It isn't easy making money off a startup newspaper.
Just ask Dan Stephens, founder and former owner of the Wasatch County Courier, a 7,100-circulation free weekly newspaper distributed in the Heber Valley.
After launching the paper two years ago as an alternative voice to the valley's first newspaper, The Wasatch Wave, Stephens has made his share of enemies as well as supporters.
One thing he hasn't made, however, is money.
Nine months after the paper's first issue, Stephens was staring at a net loss of $208,000.
That's when he sold it at a bargain-basement price to Michael Kearns, chief executive officer and president of Salt Lake-based Silver King Media Group.
This week, rumors swarmed of an early demise for the paper.
"I don't think that's true," Kearns said. "I think we will be OK once we hook up with a press."
The Courier, Kearns said, was part of a larger plan in which he hoped to launch several more weekly newspapers throughout the state, including publications for downtown Salt Lake's Avenues district and Park City.
But those dreams have been put on hold.
Kearns has been down this road before.
In 1999, losses brought an early retirement to Kearns' Salt Lake Observer after 14 months of publication.
Apart from his newspapers, Kearns said he has found success in his magazine publications, including a quarterly glossy called Utah Homes and Garden.
"It's a tough business," Kearns said. "We are making money on the magazine. That's the good news."
But Kearns is faced not only with weekly production costs but also with finding a new printer for the Courier, formerly printed by the Ogden Standard-Examiner and Hoffine Printing of Murray. He has yet to find a printer.
"His press run did not fit in with our overall schedule," said Scott Trundle, Standard-Examiner publisher.
Stephens, who has stayed on as the Courier's editor and publisher, said Kearns has lost as much money on the paper as he did.
This week Stephens will appeal to readers in his weekly column for solutions, asking whether the paper, which traditionally was mailed free to all residents of Wasatch County, should now become a paid-circulation paper.
"The paper is not making money. Here are our options. We can go to a subscription paper. We can go to an Internet paper. We can go to a combination thereof. We have a decision to make here folks," he said.
Janice Keller, executive director of the Utah Press Association, said few startups are successful.
"Going up against a newspaper over 100 years old I would think would be quite difficult," she said. "If you are a startup and not a paid-circulation newspaper, you are going to be having a tremendously difficult time. Let's face it, free says you aren't as reliable or as important as something that is paid."
Of course there are exceptions.
Salt Lake City Weekly, Keller said, has been successful where others have failed.
"They are different. They aren't trying to look like the Deseret News or Salt Lake Tribune," Keller said. "It's something that the Trib or News would not ever cover in detail. They came in to compete against the dailies and are one of the most successful newspapers there is in this valley."
Keller said the Courier's current troubles can be blamed on not finding its niche. A free newspaper, she said, never hurts an existing paper.
"It's good for business," she said.
One exception may be the Morgan Valley Weekly, a free publication competing against the Morgan County News, a 1,080 paid-circulation paper.
"They are holding their own," Keller said. "They haven't gone out of business. But which is profitable? I would say the Morgan County News."
Utah, with 58 weeklies and six dailies, ranks second in the United States in terms of the least number of newspapers. That's partly attributable to a small population, Keller said.
Despite the obstacles, someone who is willing to stick it out can build a profitable business, according to Dick Buys, publisher and owner of the 4,200-circulation weekly Wasatch Wave, now in its 113th year.
Buys, who purchased the paper in 1974 for $40,000, said his first years were brutal.
"We basically took over a hot-metal, out-of-date print shop and newspaper operation. The economy and community was on a downhill slide," he said. "Every year you didn't see how much new business you had, you just tried to say, 'How much can we tighten our belts and how much is it going to cost?' "
Today, Buys not only runs a profitable newspaper but also a print shop.
"We have got a track record that shows us how to make community newspapers viable," Buys said. "What people want is a weekly newspaper that is concerned with local affairs of the community and is involved in the local community."
E-MAIL: danderton@desnews.com