Chicago Tribune no longer plays in Peoria

It happened a long time ago here in Louisville, to the point where it takes a decent effort to find The Courier-Journal even in Lexington.

I have to say that the whole thing has always flabbergasted me. Why, in this age of technology, are deadlines earlier and earlier and the process of delivering the paper getting slower and slower.

It doesn't make sense to me that a newspaper in the 1970s would've had a 2:30 a.m. copy close and still be able to get to all corners of the state, while now we have state-of-the-art presses and computers and can't seem to get it to many front doors. I know, the cost of delivering the paper has increased.

I think the cost of shedding readers, and influence, is even higher.

 

Agreed. A newspaper like the Chicago Tribune should be found in the other major cities of the state. It should be in Springfield, Peoria, Champaign, etc. For it not to be does hurt in terms of influence, at least in my opinion.

 

1. That 2:30 a.m. edition never saw the corners of the state. Newspapers have simply done away with the 6 p.m. (or 9 p.m.) edition that would go there.

2. In the 1970s 12-year-olds like me were delivering your paper. Now it's done by adults who need to be finished by 5 a.m. so they can shower and get to their real job.

3. In the 1970s we were not also printing The New York Times, USA Today, Barrons and God knows how many other publications.

 

Sure, you can say you can just read the Trib online. But without a paper product, there is no Trib online, because newspapers have not figured out how to make money on the Internet.

 

And I still say this is the real issue. The pool of job-seekers out there who are able to deliver papers at 1 or 2 a.m. ain't exactly that desirable. Of course, sending 12-year-olds out into the streets on their own at 6 a.m. may not be the smartest idea anymore, but maybe we should revisit younger carriers.

 

That was my thought _ the state's most influential paper should be in the state capital (or capitol, I always get those two mixed up).

 

I think he already is. Seems like there are a fair number of people who live in Kenosha and commute into the northern suburbs. I'm guessing Kenosha is part of the affected area of southeastern Wisconsin.

 

Here's the thing about the AJC, though. The Trib will at least have an E-edition up and running (which it looks like it already is, according to the link). The AJC doesn't have that e-edition yet.

Papers that don't have the E-editions up yet are going to have to get up to speed.

 

What does the sad-sack Sun-Times do? Have they ever had statewide circulation?

 

Guy 1: We're not making enough money.

Guy 2: I know, we can stop selling papers in large cities in Ill. and Wisc. and make less money.

Guy 1: BRILLIANT!

 

I think that's because they don't charge enough for ads. But that's what happens when you have so many outlets to advertise in. Once papers go solely online, they may get more for ads.

I still think just raising the price for a newspaper would help. Gas is $3.69 a gallon in my neighborhood and a newspaper costs 50 cents.

When I began driving, gas was $1.19 a gallon and a newspaper was 40 cents.