'Orange County Register' Studying Switch to Tabloid

By: Joe Strupp The Orange County Register is studying a change to tabloid format after an internal task force review of money-saving options proposed the move along with several other changes.

Terry Horne, president and publisher of the Santa Ana, Calif., daily, confirmed that the option is being reviewed and that prototypes will likely be created in the coming weeks or months. He said the proposal is one of several money-saving ideas that came out of a newspaper-wide review of cost-cutting measures in August by several "cross-departmental teams."

"It would be easier to read," Horne said about a tabloid approach. "It depends on what size tab, half a broad sheet or a long tab. You would have to determine the format."

The review comes just months after the Register, owned by Freedom Communications, reduced its broadsheet size from a 50-inch web to a 46-inch size in June.

"We are studying it, everyone is studying everything," said Horne. "Everything that might save money and hopefully appeal to readers more."

The tabloid review comes as the Register suffered a daily circulation drop from 284,613 to 250,724 for the six months ending March 31, 2008, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations' last FAS FAX report. The paper also went from 329,551 to 311,982 on Sunday during the same period.

Other cost-cutting measure being considered from the team reviews are Monday and Tuesday papers with fewer pages and self-service advertising options. Horne also says the paper may cut back on the number of distribution centers it operates, noting that it recently reduced the outlets from seven to six.

"Studying it and doing it may be two different things," Horne stressed about the tabloid change and other moves. "Every newspaper needs to study driving down costs without eliminating people. We are trying to look at everything else."

But Horne said he personally prefers a tabloid approach, having come from Chicago. "I liked the Sun-Times and I prefer the Rocky Mountain News to The Denver Post," he said. "It is easier to read."

When asked about a Register tabloid switch, Burl Osborne, the former publisher of the Dallas Morning News and currently a Freedom board member, said all cost-cutting changes need to be studied: "All sorts of things that might keep us going in the economic hand we have been dealt."

Horne had no specific figures on how much a switch would save, noting that the exact format would have to be chosen: "We haven't studied them as yet, we have asked a team to study it. I presume they plan to do focus groups before they would dive in with something."

The Register experimented with a daily tabloid product several years ago. The OC Post was a shorter daily tabloid that initially circulated six days per week, but was cut back to fewer days and, last winter, merged with the company?s weekly papers. "Part of its problem was that it was not sold effectively with the Register," Horne said. "It was sold in addition to the Register. But we learned a lot from the Post."

Horne, who said no decision on a change is expected for several months, also predicts the Register will not be the only major daily to look at a tabloid change in coming years. "If I were a betting man, I would bet you that quite a few papers will become tabloid in the next few years."

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS OVER AT OUR NEW BLOG, "The E&P Pub":

The E&P Pub