We've made some important changes and additions to the leadership team at The Register Citizen and its sister publications.

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How are we doing? Well, thanks for asking
If I had a dollar for every casual conversation these days that starts with or turns to the woes of the newspaper industry, I’d have enough money to, well, buy a few dozen friends a subscription, at least.

On a personal note, I am pleased to announce an addition to my family.

Cash Reto DeRienzo was born at 11:49 a.m. yesterday, in the car on the way to New Milford Hospital!

He weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces, and was 19.25 inches long. He joins a very excited sister, Marley, age 2 1/2.

I will be taking a few days off from my duties as publisher to enjoy my new son.

Give Your Employees A Chance To Give This Fall

As co-chairmen of the United Way of Northwest Connecticut campaign this year, Litchfield Bancorp Executive Vice President Tom Villanova and I are feeling the pressure. Demand for services at the 24 local agencies and nonprofit organizations the United Way supports has grown tremendously over the past year due to the significant downturn in the economy.

Newspaper adjusts to changing reader habits, technology

About a year ago, The Register Citizen dropped its Sunday TV listings book. It was a move that had been made by numerous other daily newspapers across the country. Since then, many more have followed suit.

The Register Citizen will unveil a number of improvements to its Sunday paper, including a major expansion in the space and number of pages devoted to local news coverage, effective with this week’s edition on Aug. 9.

“We are committed to continual improvement,” said Register Citizen Publisher Matt DeRienzo, “and after a year in which we significantly expanded local news coverage in the daily paper, we felt that adding more to the Sunday edition was long overdue. The Sunday paper should stand out from the rest of the week, as readers have time to enjoy more extensive and in-depth articles and features.”

Changes include an expansion of the number of pages devoted to local news coverage, and the launch of a new, second local news section of the paper called “Northwest Connecticut.” It will contain local news articles, a new weekly human interest story on remarkable people from Northwest Connecticut, and the popular “Notebook” feature and local crossword and word search puzzles that were launched earlier this year.

One of the most significant additions to the Sunday paper will be a feature of the “Northwest Connecticut” section that will include news items every week for every one of the 26 towns in Litchfield County.

The paper will reintroduce the popular “A Life Remembered” feature each Sunday on the life of a local resident who has recently passed away.

A new feature called “It’s My Job,” detailing the workplace experiences of local people, will anchor the Sunday business page.

Space will be added to provide a more comprehensive roundup of news from across the nation and world, and a new section will feature advice, lifestyle and feature articles.

The Sunday sports section will also see improvements this week, with the addition of a “Coach’s Corner” feature sharing the wisdom and techniques of local coaches, a “Where are they now?” feature on how local high school athletes are faring in college athletic programs and beyond, a weekly notebook feature on UConn sports, and the introduction of three new opinion columns on local, state and national sports, respectively.

Also with this Sunday’s newspaper, The Register Citizen will re-launch a weekly TV listings book. The 24-page tabloid will be far more extensive than the one discontinued by the paper last year, published with color throughout, seven days’ of listings and articles, features, editors’ picks, celebrity news and puzzles. It will be included free in the Sunday Register Citizens of Aug. 9 and Aug. 16, and then offered for an additional 50 cents a week to any home delivery subscriber who would like to continue getting it.

“We think these new features, combined with continuing Sunday favorites such as our Owen Canfield, Mike Driscoll and the Garden Goddess columns, color comics, coupons, department store fliers, Parade magazine, local history features and more, will make the Sunday paper an even better bargain for our readers throughout Northwest Connecticut,” DeRienzo said.

For more information about these changes, contact Publisher Matt DeRienzo at mderienzo@registercitizen.com or 860-489-1877, or Editor Jordan Fenster at jfenster@registercitizen.com or 860-489-3121, ext. 333.

LitchfieldCountyMom.Com the magazine will be included in copies of The Register Citizen this Friday, Aug. 7.

The format for the quarterly print edition is switching from a tabloid newsprint product to a glossy-cover magazine-style format.

This Summer 2009 issue will include a cover story on dozens of things moms can do in Litchfield County when they get a rare moment of "me time."

Look for it in The Register Citizen on newsstands this Friday.

Bucking a nationwide trend and its own decision to eliminate it last year, The Register Citizen will be re-launching a weekly TV listings book starting this Sunday, Aug. 9.

The new 24-page tabloid will go far beyond what used to be offered in The Register Citizen’s Sunday TV book. It will include seven days’ worth of TV listings, printed entirely in color, and will also have articles, editor’s picks, TV and celebrity gossip news, puzzles and more.

The Register Citizen eliminated its Sunday TV book last year as interest among subscribers declined in favor of the interactive TV guide functions that come with new cable TV boxes. But a core group of readers remain interested in having a printed TV book, and so the newspaper is re-launching the book on a subscription basis.

Subscribers who wish to receive it can have the new TV book included in their Sunday paper for an additional 50 cents a week. To sign up, all you have to do is call 860-489-1450 and ask for the TV book to be added to your subscription, or make the request by email at circulation@registercitizen.com and include your account information.

The new TV book will be included free of charge in all copies of the Sunday Register Citizen this Sunday, Aug. 9, and the following Sunday, Aug. 16, so that readers can sample it.

In celebration of a number of improvements that have been made to The Register Citizen over the past year, we are offering free trial home delivery subscriptions.

If it's been a while since you read The Register Citizen on a regular basis, why not give it a try? When the two weeks is up, you will not receive a bill, and there will be no further obligation.

All you have to do to sign up is call 860-489-1450 and ask for our two-week free offer, or email your name, address, delivery instructions and a daytime phone number to circulation@registercitizen.com.

When the thread of a community unravels
It felt like a death in the family. Word came last week that the Eagle Times, a daily newspaper straddling the Connecticut River Valley in the area of Claremont, N.H., and Springfield, Vt., would shut down, effective the next day. Editors, reporters, ad salespeople, graphic artists, delivery drivers — everyone — would be out of a job.