Of all the newspapers that have come and gone from Bernalillo since the territorial days, The Sandoval Signpost is the last one standing.
Candy Frizzell and her friends launched the Sign Post (then two words) in 1988 as a newsletter after she saw Placitas residents and business people tacking notices to the most available pole, post or tree. From the beginning Frizzell characterized Sign Post as a community-input paper where everyone was invited to pitch it. At the time this was the only way to “get the word out” about local issues, events, births, deaths, and the like.
The Sign Post began circulating in 1988 on 11×17-inch white office paper Frizzell produced at home with an office printer. When folded in half, that made a four-page newsletter with letter-size pages. It became a tabloid newspaper on real newsprint in 1991 with a first pressrun of 500 copies.
Never strictly a Placitas product, the name evolved over time from the Placitas Sign Post with Bernalillo News to the Sign Post with Placitas and Bernalillo News to the Northside Signpost in a brief challenge to a certain Albuquerque paper launching the Westside Journal. Over time Sign Post became Signpost.
The Belknap’s bought the paper from Candy Frizzell in 1993 and owned it until October of this year when it was sold to a group owned by Pat Davis, an Albuquerque City Councilor. Davis says the deal ensures all the group’s publications can continue to publish and expand offerings despite increasing pressures from rising print and distribution costs. “More than 2,000 small communities around the country have lost their local newspaper in recent years,” Davis said. “Democracy does not get healthier if a community’s only source of news is whatever a neighbor decides to post on Nextdoor or the local Facebook group.”
Ty and Barb Belknap are now the publisher emeriti of the Signpost and are staying in touch with the community through the Placitas Winery and event space they bought in 2018.
The Signpost offers news, current events, and articles about local people, businesses, and community gatherings. Visit the Signpost website by clicking here.
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