More antics at MG

[SportsGuyBCK]

Just got this from a friend ... the Concord paper was one of the first stops of my career ... sad to see what incompetent management has done to it ...

Independent-Tribune delivering news of frequency reduction
March 11 - Kannapolis: The Independent-Tribune, based in Kannapolis, will go from daily publication to three-times a week in mid-April. The Independent and The Tribune were merged under the leadership of former publisher John Kennedy, who combined the newspapers in Kannapolis and Concord. A tireless promoter of the newspaper and a respected business leader, Kennedy retired in 2002. Since then, the publication has weathered difficult times, including a determined incursion by the Charlotte Observer, which established a large newsroom and sales office in Concord. Now both publications are cutting back dramatically. The Independent-Tribune is owned by Media General, out of Richmond, Va. Publisher Terry Coomes could not be reached for comment. An announcement is expected soon.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Good grief. That used to be a pretty decent paper. Sure, the Charlotte Observer was better but it did a solid job with Cabarrus County.

Now this. You reap what you sow, MG.

 

[expendable]

****. I grew up reading The Tribune. This won't go over well come high school football season. Sad.

 

[SportsGuyBCK]

I worked for the Concord Tribune back in the late 1980s (back when it and the Kannapolis paper were owned by Roy Park, who could give guys like Dean Singleton lessons on how to pull every penny of profit out of a newspaper) ... ever since MG combined the two papers and Kennedy retired, they've brought in incompetent publisher after incompetent publisher (and they've brought in equally-qualified editors) that have done nothing but run off the talent and gutted the coverage (especially in sports; what was once a 4-person staff covering seven high schools and NASCAR/Lowe's Motor Speedway was dropped to two people back in 2006) ...

 

[beardpuller]

Guy who used to be the sports editor there was/is a good friend of mine. They drove him out of the business, before the current economic apocalypse.

 

[ColbertNation]

Shoot, how do you go from daily to 3 a week?! And how do you convince people that the next step isn't just closing down altogether?

 

[SportsGuyBCK]

Shoot, how do you go from daily to 3 a week?! And how do you convince people that the next step isn't just closing down altogether?

The other question is: Just which other MG papers are being considered for a similar move? I can think of a few of the North Carolina papers that might be facing something like this ...

 

[slappy4428]

Shoot, how do you go from daily to 3 a week?! And how do you convince people that the next step isn't just closing down altogether?

You don't.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

I'm still waiting to hear about when my interview for the sports editor job will be.

As of 10:47 p.m. EDT, it's been 32 months.

 

[slappy4428]

I'm still waiting to hear about when my interview for the sports editor job will be.

As of 10:47 p.m. EDT, it's been 32 months.

What is the 32nd anniversary? Gold plated lead?

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Shoot, how do you go from daily to 3 a week?! And how do you convince people that the next step isn't just closing down altogether?

The other question is: Just which other MG papers are being considered for a similar move? I can think of a few of the North Carolina papers that might be facing something like this ...

Reidsville and Eden might as well close with the Danville paper adding a couple of their reporters to fill the gap, since they're designed in Danville anyway.

 

[expendable]

I worked for the Concord Tribune back in the late 1980s (back when it and the Kannapolis paper were owned by Roy Park, who could give guys like Dean Singleton lessons on how to pull every penny of profit out of a newspaper) ... ever since MG combined the two papers and Kennedy retired, they've brought in incompetent publisher after incompetent publisher (and they've brought in equally-qualified editors) that have done nothing but run off the talent and gutted the coverage (especially in sports; what was once a 4-person staff covering seven high schools and NASCAR/Lowe's Motor Speedway was dropped to two people back in 2006) ...

So you put together The Gridiron Report. That was one of the joys of Sunday mornings during the fall. It went away when the paper merged with K-town and started publishing on Saturday. I wonder if it will be making a comeback with these changes. Aw, who am I kidding.

 

[SportsGuyBCK]

I worked for the Concord Tribune back in the late 1980s (back when it and the Kannapolis paper were owned by Roy Park, who could give guys like Dean Singleton lessons on how to pull every penny of profit out of a newspaper) ... ever since MG combined the two papers and Kennedy retired, they've brought in incompetent publisher after incompetent publisher (and they've brought in equally-qualified editors) that have done nothing but run off the talent and gutted the coverage (especially in sports; what was once a 4-person staff covering seven high schools and NASCAR/Lowe's Motor Speedway was dropped to two people back in 2006) ...

So you put together The Gridiron Report. That was one of the joys of Sunday mornings during the fall. It went away when the paper merged with K-town and started publishing on Saturday. I wonder if it will be making a comeback with these changes. Aw, who am I kidding.

Yep, I was there from mid-1988 to early 1993 ... the two busiest times at the paper were during football season and race weeks at then-Charlotte Motor Speedway ...

 

[Wonderlic]

Shoot, how do you go from daily to 3 a week?! And how do you convince people that the next step isn't just closing down altogether?

The other question is: Just which other MG papers are being considered for a similar move? I can think of a few of the North Carolina papers that might be facing something like this ...

Reidsville and Eden might as well close with the Danville paper adding a couple of their reporters to fill the gap, since they're designed in Danville anyway.

From Media General:

Beginning March 29, the Reidsville Review and the Eden Daily News will launch new, all local formats. The two newspapers, both located in North Carolina, will be published on Wednesday and Sundays and will focus on expanded coverage of local news, sports and community calendars. Breaking news coverage will continue to be provided on GoDanRiver.com, the newspapers’ Web site.
The newspapers had previously been five-day-per-week papers.

"New, all local formats" is code for dropping publication from five to two days a week and losing the AP wire.

 

[SportsGuyBCK]

Shoot, how do you go from daily to 3 a week?! And how do you convince people that the next step isn't just closing down altogether?

The other question is: Just which other MG papers are being considered for a similar move? I can think of a few of the North Carolina papers that might be facing something like this ...

Reidsville and Eden might as well close with the Danville paper adding a couple of their reporters to fill the gap, since they're designed in Danville anyway.

From Media General:

Beginning March 29, the Reidsville Review and the Eden Daily News will launch new, all local formats. The two newspapers, both located in North Carolina, will be published on Wednesday and Sundays and will focus on expanded coverage of local news, sports and community calendars. Breaking news coverage will continue to be provided on GoDanRiver.com, the newspapers’ Web site.
The newspapers had previously been five-day-per-week papers.

"New, all local formats" is code for dropping publication from five to two days a week and losing the AP wire.

So the other shoe drops ... wonder how much longer it will be before Morganton and Marion both go to 2- or 3-day formats ...

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Shoot, how do you go from daily to 3 a week?! And how do you convince people that the next step isn't just closing down altogether?

The other question is: Just which other MG papers are being considered for a similar move? I can think of a few of the North Carolina papers that might be facing something like this ...

Reidsville and Eden might as well close with the Danville paper adding a couple of their reporters to fill the gap, since they're designed in Danville anyway.

From Media General:

Beginning March 29, the Reidsville Review and the Eden Daily News will launch new, all local formats. The two newspapers, both located in North Carolina, will be published on Wednesday and Sundays and will focus on expanded coverage of local news, sports and community calendars. Breaking news coverage will continue to be provided on GoDanRiver.com, the newspapers’ Web site.
The newspapers had previously been five-day-per-week papers.

"New, all local formats" is code for dropping publication from five to two days a week and losing the AP wire.

So the other shoe drops ... wonder how much longer it will be before Morganton and Marion both go to 2- or 3-day formats ...

Marion is a daily? I didn't know that. Morganton might as well go 2/3-day or even as a supplement in the Hickory Daily Record, which is still readily available in Burke County.

 

[Keystone]

Shoot, how do you go from daily to 3 a week?! And how do you convince people that the next step isn't just closing down altogether?

The other question is: Just which other MG papers are being considered for a similar move? I can think of a few of the North Carolina papers that might be facing something like this ...

Reidsville and Eden might as well close with the Danville paper adding a couple of their reporters to fill the gap, since they're designed in Danville anyway.

From Media General:

Beginning March 29, the Reidsville Review and the Eden Daily News will launch new, all local formats. The two newspapers, both located in North Carolina, will be published on Wednesday and Sundays and will focus on expanded coverage of local news, sports and community calendars. Breaking news coverage will continue to be provided on GoDanRiver.com, the newspapers’ Web site.
The newspapers had previously been five-day-per-week papers.

"New, all local formats" is code for dropping publication from five to two days a week and losing the AP wire.

My wife worked at Reidsville many moons ago, and really hated it there. Made some good friends though. From what I've heard the SE she hired is still there.

 

[SportsGuyBCK]

Shoot, how do you go from daily to 3 a week?! And how do you convince people that the next step isn't just closing down altogether?

The other question is: Just which other MG papers are being considered for a similar move? I can think of a few of the North Carolina papers that might be facing something like this ...

Reidsville and Eden might as well close with the Danville paper adding a couple of their reporters to fill the gap, since they're designed in Danville anyway.

From Media General:

Beginning March 29, the Reidsville Review and the Eden Daily News will launch new, all local formats. The two newspapers, both located in North Carolina, will be published on Wednesday and Sundays and will focus on expanded coverage of local news, sports and community calendars. Breaking news coverage will continue to be provided on GoDanRiver.com, the newspapers’ Web site.
The newspapers had previously been five-day-per-week papers.

"New, all local formats" is code for dropping publication from five to two days a week and losing the AP wire.

So the other shoe drops ... wonder how much longer it will be before Morganton and Marion both go to 2- or 3-day formats ...

Marion is a daily? I didn't know that. Morganton might as well go 2/3-day or even as a supplement in the Hickory Daily Record, which is still readily available in Burke County.

If they're going to cut the I-T to 3-days, then Hickory and Statesville may be on the way there as well ... they've both had significant circulation losses (Statesville is down 1,000-plus from when I was there back in 2005; can't get any accurate info on Hickory, as they have not filed a report with ABC, but I've heard they're down more than 1,000 as well) just like Concord, which I was told is down to just under 17,000 ...

 

[Tarheel316]

To go from seven days to three is nuts. You think their circulation has dropped? Just watch it drop off a cliff now.

 

[SportsGuyBCK]

To go from seven days to three is nuts. You think their circulation has dropped? Just watch it drop off a cliff now.

I agree wholeheartedly ... a lot of the comments on the story that appeared on the I-T's Web were asking if subscribers were going to get refunds, and that a few may wind up switching to the Salisbury Post (which one person said seemed to have more news about Cabarrus County than the I-T did) ...

I have a friend at the I-T, and he says that the rank and file workers there don't know how this transition will play out (but he thinks that it will entail cutting AP) or that if the higher-ups even have a plan (and knowing the publishers and editors that MG has run through that place the past few years, probably don't) ...