Electrical problems delay publication of The Press
COEUR d'ALENE - The Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls Press and three other Hagadone Corp. newspapers were delivered late Sunday and Monday because of an electrical system problem with the printing press in Coeur d'Alene that started Saturday night.
When the electrical system problem surfaced, the system was reset and a 3,000 Amp main breaker blew, said Judd Jones, regional production director for the newspapers.
Once the electrical system was re-established, a number of pieces of equipment were not working correctly, including the Goss Magnum printing press, Jones said.
The Sunday and Monday papers then had to be printed in Lewiston by the Lewiston Tribune and trucked to Coeur d'Alene. The Tribune had to print its own newspapers first.
Jones said it was the first time in at least 20 years - and possibly ever - that The Press was printed somewhere other than in Coeur d'Alene. The Coeur d'Alene Press has missed delivery twice in 50 years, when Mount St. Helens erupted and during an ice storm.
"An act of God is about the only thing that prevents us from getting a paper out," Jones said Monday.
The Press did get out Sunday and Monday, but not without plenty of extra help.
An electrical engineer from Goss Magnum flew in from Florida to make repairs. Jones said electrical relays and equipment on the printing press were replaced and today's paper was printed in Coeur d'Alene at the Hagadone Regional Production facility.
The Sunday papers arrived in Coeur d'Alene from Lewiston about 7:30 a.m., said Dan Phillips, circulation director for the newspapers. Inserts then were added to the newspapers.
Phillips said around 10 a.m. the papers were taken by the 78 carriers, who normally get the papers before 3 a.m. The carriers had to deal with traffic that they normally don't see, and papers were delivered late into the afternoon Sunday, Phillips said. Some carriers have other jobs or obligations, adding to the challenges of printing the papers multiple hours late.
Because the Sunday paper was late, a flood of phone calls from customers crashed the circulation department's phone system. Phillips estimated that the department received more than 4,000 calls Sunday morning, as well as hundreds of e-mails. And the difficulty continued Monday because those papers also were printed in Lewiston and trucked to Coeur d'Alene.
"The carriers and circulation department staff did an amazing job under very difficult circumstances," Phillips said. "As bad as it was, it would have been worse without their dedicated efforts."
Publisher Jim Thompson said that if anything like this happens in the future, updates will be posted at the newspaper's websites, cdapressEXTRA.com for print subscribers, and cdapress.com for all others.