Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.bonus From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: bonus Wed, Jul 29 1992 Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 04:32:50 EDT Message-ID: 07-29 0000 BONUS: Pittsburghers miss newspapers USA TODAY Update July 29, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Kim Wright wants the unions and management of The Pittsburgh Press and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to settle their differences before her wedding Sept. 20. "I want my picture and write-up in the papers," says Wright, marketing director for car dealer Number 1 Cochran. The daily newspapers stopped publishing May 17. WHAT ELSE HAVE PITTSBURGHERS BEEN MISSING? Attendance is down at events ranging from funerals to Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games, even though the team is in first place in its division. People are spending hours on the telephone calling movie theaters to find what's playing and when. Job hunters are having to hunt for job openings. WHAT CAUSED THE STRIKE? Those are a few of the niggling and not-so-niggling irritations resulting from 10 weeks without the morning Post-Gazette (daily circulation: 153,832) and afternoon Press (208,554 daily; 555,919 Sundays). Drivers walked out May 17 to protest plans for a delivery system that would eliminate 450 of 605 jobs over two years. The newspapers then laid off most of their other 1,200 employees. They tried to resume publishing Monday and Tuesday but quit because of violent protests by strikers. DO THE PEOPLE CARE? Just as we take electricity for granted until a power outage douses the lights, some people take newspapers for granted until they can't get one. People in Pittsburgh say they not only miss the news, they miss comics, horoscopes, crossword puzzles and Dear Abby. They have to plan their weekends without movie listings or a community calendar, hunt for jobs without help-wanted ads and try to find the best deal on a new refrigerator or lawn mower without newspaper ads to help them comparison shop. WHAT DO PEOPLE LOOK TO NEWSPAPERS FOR? A newspaper strike is "like a bolt of lightning that suddenly illuminates the landscape of readers' interests and commitments," says Al Gollin, who has studied newspaper strikes as vice president and director of research for the Newspaper Association of America. "It highlights for people their degree of reliance on the newspaper across the board." Only 62% of adults read a newspaper any given day, down from 78% in 1970. But even occasional readers want a newspaper to be there when they need it. WHAT DO SOME RESIDENTS MISS MOST? Usually, Bill Green doesn't have any trouble generating calls from listeners when he fills in for vacationing talk-show hosts on WTAE-AM radio. But earlier this month, he says, "things seemed very slow no matter what I would throw out there to discuss. Then it hit me: There's no local newspaper, so people can't relate to what I am saying or say, `Did you read about that dumb thing the city council did?' " WHAT ARE FUNERAL DIRECTORS DOING? Without newspaper death notices, attendance at funerals is down. The Allegheny County Funeral Directors Association compiles a list of deaths - 30 to 35 a day - that it sends to radio and TV stations, which air them. But Judith Ragan, executive director of the association, says people miss the broadcasts or don't catch the name of the funeral home. And families of the deceased miss the obituaries, which they keep as mementos. "I will be glad when the papers get back," Ragan says. ARE FLOWER SALES DOWN? So will Basil Vergato, president of Shackelford's & Maxwell's Flowers. Since the strike began, Vergato has cut employees' hours at his 14 shops. Without newspaper obituaries, people don't know when their friends die, so they don't buy flowers or fruit baskets, Vergato says. Funerals account for one-third to one-half of his shops' revenue. ARE THEATER TICKET SALES DOWN? The strike isn't getting rave reviews from Pittsburgh's City Theater. Like most community theaters, it counts on newspaper reviews and entertainment notices to fill seats. The strike began just as the theater was beginning its final play of the season, Our Country's Good. "It was our best show, and the reviews would have been raves," says marketing director Caty DeWalt. She estimates ticket sales were 30% below projections because of the strike. The Post-Gazette's critic did read a positive review on the radio. And The Press critic told DeWalt her unpublished review would have said, "See it twice." IS THE STRIKE HURTING THE PIRATES? Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates are No. 1 in the National League East, but fewer fans are in the stands. "Fans are not reading about us each day in the newspaper. That translates into less top-of-mind awareness," says Pirates spokesman Jim Lachimia. Attendance at Three Rivers Stadium the first 49 games is 108,000 below last year. And walk-up ticket sales the day of a game are down about 50%, Lachimia says. IS THE STRIKE HELPING ANY FIRMS? TV Guide says weekly newsstand sales in the Pittsburgh area are up 25% to 30% over the usual 100,000, thanks to couch potatoes starved for TV listings. Suburban daily and weekly newspapers are fatter with ads and are enjoying circulation gains. And several new-car dealers who buy ads in the Pittsburgh newspapers say business is OK without the ads. "It seems we can get along just fine without them," says Chuck Tyler, general sales manager at Barden-McKain Ford. WILL ADVERTISERS RETURN? NAA's Gollin says he expects most advertisers will return to the newspapers once the dispute is settled. "They can't afford to give up that lively bulletin board." Circulation could take longer than advertising to bounce back to pre-strike levels, if it ever does. For despite all the griping by readers who miss their daily fix of news, entertainment and ads they can hold in their hands, The Press and Post-Gazette may lose marginal, less enthusiastic readers. Says Gollin: "A strike just extinguishes" their interest. WHAT DO READERS THINK? For loyal readers, there's no substitute. "There really is a void in my life," says James I. Smith III, executive director of the Allegheny County Bar Association. "Ultimately the newspapers will be back because we can't do without them." Bonus Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM