In the two years since I took over this small office we call the NRV Bureau of The Roanoke Times, readers and advertisers alike have made the same request again and again.

More.

Our customers, it seems, want more good news, more bad news, more features, more sports, more politics, more photos, more business news, more school news, more community news and more of everything else to fill the rest of the pages.

And we've tried.

Nearly 18 months ago, we "relaunched" the NRV Current with a new design and a new daily focus to show our readers that we're committed to the coverage of business, education, arts and entertainment, sports and lifestyles.

A year ago, we introduced a new weekly publication, NRVe, in the market that is mailed to thousands of nonsubscribers and is available free at numerous locations.

And earlier this year we launched our social media efforts on Facebook and Twitter to keep people engaged -- and nearly 1,400 people are following us there.

The response to the changes has been positive, both from readers and advertisers alike. So thank you for that.

But just like everyone else in the world -- fighting "economic realities" and "changing times" -- more has a cost.

Employing reporters, photographers and designers costs money.

To figure out how to use the resources we have, we conducted surveys on readers, advertisers and staff members. We also listened to feedback received through e-mails, letters and phone calls. And we paid attention to what our online readers were clicking on.

And we've had to make some tough choices.

One of the subsequent changes will take place this month in these pages, as our long-standing New River Journal feature will cease.

When the column launched more than 20 years ago, it was meant as a way for our reporters and editors to share their personal stories with readers and to show the public that journalists are real people, too.

I'm not sure whether that worked or not, honestly.

But a few years ago, we opened up the column to others in the community, asking them to share their personal stories and ideas about the region with our readers.

Some of them wrote engaging tales about their families.

Some of them shared valuable ideas about how the community could improve.

Some of them were funny.

And some of them were none of the above.

For readers who remain interested in sharing their strong opinions with others, I encourage you to send guest columns (limit: one a month) to Christian Trejbal at letters@roanoke.com. He's looking forward to a slew of new feedback and topics.

But in the era of blogs, easy-to-build websites and millions of Facebook and Twitter accounts, you don't need The Roanoke Times to share personal insights into our community. You can easily find it for yourself, and we will help by expanding our community blog roll at newrivervalley.com.

What you need -- and demand -- of our publication is to provide local, meaningful stories about people, institutions and events in the New River Valley.

And with the small funds we were using to pay for New River Journal columns, and the small amount of space we were dedicating to them each Sunday in this newspaper, we can provide more of that.

More news, more features, more photos and more sports.

More -- just what you were looking for.

Let me know how we're doing at a href="mailto:chris.winston@roanoke.com">chris.winston@roanoke.com or 381-1678.