GANNETT FURLOUGH WILL AFFECT ABOUT 400 LOCALLY

Even though it shut down the Tucson Citizen in May,
Gannett still has its hands in the Tucson newspaper world.

Last week, the company announced plans for a one-week furlough for
employees during the first quarter of 2010. Gannett’s co-ownership with
Lee Enterprises (thanks to a former joint operating agreement)
of Tucson Newspapers (TNI) means the organization’s roughly 400
employees will be required to take the unpaid week away from work.

“Exempt, salaried employees must take one full payroll week within
the pay period, to be completed by Sunday, March 28,” wrote Gannett
president Bob Dickey in a company-wide memo. “Non-exempt, hourly
employees will also take five days at any pre-approved time, before the
last weekend in March.

Dickey said things may be looking up—or at least not as
bad.

“We have seen some promising trends in advertising, with ad declines
slowing throughout the year, and as we begin the holiday shopping
season, we are also seeing some indication that retailers may be
spending more on advertising,” said Dickey in the memo. “While these
trends are encouraging, the overall economy is still fragile with a
number of business uncertainties. Therefore, as we head into 2010, we
think it is prudent to take a conservative approach toward managing our
business.”

The JOA and its aftermath are muddy and complex. However, here’s a
simplified version: Arizona Daily Star employees (those
in the newsroom, for example) are paid by Lee, not TNI, and are not
impacted by the furlough.

Gannett pays three full-timers who make up tucsoncitizen.com. The estimated 400
TNI employees (the people who operate the press, advertising
representatives, etc.) are funded by both organizations and are
therefore affected by the maneuvers of both companies.

“Traditionally, we at TNI go along with any corporate directive from
either corporation,” said TNI CEO Mike Jameson. “In this case,
the furlough will pertain to all the people at TNI as well as the
remaining employees at Tucsoncitizen.com.”

Still, Jameson takes some solace from the memo. “We don’t see an
imminent and immediate recovery,” Jameson said. “It’s just that
hopefully, we’ve hit the bottom.”

‘MARANA WEEKLY NEWS’ MOVING TO SUBSCRIPTION MODEL

Since its inception, the Marana Weekly News has
provided region-specific content to its readers for free.

However, that will change on Dec. 16, when the publication will
change to a subscription model.

In addition to the money stream created by subscription fees, the
Marana Weekly News also hopes to dabble in paid legal
announcements for the area—a financially beneficial undertaking
that can only occur in Arizona if a publication has paid
subscribers.

There’s a printing, postage and delivery cost-benefit as well.
MWN is reportedly distributing 15,000 issues. That number will
decrease significantly while management uncovers the number of people
willing to pay for the publication.

“We plan on printing 4,000 copies and placing them in 53 locations
where we have the newspaper now, so people can still pick them up for
free for the next couple of weeks,” said publisher Jenna
Bartlett. “We’ll have some paid (subscribers), and we’ll do some
sampling so we can keep the paper out there so that people who haven’t
had time to sign up yet don’t forget about us.”

Subscriptions, delivered via U.S. mail, will cost $19.99 on an
introductory basis, and $26 after that.

Bartlett hopes to generate somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000
subscribers. MWN is implementing promotional measures for
advertisers during the transition as well, in the hopes that a smaller,
theoretically more focused clientele will be more effective than the
uncertain readership of the free-distribution model.

“The people who care about the community who read our paper now will
be subscribers,” Bartlett said. “Right now, advertisers have no way of
knowing how many people are reading the paper. In my opinion, the
businesses won’t see a big change. If anything, there will be more
interest, because we’ll be able to keep the newspaper out there for
people who want it. Part of the initial subscription includes a local
coupon book, which is free to every subscriber. We’re not charging our
advertisers to be a part of that.

“We want to be in the community for a really long time. We want to
help support not only the (political and current-events) issues, but
the businesses in that community.”

Other promotions include a free online subscription for
print-version subscribers, and a donation of $5 per subscription to a
specified charity.

Tucson West Publishing, which operates MWN, does not
plan on going the subscription route with its other publications, the
Foothills News and Desert Times.

(For purposes of disclosure, Brad Allis is the sports editor
of the Marana Weekly News. Allis is one of my co-hosts on UA
football and men’s basketball pregame and postgame shows on KCUB AM
1290.)

KVOA ADDS REPORTERS

KVOA Channel 4 has plucked George Savaricas from
Wisconsin to handle weekday sports-reporter and weekend sports-anchor
duties.

Savaricas, who replaces Dan Joseph, handled a similar
position with WJFW in Rhinelander, Wis. He also worked for KOMU in
Columbia, Mo., and graduated with a journalism degree from the
University of Missouri.

Greg Dingrando and Danielle Todesco have been hired as
general-assignment reporters, or what KVOA now refers to as multimedia
journalists. Dingrando worked at KMIZ in Columbia, Mo., for four years
and WTVW in Evansville, Ind., prior to that. He has a degree from the
University of Southern Indiana.

Todesco—no relation to KVOA news anchor Kristi
Tedesco—was a weekend anchor and weekday reporter for KLBK in
Lubbock, Texas. She has a degree from the University of New Mexico.

This article appears in Dec 10-16, 2009.