The phone rang on a slower than normal Friday afternoon. As I picked it up, I fully expected another in the litany of robo-calls telling me, “Don’t hang up because we have an important message about your Google listing,” or some other solicitation from a non-human.

I was very wrong.

“How come you don’t put news in the newspaper anymore?” the obviously elderly gentleman asked right out of the gate, with no tolerance for salutations or small talk.

“Well sir, I am sorry you feel that way. We put news in the newspaper every single day,” I said with a chuckle.

After this slightly rocky start, I learned that this individual was a loyal reader for more than four decades. He offered great feedback and insight into why he loved his community newspaper and what he would like to see more of every day.

Those are eye-opening conversations to have. We welcome feedback and take every single comment to heart.

On the flipside, other conversations are a little more challenging and illustrate that we need to do more to show the community exactly who we are today.

Those often start with something like, “I would subscribe to the newspaper if you put XYZ in it” or “Why don’t you guys write a story about ?”

In many cases we determine that we have in fact written stories about that topic, often multiple times, and we often print the exact type of content this infrequent reader is asking to have included.

That tells me that we need to do better in communicating and we also encourage our community members to see what all we offer every day.

The Interior Journal offers more ways than ever to read our content and stay informed about what’s going on in Lincoln County.

Perhaps the easiest is our daily digital newsletter, and it is 100-percent free. You don’t even have to subscribe to the newspaper.

To sign up, just visit our website, look on the right-hand side of the home page and click on the link to register for the email newsletter. Every week, a digest of the top stories will be delivered directly to your inbox.

We will also use this to send breaking news alerts and important community announcements like school closings and boil water advisories.

So, sign up now; you have nothing to lose and knowledge to gain.

Social media is another great way to browse the news and connect to content that resonates with you. All our newspapers are active in sharing content that we think stands out.

Of course, you can also just visit the website directly each day and browse through the top stories. We allow you to read eight stories per month before you would hit the pay wall. To read more, you can take advantage of our inexpensive digital-only edition that fits in anyone’s budget.

Right now, for just $4 a month or $20 for the year, you can have full digital access that includes the ability to read anything on our website, free of pop-up ads and surveys, as well as our digital replica edition sent to your inbox every week.

And, of course, we still offer very affordable options to subscribe to the printed newspaper, which comes with the digital products built in to the subscription, for those like me who want to hold what I’m reading in my hands.

Strong communities are built on being informed and that starts with connectedness and engagement. Your hometown newspaper can help with that and has made it easier than ever.

Michael Caldwell is publisher of The Interior Journal. He can be reached at (859) 759-0095 or by email at mike.caldwell@theinteriorjournal.com.