
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 1, 1993                   TAG: 9312010028
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WALL STREET JOURNAL HAS NEW DELIVERY PAL

Some Roanoke-area subscribers of The Wall Street Journal will be getting their copies of the financial newspaper earlier in the day next month because of a contract being signed today with the Roanoke Times & World-News.

Starting Dec. 13, carriers for the Roanoke newspaper will deliver the Journal as well.

The initial deliveries will be in ZIP Code 24014, which includes South Roanoke and portions of southwest Roanoke County. If that's successful, Times-World Corp., publisher of the Roanoke Times & World-News, would assume all local delivery of the more than 2,000 copies sold every weekday in the Roanoke Valley by The Wall Street Journal.

The test area includes about 180 subscribers, said Bill Burks, metro circulation manager for the Roanoke Times & World-News.

Brad Winter, circulation manager for Dow Jones Inc. in Charlotte, N.C., said the Journal has been reaching all its Virginia subscribers by mail.

The edition of the Journal distributed in Roanoke is printed in Charlotte, then delivered by truck to postal service distribution centers.

He said the post office guarantees to have copies available to postal box patrons by 8:30 to 8:45 a.m. But copies delivered to street addresses might reach subscribers anytime from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., depending on regular mail delivery schedules.

Delivery by the Roanoke Times & World-News, he said, means subscribers can read the Journal over their morning coffee, a consideration important to investors who want to order sale or purchase of stock before the stock markets open.

The Wall Street Journal has its own delivery force in some cities, including Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh-Durham, Winter said. No Virginia cities have Journal delivery forces.

Winter said the Journal contracts for delivery by local newspapers in cities throughout the United States, but neither he nor Dow Jones' public relations office in New York could say how many such contracts exist.

Burks said the Roanoke Times & World-News circulation department is excited about the agreement because it involves delivery of a publication to specific addresses, which Burks called "the wave of the future" for such businesses.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. But Burks said the contract will provide extra income for both Times-World Corp. and the independent carriers who add delivery of the Journal to regular routes.

by CNB