1974 circulation figures

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Was Christmas shopping and found a 1974 almanac in an antique store. Now some newspapers are larger today because their cities have grown or the competition has died. I'm just doing daily, not Sunday.


1974 2007
New York
Daily News 2,092,503 681,415
Times 877,962 1,037,828
Post 630,621 667,119
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Philadelphia
Inquirer 450,293 338,260
Bulletin 611,634 Dead
Daily News 250,697 112,601
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Baltimore
Sun 384,565 232,729
News-American 207,775 Dead
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Washington
Post 535,016 635,087
Star & News 418,126 Dead
Times unborn 95,272
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Cleveland
Plain Dealer 407,916 334,195
Press 382,687 Dead
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Detroit
Free Press 605,216 320,125
News 683,452 198,098
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Chicago
Tribune 735,734 559,404
Sun-Times 567,139 368,062*
Daily News 448,314 Dead
Today 441,775 Dead
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Los Angeles
Times 1,024,721 779,682
Herald-Examiner 474,020 Dead
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*2006 -- 2007 figures not available

 

[henryhenry]

amazing.

NY Daily News, both Detroit papers, LA Times - chilling numbers.


but the NY Times - somebody is doing something right.

 

[buckweaver]

Geez, those Detroit numbers are nightmarish. In 30-plus years, Detroit went from two papers with 1.2M circ to two papers with 518K.

 

[HandsomeHarley]

What would be even more scary would be to look at the numbers from small and midsize papers, because I've a feeling that's where most of us work. At the same time, many of those communities are growing but the papers are dying.

 

[wickedwritah]

Geez, those Detroit numbers are nightmarish. In 30-plus years, Detroit went from two papers with 1.2M circ to two papers with 518K.

I would venture to say that a big chunk of that loss can be pinned on the strike.

 

[playthrough]

Those Chicago numbers really struck me. Two million-plus readers to under one mil.

 

[dooley_womack1]

The creation of USA Today and 24-hour cable news channels has to have the lion's share of the blame. Those are things that no focus groups or redesign or "work smarter not harder" edict will stem.

 

[SF_Express]

The L.A. Times' numbers are even more disturbing when you consider that a VAST majority of that leakage happened since 1995, not 1974, and in fact probably happened since 2002.

 

[Joe Williams]

Geez, those Detroit numbers are nightmarish. In 30-plus years, Detroit went from two papers with 1.2M circ to two papers with 518K.

Ditto for Philly: Three papers with more than 1.3M circ to two papers totaling 450K.

Wonder, though, what the Internets numbers were for '74?

 

[HandsomeHarley]

Wonder, though, what the Internets numbers were for '74?

Ask Al Gore -- he'll know.

 

[Joe Williams]

Then there is the NY Daily News, where circ has plummeted more than 1.4M.

That's as much as the DEAD papers in Philadelphia, Washington and Cleveland combined.

(shudder)

 

[HejiraHenry]

but the NY Times - somebody is doing something right.

You forgot the blue font.

The main difference between 1974 and now, I suspect, is that the NYT has successfully projected itself as a "national" newspaper.

 

[Joe Williams]

Maybe we should just blame USA Today, which went from "unborn" to swiping away 2,293,137 readers from somebody, as of Sept. 2007.

 

[DanOregon]

But I thought nobody wants to know what is going on outside their local area? In fairness, I'm fairly certain more than half of USA Today circ is through hotels.

 

[BTExpress]

But I thought nobody wants to know what is going on outside their local area?

Nobody wants a bunch of AP wire copy from outside their local area.

The New York Times' national and international coverage dwarfs anything by any paper in this country.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

1974 2007
Boston
Globe 462,619 360,095
Herald 371,365 185,832
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Cincinnati
Enquirer 194,970 195,028
Post 209,118 25,029 (cq)
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Hartford
Courant 170,459 168,108
Times 123,376 Dead
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Houston
Chronicle 297,482 507,437
Post 292,122 Dead
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Indianapolis
News 176,715 Dead
Star 226,905 253,209
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Kansas City
Star 315,560 247,274
Times 335,361 Dead
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Lousiville
Courier-Journal 234,921 208,176
Times 174,66 Dead
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Milwaukee
Journal 357,077
Sentinel 180,140
Journal-Sentinel 220,676
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Minneapolis
Star 258,169
Tribune 237,033
Star-Tribune 335,443
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St. Louis
Post-Dispatch 317,247 265,111
Globe-Democrat 291,074 Dead
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San Francisco
Chronicle 461,164 365,234
Examiner 179,010 Free distribution
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[Clerk Typist]

Yow. There's no way any of those numbers are good. And where will they be in another 33 years?
Someone mentioned the strike as affecting Detroit hugely, and it did, but the circulation of both papers was large right until then, larger than might have been expected for the metro area, and I think it was because both the News and Free Press sold for just 15 cents when other papers went from 25 to 50. It was an old-fashioned pre-JOA circulation war -- think New York Post today.
In Chicago, you can add an additional 150k for the Daily Herald and 40-45k for the Daily Southtown. Still, the drop is huge.
I'd guess small dailys in one-paper towns haven't been hurt nearly as much in percentage. If they have been, some might have folded by now.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Well, with outlets for news, starting with TV news becoming a player upon the McCarthy hearings, growing with each and every decade, drops were inevitable. The Nightly News and such pretty much was the death knell for the vitality of the PM paper. And in St. Louis, the afternoon Post-Dispatch moved to the morning and killed the Globe-Democrat. And also, the suburban newspapers in many metro areas are taking circulation from the big-uns, which means that total newspaper readership across all papers in a metro area may not be off so badly. And in St. Louis, the Post owns Suburban Newspapers.

It's the irony of capitalism: Competition leads to concentration.

 

[Tom Petty]

But I thought nobody wants to know what is going on outside their local area? In fairness, I'm fairly certain more than half of USA Today circ is through hotels.

yeah, but i still read the **** out of it every time i'm in a hotel ... FWIW.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Sun-belt papers (with metro population growth indicated)


1974 2007
Atlanta
Journal 259,721
Constitution 216,624
AJC 318,350
Population 1.6 million 3.7 million
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Charlotte
Observer 175,895 201,532
News 69,163 Dead
Population 600,000 1.4 million
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Dallas/FW
Morning News 267,164 373,586
Times-Herald 244,326 Dead
FW Star-Telegram 235,708 201,894
FW Press 48,257 Dead
Population 2.4 million 4.8 million
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Phoenix
Republic 211,962 382,414
Gazette 121,306 Dead
Population 1 million 2.9 million
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San Diego
Union 175,298
Tribune 124,712
Union-Tribune 278,378
Population 1.4 million 2.8 million
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Tampa-St. Pete
Tampa Tribune 177,330 192,249
Tampa Times 27,472 Dead
St. Pete Times 199,443 288,807
St. Pete Independent 31,114 Dead
Population 1.1 million 2.3 million
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