NEW PRINT PAPERS HIT DENVER, RIVERSIDE

By: Joel Davis Startups See Opportunities


SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Think local, think small, think West.

That seems to be the trend among newspaper startups in this
sluggish economy, with a daily making its debut in Denver and a
semiweekly launching in Hemet, Calif. The smallish papers -- each
relying heavily on a print rather than a cyberpresence -- come in
the wake of Robert B. Pamplin Jr.'s semiweekly Portland
(Ore.) Tribune launch in February.

The Denver Daily News, a free, eight-page tabloid, hit the
streets May 10. Funded by Jim Pavelich and Dave Price, co-
publishers of the free Palo Alto (Calif.) Daily
News, it so far has a staff of three and a distribution of
1,500. It offers Denver news and woos smaller advertisers who
can't afford buys in The Denver Post or Rocky Mountain
News, which have upped rates since becoming a joint operating
agreement juggernaut Jan. 22.

"Downtown Denver is our market," said Editor and Publisher Mike
Kirschbaum, 34. "There are people who for a long time have not
been able to advertise in the major metro papers here, and we
want to give them an option. And it gives readers a way to get
their news without dropping 50 cents into a news rack or spending
whatever it costs for a year's subscription."

While the launch comes in the wake of a dramatic increase in ad
rates by the Denver Newspaper Agency (DNA), the business arm of
the Post and News, Kirschbaum, who declined to cite
the startup costs (apart from "It's not cheap"), said he's been
trying to make the Denver Daily News a reality for years.
Meanwhile, DNA started selling banner ads on section fronts and
launched a city freebie with weekend classifieds in recent weeks.
DNA's Jim Nolan said the one-inch banner ads, appearing on
certain section fronts (though not on Page One), and the 50,000-
distribution free publication, Jobs Extra, have been in the works
for some time.

Also courting smaller advertisers is The Valley Chronicle,
a semiweekly covering Riverside County that launched May 16. The
Chronicle is published by Jim Fredericks, former publisher
of The Hemet News, a six-day-a-week paper until bought in
1999 by Belo, whose The Press-Enterprise in Riverside
folded it into a P-E zoned edition. Fredericks, retained
as publisher of that edition, took several staffers, including
its editor, with him to his new paper. He said the absorption of
The Hemet News into the P-E "destroyed local
content."

Fredericks said he started the Chronicle, which publishes
Wednesdays and Saturdays, at the urging of area retailers and
readers who missed the defunct daily. "I saw an opening and
decided to try it," he said. The Chronicle is distributing
about 40,000 copies for free, though it guarantees delivery only
to readers who buy what he calls "voluntary subscriptions," he
noted. Annual subscriptions are $37.50, and the news-rack price
is 50 cents.

P-E Publisher Marcia McQuern, who said "competition is
always invigorating," added that Fredericks' bolting and taking
key staff with him "came totally out of the blue. I can't say it
was a pleasant surprise." McQuern said that the P-E has
stepped up its advertising and marketing promotions in the Hemet
area.



Joel Davis (jdavis@editorandpublisher.com) is West Coast editor for E&P.



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