The Trentonian

Yes, excessive, but good, local coverage. Local fans want that.

As for change, I just meant in personnel.

But seriously, what are living conditions near the paper? I've been through parts of Jersey (saw Dylan open for the Dead at Giants Stadium), but haven't really seen Jersey. Isn't Naughty by Nature from somewhere near Trenton?

 

I grew up in Trenton. Haven't been there much the last decade or so, but it's a so-so town. There's some minor league sports (hockey and baseball), a Six Flags 30 minutes up the road, and you're not more than an hour away from the Shore, Philly or New York City, or even the woods of North Jersey and the Pine Barrens if hunting and camping are your thing. And there's some decent restaurants. That said, the area itself is typical Jersey (i.e., Strip Mall Heaven and lots of traffic jams). There's lots to do around the area, but not much to do in the area, if that makes sense. As a teenager, my favorite pasttime was getting the hell out of Trenton.

And the Trentonian is a total rag. Even before I entered the business and knew better, it struck me as odd that they didn't have a beat writer for any of the pro teams in New York or Philly. I'm not even sure they have one for the wildly popular Thunder (double-A baseball team). The sports section is preps, preps and more preps, except when the annual District 12 Little League tournament rolls around in the summer (first step on the road to Williamsport). The Page 6 girls were cool when I was a lonely, horny teenager but now rate a 10 on the Skank-o-meter. The design looks like they're doing a 1960 retro edition and the paper once ran a cat stuck in a tree story as a page one lead -- in the early 90s.
It does fill a niche, though. While The Times fills people in on real news, the Trentonian is sort of like the Weekly World News -- fun to look at, fun to read in small doses and a guilty pleasure. Plus it's only 35 cents, so it makes a cheap blanket for Trenton's homeless population.

 

The Trentonian does have a beat writer for the Yankees' Double-A farm team Trenton Thunder. But their minor league focus is more intense on the ECHL Trenton Titans. However as others have said they are very heavy on the high school coverage, they give the local colleges some coverage, and rely mostly on wire or other Daily Register papers for their Philly pro sports coverage. In terms of local colleges you've got a pair of mid-major D-Is (Rider-MAAC and Princeton-Ivy), a D-III powerhouse (The College of NJ), a JUCO power in some sports (Mercer County College) and Rutgers about 30-40 minutes away. In the Trenton market, in terms of local high school coverage they've been even or just behind with The Times (of Trenton) for years, however with staff changes at The Times, this could be the year that changes. The staff changes at The Times included laying off the entire high school staff - all part-timers - as part of the major buyouts they did earlier this year in a cost cutting move and replacing them with stringers, and I hear they can use a few more stringers.

The Trentonian gone from using local girls on Page 6 when it started to using swimsuit models from outside the area now. So they don't rate as a 10 on the skank-o-meter.

As for the region, it's centrally located between the Jersey Shore, NYC, and Philly, all under an hour away each. Great Italian restaurants in the area. It's a nice varied area to live in. Hamilton is one of the largest municipalities in NJ and has a great parks system and plenty of places to eat & shop. Lawrence, hometown of Jon Stewart, is another nice little town that's not a college town despite the prescence of Rider in its borders. Then there's the town of Princeton, centered around the University. West Windsor is upscale like Princeton. It's a great region to live in and a crossover market as you get TV, radio, and newspapers from both NYC and Philly.

 

Pork Roll and DeLorenzo's Tomato Pies (both locations) make the days you are in town a little more bearable. The cost of living can get scary outside of the city limits, especially if you get paid in Roasted Nuts.
Everybody knows the paper, but as someone who was stationed there once, there is nothing better than hopping a train and partying away a night or weekend in Philly or New York.
As for Roasted Nuts, The Dream Team has some fabulous one-liners. Peter Boyle is God.

 

Those towns are beautiful. You won't make that much in Trenton to ever truly enjoy being there.

 

Why say it when ...

 

There are no words for that, just laughter.

 

BYH's reply is classic
obviously someone who once worked there