Newspaper survival (was: Can Citadel Broadcasting survive?)

[Doug Drown]

Sid, What you're saying is absolutely true --- even here in the rural area 
in which I live, which is dependent on newspapers for local news coverage. 
I'm a pastor.  I know the habits of most of my parishioners, and it's only 
the older ones who read the papers regularly.  (I would add that many in 
THAT demographic don't.)  The Bangor Daily News has cut both staff and 
content several times in the past few years, and its circulation, while 
decent (it's the only daily in northern and eastern Maine), isn't what it 
used to be.  The Waterville and Augusta papers are under joint ownership and 
are certain to merge eventually.

Compounded with this problem is the fact that by and large, most of our 
local radio stations in our area don't do news, except for a morning drive 
rip-and-read.  So I presume most  people get their news from TV, the 
Internet, or filtered through the opinions of radio talk show hosts (which, 
up here, are all conservative).

The scariest part of this scenario is that I suspect there are a lot of 
people who don't bother with the news much at all.

-Doug


>If the statistics I've seen are any indication, newspapers are in very, 
>very serious trouble.  Their demographics are horrible (essentially, very 
>few people under age 55 read a newspaper consistently), and they are losing 
>ad dollars left and right to almost all other mass media including the 
>Internet . . . I've seen a few predictions from media consultants that any 
>newspaper which doesn't make drastic changes to its distribution and 
>business models within five years will be out of business.  I have a 
>feeling that's a bit exaggerated, but the decline is quite evident and 
>shows no signs of reversal.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sid Schweiger" <sid@wrko.com>
To: "boston Radio Interest" <boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2008 8:32 AM
Subject: Newspaper survival (was: Can Citadel Broadcasting survive?)



>>Print is hurting worse than this, believe it or not. Layoffs all
> around yesterday, with massive cuts at the MediaNews-owned L.A. Daily
> News and its other southern California papers, more cuts at the
> company's San Jose Mercury News due next week, and major layoffs at
> Tribune-owned Newsday (described as a "massacre" in Friday's N.Y.
> Post). Everyone blames the Internet for print's problems; that doesn't
> seem to be playing as prominent a role in radio's struggles.

I suppose broadcast journalists don't think print matters and print
doesn't want to report on themselves.  But I did see an item in
yesterday's Herald about more layoffs at the Globe.<<

If the statistics I've seen are any indication, newspapers are in very, very 
serious trouble.  Their demographics are horrible (essentially, very few 
people under age 55 read a newspaper consistently), and they are losing ad 
dollars left and right to almost all other mass media including the 
Internet.  If you look at the businesses which place all or almost all their 
ad dollars in newspapers, they're the large, institutional advertisers who 
can't cram what they want to advertise into 60- or 30-second spots, or 
banners on a web page...i.e., Sears, Macy's, JC Penney, etc.  Business like 
that spend almost no money in electronic media, and many of them are in 
serious trouble because of it.  One business consultant (in an article on 
AOL) is even predicting the demise of the three I named...*this* year.

I've seen a few predictions from media consultants that any newspaper which 
doesn't make drastic changes to its distribution and business models within 
five years will be out of business.  I have a feeling that's a bit 
exaggerated, but the decline is quite evident and shows no signs of 
reversal.




Sid Schweiger
IT Manager, Entercom New England
WAAF/WEEI/WEEI-FM/WKAF/WMKK/WRKO/WVEI/WVEI-FM
20 Guest St / 3d Floor
Brighton MA  02135-2040
P: 617-779-5369
F: 617-779-5379
E: sid@wrko.com