We hope we've drilled the date into the collective mindset of residents living within our coverage area - Aug. 11.

But just in case you've missed our promotional campaign with its roosters and pancakes and toasters, let me tell you about the significance of that date, which happens to be two days away.

The Citizen will arrive Monday and every day thereafter on subscribers' doorsteps or in their paperboxes in the early morning, before most people are even awake. It will also be in the convenience stores, supermarkets, diners and newspaper racks in time to pick up on the way to work, for those who prefer to purchase single copies.

Gone are the days of being forced to wait until you get home at the end of the day to read the local newspaper, or trying to carve a few minutes out of your lunch break to see if you can buy a copy.

That's the biggest reason for the change to an everyday morning format - reader convenience.

The top reason people give for not reading this or just about any other newspaper is lack of time. Because The Citizen has been available on weekdays only after at least half the day was done, we were making it even more difficult.

Now people will truly have a choice of when they'd like to read the local newspaper.

Some still prefer to sit down with the paper in the afternoon, or even after dinner.

This change does nothing to prevent them from continuing that habit.

They can tuck that morning-delivered paper away somewhere, go about their routine and then wind down by reading it over later in the day.

And they'll soon realize that the content of the paper has not changed all that much.

Now we're giving a choice to those readers who prefer to have their paper when the day starts. They can read it at breakfast, or take it with them to work or school. Those options have not existed in the past.

This shift is coming after a tremendous amount of research and preparation on the part of the entire staff at 25 Dill St.

And it's changing the work routines of just about every employee, some quite dramatically.

But the staff at this newspaper, first and foremost, want to be sure they're doing everything possible to fully serve our customer base.

So away we go into a new era.

Executive editor Jeremy Boyer's columns appear Saturdays in The Citizen and he can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 231 or jeremy.boyer@lee.net