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And another one gone, and another one gone ... Derby, KS paper closes its doors

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by HandsomeHarley, Feb 6, 2009.

  1. HandsomeHarley

    HandsomeHarley Well-Known Member

    Don't think this is a D-B:

    DERBY, Kan. (AP) — The Daily Reporter in the Wichita suburb of Derby is shutting down after 47 years.
    GateHouse Media Inc. owns the newspaper and announced the closing in a story posted Thursday on the newspaper's Web site and in its Thursday-Friday edition.
    The story said "market forces, challenges specific to the newspaper industry and the loss of a major revenue stream have overwhelmed the newspaper's ability to continue with a profitable business model."
    The Daily Reporter's final edition will be published Feb. 17. The company said the closing will directly affect six employees.
    GateHouse Media Inc. is based in Fairport, N.Y., a suburb of Rochester. The company is one of the nation's largest publishers of community newspapers.

    Not a large paper, by any means. But Derby is one of the fastest-growing cities in Kansas.
     
  2. imjustagirl

    imjustagirl Active Member

    Should probably be on j-topics. And maybe the gloating tone of the thread title will rub people the wrong way.
     
  3. punch in the gut every time this happens
     
  4. Oz

    Oz Well-Known Member

    Problem was, Wichita's only five minutes away. Before the sprawl basically connected Wichita and Derby, the Wichita Eagle probably didn't cover Derby as much. Now that it's basically part of the city, given how readers can get Derby news from the Eagle, that probably made it more difficult to keep readers.
     
  5. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

    Six people? What was the circ? Seriously. I've worked in some small, small shops. Six. I'm amazed they can get a paper out. Wow.
     
  6. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    My old shop(s) had six or seven full-timers putting out two weeklies.

    Mine was roughly 35,000-40,000. The other paper in the group was about 5,000.
     
  7. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

    I worked for a daily... circ 3,000. Four full time writers, a few secretaries, sales people, pressman. We had at least 20 workers. That's why I can't imagine anything smaller.
     
  8. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    Re: And another one gone, and another one gone ... Derby, KS paper closes its do

    To be fair, the numbers I've quoted are far below what I'd consider a skeleton crew. In addition, the papers got printed elsewhere, so we didn't have to have our own printing staff.

    Not to mention, the circulation assistant got shit-canned by the publisher, which led to the circulation manager resigning. And the receptionist resigned and they haven't replaced her.

    Optimum staffing for my old shop would be one editor, four full-time reporters, two full-time photographers, three full-timers in graphics, one or two sales people, a receptionist and two full-timers in circulation. What they've got is four or five people doing the work of 10.
     
  9. HandsomeHarley

    HandsomeHarley Well-Known Member

    Didn't notice the tone.

    I was referring to my earlier thread about the KCK paper going online-only, with that thread titled, "Another One Bites the Dust".

    My bad.
     
  10. kingcreole

    kingcreole Active Member

    Yeah, suburban papers have a tough sell these days. I wonder how much longer the Olathe Daily News will continue.
     
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