent the cowboy boot.

Area Information: Kansas City Convention and Visitor Association, 816-221-5254; Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, 816-221-2424; Kansas City Area Development Council, 816-221-2121.

Recent Issues of the Newspaper: For issues within one year, call 816-234-4110.

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