Let me explain. We have spent the past six months evaluating everything we do at the Free Press. Out of that intensive review, we are initiating some changes:

-- Beginning with this issue, you will notice we are now the same size as the Wichita Eagle and other broadsheet newspapers.

Our newspaper is now being printed at the Eagle. You may have noticed the recent article about the $27 million press they installed recently. We wanted to take advantage of the technology they now offer and the flexographic printing method-which should give us even better color and many more options for using color, as well as the capability of printing special sections within the normal issue right off the press.

We also will benefit by having an earlier delivery time for each issue, which will give us more time to insert our many preprints and meet our postal deliveries deadlines throughout the county. Additional time gives us the opportunity for increasing Tuesday home delivery within the county. It has been well received in Hillsboro.

Many times we have had to refold inserts because they were too big for the tabloid size we were using. Now, we can accommodate anything that comes our way. We also missed out on running some ads at the size ordered because our format was too small.

We want our readers to know that even though the broadsheet format means fewer pages than in the past, the amount of space available for news will be the same.

Other changes will be coming as well.

-- The 11-year-old Advocate, as we know it, will change after this issue to a 12-times-per-year publication. That doubles its current frequency. It will be named the Buyer's Edge of South Central Kansas. Its circulation will increase to more than 36,000 and include all of Marion, Harvey and McPherson counties. It will have content of interest for those citizens, too.

The rates for advertising in the Buyer's Edge will be a fraction of what an advertiser would pay to run ads in the market the publication will cover. If an advertiser bought space in all of the publications in the three counties we will cover, the rate would be nearly $70 per column inch-which is not affordable for most businesses. The Buyer's Edge rates will be 20 percent of that or less, and will actually reach many more homes.

Had we not started the Free Press almost eight years ago, the rate advertisers would have to pay to reach Marion County would be double or more of what it is today.

Our theory is that our local businesses need to advertise to a wider circle in order to draw customers from a broader area. With total-market-coverage of a three-county area, we are asking businesses operating within a 45-mile radius of Hillsboro to help us promote ourselves to this wider area by advertising in our products, too.

-- We also will be upgrading our Web site soon with enhancements to promote our area businesses even more-plus provide news coverage as it happens. More on this later.

Hang on to your hats. The excitement is just beginning.