I got the June financial statement last week and did a double, triple, quadruple take when I got to the ARK sales figures. ARK is our 2×2 Ads Reaching Kentuckians network that we started in 1996. It’s for small space advertisers — 2×2 to 2×4 ads — and is a network of newspapers that have agreed to accept our policies and procedures.

Now first, keep in mind that we started ARK at mid-year in 1996 and at the Fall Board Retreat in 1996 we had to beg the Board to let us keep it going. By the end of the year, we had placed only two ads in those six months. But the Board relented and we kept it going.

A couple of years later, we were ecstatic to reach $100,000 in sales for the whole year.

And in 2008, remember in six months of 2008, we’ve already placed $273,006. That’s $42,000 more than any previous year (12 months) and might well hit a half-million or more in it. I e-mailed Stephanie Conrad when I got the report asking just what the heck she’s doing upstairs. Placement has gone gangbusters this year.

Of course, the important thing to newspapers is what we’ve paid them so far and that’s $228,522, and to us on staff it’s the bottom line which is $44,484. That’s $7000 more in six months than any previous year.

So to say we’re ecstatic is an understatement. If your newspaper isn’t a participating one in the Ads Reaching Kentuckians (ARK) network, then get on the ARK for 2009! Contact Stephanie Conrad at 800-264-5721 or by e-mail at sconrad@kypress.com

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