By: Jennifer Saba Despite ongoing efforts to concentrate on circulation growth, the latest FAS-FAX numbers released yesterday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations for the six-month period ending March 2004 showed that Knight Ridder, one of the nation's largest newspaper chains, took a few major hits at its larger papers.
The Philadelphia Inquirer and KR flagship in San Jose, Calif., showed gains. But the other metro papers (following the general trend this period) bled, attributing to the company's overall loss of 39,150 daily and 20,201 Sunday copies for the same period reported last year, according to Polk Laffoon, spokesperson for Knight Ridder.
KR took a solid hit in Detroit and The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer declined by 10,713 daily copies and 14,556 Sunday copies. The Philadelphia Daily News' circ lost 10,751 copies. The Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram, which had been growing nicely, showed declines, with a loss of 851 papers for Monday-Thursday, 8,900 papers for Friday, 3,778 papers for Saturday and 4,022 for Sunday.
Laffoon pointed to the do-not-call regulation as one of the causes contributing to the losses. As a result of the new federal rule, overall the company sold 38,000 fewer copies via telemarketing or a loss of 14.5% versus the prior year, he said. Other factors that played into the weak numbers: Detroit home delivery and single copy price increases, severe weather in January and February and planned "retrenching" with the papers in Ft. Wayne, Ind., and Philadelphia.
Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly stated the Star-Telegram's Sunday decline as 14,022.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here