Newspaper survival (was: Can Citadel Broadcasting survive?)

[David Tomm]

Don't count on it.  Like many other businesses, car dealerships are  
using TV and radio to drive customers to their websites.  I bought a  
new car last year and never even thought about picking up a paper,  
and I'm over 40.  In the Boston area most of the dealerships are  
chain-owned (Ira, Herb Chambers, Bernardi, Boch, Clair, etc.) and  
each has an extensive web presence.   I just googled a couple names  
and in no time I was searching inventories for the car I wanted.   
Even the small local dealerships have websites that are easy to  
find.  Search sites like Cars.com and Vehix are also helpful.  No  
need to check out a paper.  Even older Americans are using the web to  
search for cars.  My dad did not too long ago and he's almost 70.

If Ira continues to thrive without using print advertising, which it  
should, the other regional chains in the area will follow suit.  That  
may be enough to drive some papers out of business in a very short  
period of time.

-Dave Tomm
"Mike Thomas"

On Mar 2, 2008, at 10:46 PM, Dave Doherty wrote:

> Ira's has some pretty hot brands. It will be very interesting to  
> see whether they resurface in newspapers any time soon.
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sean Smyth" <ssmyth@psualum.com>
> To: <dave@skywaves.net>; <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
> Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2008 10:32 PM
> Subject: Re: Newspaper survival (was: Can Citadel Broadcasting  
> survive?)
>
>
>> Dave Doherty <dave@skywaves.net> wrote:
>>> One interesting case is that of the car dealers.  They spend very
>>> heavily on
>>> radio, TV, and newspapers. I wonder how they see this playing out.
>>> For now,
>>> it seems they see all three as being effective. Of course, they also
>>> spend
>>> heavily on the Internet (who doesn't?), but they must see some
>>> ability on
>>> the part of all the traditional media to draw customers into the
>>> stores.
>>
>> Ira's dealerships recently pulled all newspaper advertising. When  
>> stuff
>> like that happens, and when a Filene's goes away, it hits hard.
>>