Down to five days

The state's largest newspaper that is.

A lot of papers of a century ago published on a five day schedule, often omitting Sunday and Monday.  But that was at a time when there were no statewide papers, there were two local papers, and the town's population was less than 1/3d of its present number.

It was also, however, a time in which there were no other sources of news.

Now there are, and that's a big problem for print.

The paper did announced that its on line edition will continue to be published seven days a week reflecting, it claims, a shift in reader preference.

It will amplify that preference.  Readers who still subscribe to the paper now will have to subscribe to the online variant if they want news seven days a week, which actually print subscribers can already do, as it includes the online paper.  But you can also subscribe only to the online paper, which many who were teetering on the edge of doing that for a variety of reasons, including simply the costs of the paper, will do. And that will include me.