OC Register going tab??

[steveu]

Per Editor and Publisher, one of the things on the table at the OC Register is going tabloid, presumably to save some newsprint.

Good idea? The OCR publisher quoted in the story believes tab may be the wave of the future, and I can't say he's wrong. I like reading the Sun-Times in Chicago, the Daily News in Philly, the RMN in Denver, etc.

Thoughts?

 

[Shaggy]

Contrary to popular belief, it is harder to hold a tabloid because the number of pages confined to one space requires you to pinch harder with your thumbs and pointer fingers, thus causing mild discomfort.

Those are my thoughts.

 

[slappy4428]

Would be an interesting thought, tho

 

[Angola!]

Seems as though it'd be a disaster for the deskers. Or is switching to a tab not that hard?

 

[nmmetsfan]

Contrary to popular belief, it is harder to hold a tabloid because the number of pages confined to one space requires you to pinch harder with your thumbs and pointer fingers, thus causing mild discomfort.

Those are my thoughts.

That's what's wrong with the industry. It's too physically strenuous to read a newspaper. And we thought it had something to do with management.

 

[Drip]

It could work. The problem I see is that OC is too laid back for the tabloid crowd. I think once the newness of the publication wore off, the Register would be back in its same shape circulation wise. Maybe even worse.

 

[Rudy Petross]

This is just another flavor of the month idea they will try. I don't fault them for the ideas per se, but there just doesn't seem to be any follow up to them. It's almost like the idea is a process and when it has run its course they move on to a new idea. OC Post, Venture, Squeeze, etc. all ideas that may have succeeded if there was more execution and perseverance. The reality is this is a paper with declining ad revenues and no idea how to recoup the money. Sound familiar?

 

[Editude]

Circulation dipped about 30K the last reporting period, and size of the paper aside, the trend doesn't look good for a general-circulation product in an expensive area with a drooping real estate market and an increasingly challenging mix of incomes and cultures.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Contrary to popular belief, it is harder to hold a tabloid because the number of pages confined to one space requires you to pinch harder with your thumbs and pointer fingers, thus causing mild discomfort.

Those are my thoughts.

It's also harder to navigate, to find the sections you want. National advertisers aren't especially happy with either having their full-page ads shot down (leaving a one-column hole down the side) or having the ad run full size, sideways, over two pages. Besides, they think tabs are scuzzy. The Los Angeles Herald Examiner and San Diego Tribune each considered going tab in the late 1980s, early 1990s. It's not a tabloid market, no one takes mass transit. There is no advantage to this besides trimming newsprint costs a bit.

 

[Drip]

Contrary to popular belief, it is harder to hold a tabloid because the number of pages confined to one space requires you to pinch harder with your thumbs and pointer fingers, thus causing mild discomfort.

Those are my thoughts.

It's also harder to navigate, to find the sections you want. National advertisers aren't especially happy with either having their full-page ads shot down (leaving a one-column hole down the side) or having the ad run full size, sideways, over two pages. Besides, they think tabs are scuzzy. The Los Angeles Herald Examiner and San Diego Tribune each considered going tab in the late 1980s, early 1990s. It's not a tabloid market, no one takes mass transit. There is no advantage to this besides trimming newsprint costs a bit.

The National didn't do well out there either and it was a tab.

 

[Claws for Concern]

I like the RMN tab. Always have.

 

[Gold]

The Register had put out a tabloid which was a smaller version of the OC Register.

I will never forget reading the Register when I first moved to California in 1992. What I remember was that there were three crossword puzzles in the paper. I thought, boy, there must be some people with money and time on their hands here.

 

[sportsed]

Seems that the move to a tabloid format would limit the number of prominent display areas that could attract advertisers. Gone will be the various front and back pages of sections.

Also, from a reader's standpoint, it seems that a tabloid inhibits the ability of a newspaper being shared in the household. No longer will Dad be able to pass along the sports section to Junior when he's ready to move on to the business section.

I know there are studies that may show a tabloid has more readers per newspaper distributed, but that may have more to do with the next person on a commuter train picking up a newspaper someone else left behind than the newspaper actually being shared in the home. As previously noted on this thread, mass transit isn't exactly embraced by the masses in SoCal.

Just my three cents.

 

[MileHigh]

Also, from a reader's standpoint, it seems that a tabloid inhibits the ability of a newspaper being shared in the household. No longer will Dad be able to pass along the sports section to Junior when he's ready to move on to the business section.

Depends how it's set up. The RMN is set up to where you can pull out each separate section on its own -- News, Business, Sports, Features.

 

[fishwrapper]

****. Wall. [waiting....waiting...waiting...]

 

[buckweaver]

It's not a tabloid market, no one takes mass transit.

The most important sentence in this entire thread.

Gotta know your market. Fish nailed it: **** ... wall.

 

[Tom Petty]

i heard tampa is going to do the same. ... seems to be the last-ditch effort for a lot of papers on the way to BK.

if true, i hope a lotta folks in this chain bail quickly, because it would appear more layoffs are right around the corner.

 

[nmmetsfan]

Also, from a reader's standpoint, it seems that a tabloid inhibits the ability of a newspaper being shared in the household. No longer will Dad be able to pass along the sports section to Junior when he's ready to move on to the business section.
[/quote]

Junior doesn't read the newspaper. If he's interested he reads it online between facebook and porn.

 

[mitch cumstein]

Freedom is crashing and burning HARD. They borrowed a bunch of money awhile back to invest in multimedia and it bit them in the ass. Now those lenders want their money and Freedom doesn't have it after losing tons of ad revenue and circulation across the board. Mass layoffs, selloffs and eventual bankruptcy are in the near future for these shops. If you work for a Freedom property in any position below upper management, I suggest you keep your resume updated and ready to go, because your head is on the chopping block for the coming months.

 

[Angola!]

Freedom is crashing and burning HARD. They borrowed a bunch of money awhile back to invest in multimedia and it bit them in the ass. Now those lenders want their money and Freedom doesn't have it after losing tons of ad revenue and circulation across the board. Mass layoffs, selloffs and eventual bankruptcy are in the near future for these shops. If you work for a Freedom property in any position below upper management, I suggest you keep your resume updated and ready to go, because your head is on the chopping block for the coming months.

I think they will just sell the OC paper and a couple of other properties to cover.

Who knows, though.

Freedom is a good chain and has avoided the mass layoffs - at least at papers not named the OC Register - for awhile now.