SHARON

The Herald will switch its publication cycle from afternoons to mornings, effective Sept. 9.

The change means that Herald subscribers can expect delivery of their newspaper by 6:30 a.m. Monday through Friday and by 8 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

When The Herald added a Sunday morning edition in 1990, it converted its Saturday publication from an afternoon to a morning. Throughout the years, Herald readers have expressed satisfaction with the weekend publication cycle.

"This is a move that we feel benefits The Herald as well as its readers," said John L. Lima, president and publisher. "It will give our advertisers a longer shelf life for their message, and it will give our readers more timely and meaningful news to start their busy days."

The publication cycles of the two weekly newspapers owned by The Herald, Allied News of Grove City and Hubbard Press, will be unaffected by The Herald's move.

The anouncement is the second major one by The Herald since spring. Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. of Birmingham, Ala., bought The Herald on March 29 from Ottaway Newspapers Inc., a subsidiary of Dow Jones & Company Inc. Ottaway had owned The Herald since 1971.

The Herald has been printed at the Dow Jones printing plant in Shenango Township since 1983. Upon its switch to a morning publication, The Herald will be printed at the New Castle News, its sister newspaper owned by CNHI, until a new production facility opens on Route 422 outside of New Castle later this year or early in 2003.

That facility will print both the New Castle News and The Herald upon its completion.

Coinciding with the switch to a morning publication, The Herald will become a narrower and easier-to-read newspaper, will add a fourth section, will expand its current TV listings and will bolster its weather news by purchasing a daily color package from AccuWeather, Inc. of State College, Pa.

In the last 50 years, many of the country's best newspapers have switched their publication cycles from afternoons to mornings, while many other afternoon dailies, especially in large cities, have closed their doors because of morning competition.

"This is an important and major change for The Herald, its employees, its readers and advertisers," Lima said. "But it's a strategy we believe fits with the long-tern growth and development of the newspaper."

The Herald is one of the oldest newspapers in the state, founded as a weekly on April 14, 1865 and becoming a daily on April 12, 1909. The Sharon Herald and the Sharon NewsTelegraph merged on May 23, 1935, retaining the former's name.

The News-Telegraph was an outgrowth of a merger of the Sharon Telegraph and the Farrell News in 1925. The Sharon Telegraph had started as a daily in 1893.