As Alt-Paper Classified Moves To Web, 'Chicago Reader' Takes New Shape

By: Mark Fitzgerald For years, the Chicago Reader has published one of the most unusual packages among alternative newspapers, or any other type of newspaper, for that matter.

The Reader came in four sections, three folded and not-quite-Berliner-sized tabs were wrapped by the main sheet tab.

But now, the Reader is telling Chicago on its front pages: "Section 4 is over."

The weekly is repackaging itself for all the reasons the industry could guess, Publisher Michael Crystal said in an interview late Tuesday.

"The opportunity to print the paper in fewer than four sections in order to save the money on a compressed print job was, of course, something we wanted," Crystal said. "And it won't come as a surprise to you that people are using classified on the Web as much or more than in print. (Reader advertisers) can choose to have the classified run in print, but many are choosing to have it just on the Web."

The newspaper's content is still the same with three sections, he said. "Everyting that was in the paper in the four-section Reader is still in the three-section Reader." All editorial elements such as the comic and syndicated features such as "News of the Weird" and "Savage Love," remain in the paper, he added.

The fourth section contained the paper's apartment rental advertising, a franchise it has been able to dominate in its three decades of publishing -- and one popular enough that customers had been known to pull out that section and leave the other three. Housing ads have been moved to the first section.

In the past two years, the Reader has redesigned -- adding substantial color -- and faced new competition, most notably from Time Out Chicago. Crystal said, though, that while the Reader bumps up against the magazine at promotional events, the paper has "not seen (competition) so much specifically from Time Out as much as the market itself has become increasingly competitive."

The Reader, which distributes about 125,000 copies each Thursday, is also increasing its promotional activities, mostly through events such as bar nights around the city. "We're doing more of that than we've done before," Crystal said.