McClatchy layoffs?

The McClatchy family has been involved with the Sacramento Bee since 1856 and over time bought up the other Bee newspapers in California (Fresno and Modesto and maybe somebody else). In the late 80's they went public and their corporate strategy was to buy papers and try to increase the quality of the paper and hence revenues, unlike Gannett. For a long time they were considered the best managed chain because they increased the circulation of their papers while other chains were seeing declines. So they were able to expand quickly.

But then they borrowed billions to buy Knight-Ridder just before the crash of 2008 and it all went to hell. The stock has gone from 700 a share in 2005 (adjusted for a reverse split) to 9 a share.

Part of the strategy to increase readership was to invest a good sports section. Sacramento had Scott Howard-Cooper on the Kings and I think they hired him away from the Lakers beat at the LA Times. The Kansas City Star had Posnanski, Whitlock, et.al . You can fill an all-star sports section with the guys who went through Tacoma.

But then the company borrowed billions to buy Knight-Ridder just before the crash of 2008 and it all went to hell. The stock has gone from 700 a share in 2005 (adjusted for a reverse split) to 9 a share today and they just struggle to stay out of Chapter 11.

 

No disagreement there. Trying to think of what may have been more criminal, journalistically, the Knight Ridder shareholders forcing the sale, or McClatchy swallowing the whole, which begat the growth of what we now know as DFM.

I've been at papers where either Modesto or Fresno was the "big city" paper. More recently Fresno. They had a great sports staff in the mid-90s at the height of things. Woj was their columnist and Andy Katz covered Fresno State basketball during the Tark era. And they traveled with some teams. Imagine nowadays sending someone on the road to cover Fresno State softball, or the Fresno Grizzlies their first few years? Or two reporters (Carzano and Andy Boogaard) AND a shooter to Puerto Rico to investigate an eligibility question in one of the top area high school programs? Now I doubt they staff the Grizzlies that much at home, because of a lack of bodies and the early deadlines to ship it to Sacramento.

Those were the days, my friend ...

 

I remember when McClatchy had its first big round of layoffs in June 2008. Folks were stunned. Those were the good ol' days.

 

Obligatory BLOGS! post.

Those digital sub figures average to about 3,500 per market. Let that sink in.

 

Three sportswriters in Sacramento.
Damn, my first job out of college so many moons ago was at a daily in a town of 35,000, with a circulation of 20K.
We had a three-person sports staff there.
They might be down to two now.

 

I think McClatchey is the only publicly held chain that prints the circulation numbers in their annual report. Here is ample evidence of the damage the internet has done. The numbers belwo are the 2007 and 2008 circulation numbers. It did not copy well. The next psot will be the 2017 numbers.

2008
2007
Circulation by Newspaper

Daily
Sunday
The Sacramento Bee
259,223 300,510 270,697 312,706

The Kansas City (Missouri) Star
243,488 332,004 252,957 348,182

The Miami Herald
221,736 285,246 254,384 317,776

(Fort Worth) Star-Telegram
197,672 283,914 207,564 292,771

Charlotte Observer
199,956 253,393 211,126 265,142

The (Raleigh) News & Observer
162,224 207,080 171,094 211,712

The Fresno Bee
142,518 167,184 150,482 173,558

The (Tacoma) News Tribune
106,441 120,897 112,370 128,568

Lexington Herald-Leader
104,140 127,424 109,036 137,109

The (Columbia, SC) State
97,964 125,149 104,786 132,525

The Wichita Eagle
80,879 125,506 85,005 132,452

El Nuevo Herald
78,255 86,733 79,931 87,477

The Modesto Bee
75,390 79,430 79,918 83,870

Anchorage Daily News
61,520 68,732 63,641 72,587

Idaho Statesman (Boise)
59,566 77,263 63,033 82,984

The (Macon, GA) Telegraph
54,132 68,649 56,333 71,839

Belleville (Illinois) News-Democrat
50,840 59,465 52,293 64,393

The (Myrtle Beach, SC) Sun News
47,931 59,304 49,946 60,481

The Bradenton (Florida) Herald
42,620 48,547 43,420 49,236

(Columbus, GA) Ledger-Enquirer

39,749 47,738 42,567 51,375
(Biloxi) Sun Herald

42,189 47,393 44,509 49,524
Tri-City (Washington) Herald

39,912 42,161 40,318 42,819
The (San Luis Obispo, CA) Tribune
35,891 41,290 36,579 42,167

The Olympian (Washington)
30,313 37,237 31,890 39,218
The (Rock Hill, SC) Herald
28,242 30,510 30,210 31,983

(Pennsylvania) Centre Daily Times
23,274 30,291 24,274 31,409

The Bellingham (Washington) Herald
21,702 27,175 22,866 28,898

The Island Packet (Hilton Head, SC)
18,489 19,716 18,974 20,394

Merced (California) Sun-Star
15,618 — 15,728 —

The Beaufort (South Carolina) Gazette
11,701 10,915 11,794 11,285

 

Here are the 2017 numbers

The first number is daily, then Sunday. So Miami, for example, went from 243,000 as shown above to 82,000. Charlotte went from 197,000 to 83,000.

Miami Herald
92,260
121,971

The Kansas City Star
114,144
155,794

The Charlotte Observer
83,609
118,903

The Sacramento Bee
122,600
225,343

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
188,257
194,457

The Wichita Eagle
37,843
86,848

El Nuevo Herald
30,065
40,885

The (Raleigh)News & Observer
84,287
113,790

The (Columbia) State
43,948
97,109

The Telegraph
Macon, GA
21,849
27,985

Lexington Herald-Leader
49,169
79,192

The Fresno Bee
73,529
107,136

The (Tacoma) News Tribune
43,452
93,476

Belleville News-Democrat
23,628
56,120

Idaho Statesman
36,006
64,723

Ledger-Enquirer
Columbus, GA
17,444
21,434

The (San Luis Obispo) Tribune
19,409
29,787


The Island Packet
Hilton Head, SC
15,639
17,038

The Bradenton Herald
20,235
25,139

The Modesto Bee
37,792
64,477

Centre Daily Times
State College, PA
11,976
15,647

Sun Herald
Biloxi, MS
21,013
31,563

The Sun News
Myrtle Beach, SC
23,204
30,259

The Herald
Rock Hill, SC
10,786
13,346

The Bellingham Herald
11,749
15,186

Tri-City Herald
Kennewick, WA
18,438
29,998

The Olympian
Olympia, WA
13,524
29,521

Merced Sun-Star
11,089

The Herald-Sun
Durham, NC
10,676
11,156

The Beaufort Gazette
5,066
5,442

 

Sacramento went from 270k to 122k in 10 years. That’s a 55 percent drop.

 

See, that was my curiosity: When does the hammer fall again at KC, Charlotte and Miami?

 

These numbers are simply staggering.

 

Saw someone at the Belleville (Ill.) paper, another McClatchy property, tweet today that his last day is May 11 or something. Wasn't clear about whose decision it was, and didn't answer when followers asked him if it was retirement, layoff or other.