Chico picks up press operations for Redding

Staring July 20, the Redding Record Searchlight newspaper will be printed at the Enterprise-Record in Chico.

The Record Searchlight’s press in Redding will roll for the last time July 19.

Starting July 20, the Record Searchlight will be printed at the EnterpriseRecord in Chico. The Record Searchlight is not merging with the E-R, but is contracting with Chico to print the paper.

The paper’s packaging center, which assembles advertising inserts and bundles the finished papers, also is closing in Redding. Eleven full-time and seven part-time employees will be affected by the move.

“I’m not going to gloss it over— it hurts to end this era of printing in Redding and say goodbye to dear colleagues whose skill and professionalism has gone into producing this daily miracle every single night,” Executive Editor Silas Lyons said.

Readers should not notice any changes. Delivery times and news content will remain the same and the paper will continue to be printed seven days a week.

Lyons said he is confident the press operation will be in good hands in Chico.

“It encourages me to know that on the one night I’m aware of when we could not print in Redding — the night the Carr Fire became a tornado — it was the Chico crew that came to our rescue and printed our paper. They’ve had our backs and we trust them,” he said.

Moving the print operation to Chico will have no effect on the newsroom, which recently expanded with the addition of education reporter Nada Atieh, made possible by a partnership with Report for America.

“The press operation will move but the Record Searchlight goes on strong,” Lyons said. “Our roots trace back to the founding of the Shasta Courier in the 1850s. We love our community, we believe local journalism makes it a better place, and we’re here for the long haul.”

The Record Searchlight building will be put up for sale, possibly as early as next week, Lyons said.

The sale will be handled by BellCornerstone of Manlius, New York.

The paper moved from downtown Redding to the 11-acre site on Twin View Boulevard in 1982.

The $2.66 million, 51,000-square-foot building was built by Van Dyke Construction of Redding and designed by Pellegren Corp. of Englewood, Colorado, according to a Record Searchlight March 1981 article.

Former Record Searchlight Editor Robert Edkin said in a 1980 article that the newspaper in late 1978 ordered a new, five-unit, 80-page press that was being fabricated in Connecticut. It was shipped to Redding in late 1980 but wasn’t put into operation until the Twin View Boulevard plant opened.

The building project at the time was the largest in the 52-year history of John P. Scripps Newspapers, which founded the Redding Record in 1938 and owned the newspaper for much of its existence.