GAMBLING IN THE 'GRAVEYARD' NEW YORK PUBLISHERS PUSH NEW VENTURES DESPITE THE DEMISE OF DOZENS OF DAILIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000300340001-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 31, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 6, 1968
• Content Type: NSPR

--:-r--.~ STAT
Approved, For Release 2004/09/28 : CIA-RDP88-01
WALK $ OUBNAL
May d, ly6 f
i. Gambling in the, `Graveyard'
N
env York Publishers Push ew en uxes
Despite the* Demise of Dbzeiis of Dailies
By A.'KENT MACDOUGALL
' Staff RepOrler Of T110 WALL STREET JOURNAL ?'
NEW YORK-Despite New York City's
well-earned reputation as a newspaper grave-
+ yard, at least six newspapers and two,maga-
sines have bravely started up this year.
Among them: Two newsless newspapers, a
sports sheet, a radical weekly "out to make
trouble," a ? "subterranean" biweekly and a
Negro monthly., _ ?..
Due next month: The Daily World, reflect-
- ?? m ih P th C un'st Part and re?
v
o
omm i
The 40-cent weekly started with 60,000
sub- scriptions, but expects to have to cancel sev-
eral thousand for non-payment. Newsstand
sales exceed 40,000.
Critical- reaction has been mixed. Well-re-
searched, well written articles by Judith Crist, I
Alan Rich, Tom Wolfe and others have wont
praise. But cramped makeup, smart alec quips
and unappetizing nude ' photos have been
scored. An ad agency official who admired I
New York -when it was the Sunday magazine
supplement. to the AN, :: York World Journal,,
Tribune ? is disappointed In it as a separate
slick magazine. "The rapier wit just isn't there
any more," he complains. "They're trying to!,
was the WSJT upplement, is editor of the new
magazine. William E. Taylor, another WJT ed-
Itor, edit;; the Daily Dolunih And throe former.
WJT sports staffers put out Sportew'eek, ' .
World Journal Tribune. Its sudden death, on,' AA lvMoonlignwng Editor. The New Yorke Daily Colunin,`the other This 25-cent'weekl sorts tabloid features
k May 5, 1967, left Manhattan with only. one. af?; 'newsless newspaper is likewise b efin u its' y p (
@ g up ima
stories contrib. )
inative
hotos and breez
y
g
p
ternoon newspaper, the New. York Post; this
created an intolerable situation to many news= advertising sales force. Its 24-page issues.. haveuted by. freelance writers, but suffers from dif-
created
averaged seven to eight pages of ads, far more fusion in trying to cover all sports. Editor Sal
papermen. than'the Knickerbocker rung One re f
aeon
iew)
e
y,
g e
{ placing the twice-weekly Worker.
. '. Some of these supplements to the city's
reading fare stand little more chance of sur-
i;-vival than the dozens of dailies that have fallen
by the wayside through the years. The most re-
cent casualties were the,xong Island Star-Jour-
nal in the. borough of Quacne, which closed
down in March because of a printers strike and
isn't expected to reopen, and the ' New York ?
or Gerage moonlights from pis desk job at the
i
No Successor in Sight this.is a feeling among advertisers that the Col.' New. York . News. Associate editor Marty',
In spite of predictions then that a successor umn, reaches more serious and affluent read-.O'Shea and . three clerical workers comprise
,ers. Published each weekday, the 10-cent C01-'the the payroll. Despite the shoestring budget, t
was Inevitable, none has appeared and none is
m
h
s-
co
~
u
n esc
mic strips and pictures in Sportsweek is struggling. The first 'three issues
ew
likely. Manhattan's two.gencrai-interest morn-
tog papers, the New York' Times and the Nevi favor of political; financial and entertainment sold an averaire of only 35.000 conies' and ad.
York News, each seriously considered launch- columns and features. ve4?tisers, rues Mr. O'She"have a wait-and-:?
an
in
ft
l
b
t
d th
t ' Ci
ti
t
ha
d
e
ttit
d
'
'
g
a
ernoon paper
u
rejec
e
e projec
rcu
a
on
s
a
u
e
;
ropped to less than 100000 se
,. as too risky. So did Time Inc., the big maga. from well, over 150,000 the first week, April 1-5. New York ,Scenes seems to be catching ori.'
zinc publisher, and several others. But Jerry Finkelstein, publisher
expresses sat- The 40-cent monthly magazine is aimed at
,
. Smaller publishers entering where the isfaction. "We are ahead of schedule " he, Young, hip, poorly heeled; New Yorkers. The
giants fear to tread are gambling that a low- says. "We are in business to stay." second issue, just out, includes pieces on dirty
cost publication can survive with only, modest Still, the ' newsless newspaper concept book stores (The Wonderful World of Pornogra-
amounts of circulation and advertising. And doesn't make sense to many newspapermen phy), Sunday brunch and;' apartment hunting.
modest amounts are all they're getting. and advertisers. "Tm still -- old-fashioned, To coma: How to Spot Your Neighborhood-
The New York Knickerbocker, . a weekly enough to think people buy newspapers primar- Bookie, Dime?a?Dance Emporiums, and A So-,
1 with color comics and entertainment features, ily to read news," says an ad agency.execu- lective Guide to New York Clip Joints.
sold 260,000 copies of its. first issue Feb. 25. But tive. Negro News' is published by NEGRO, an
only 140,000 persons plunked down 20 cents for l acronym for National Economic Growth and.,
its ninth issue April 21.-The first issue bene? Ad Spending on Plateau
'..Reconstruction Organization. This self-help
fited from extensive promotion and reader cu. The media director of a big Madisbn Avenue group, through subsidiaries, runs a small hos-.
riosity,'after which sales "rapidly simmered agency notes that the ad-hungry new publics-Ipltal, clothing factory, construction company,,
down to a more normal figure," explains tions have arrived during a. year when ad i bus liar., ad agency and other enterprises. Be
Frank J. Keller and. general man- spending is on a plateau. "Because of rate in?i
r president. sides supporting these projects, the 15-cent'
ager. creases, clients are getting less space and time monthly newspaper preaches economic self-'.
To help hypo sales, the Knickerbocker 'will for the same money," he says. They're relue. sufficiency for Negroes and opposes such mili-,
soon launch a "Lucky PCriicker Bucks". game, tant to cut back spending in established media; taut. political action as the Poor' People's
awarding cash prizes to readers who find b5 to support untried publications whose coverage March on Washington. . .
and $10 bills with numbers matching 25 num-' of the vast New York 'market is minor and in contrast, the New York Free Press de-
;. bers printed each week in the paper. Pon-essential, he says. "The tragedy is that.
there are probably some very fine publications! lights in confrontations with the Establishment.
Building a Sales Force that should live but won't for lack of adequate' A recent issue listed the names, addresses and
With "time and money and considerable, ef- advertising support." 'phone number of 104 ;Manhattan draft board
fort," circulation can be pushed. to 350,000, Mr: members, and encouraged readers to call them
Keller says. But advertising Is something else. New York magazine calculates it needs 40f? to account, "That's ?a newspaper's job-to dig
Thus far the paper has relied on an inde else. to 45 ad pages and 100,000 circulation to break and make trouble," says; editor Jack Banning,.
an. even,. or 20 to 22 ad pages with 200,000 circula? whorclaWns 28!.500. circa atlon for the 15-cent
dent advertisin sales re resentative and Vol, g p lion. The first issue, April 8,' carried `64 ttdlweekly:; : ? .?. ?;?,.,~
' ume has been,: disappointing. So?'says- Mr, w-
a
e
but
ub
t
i
l
I
p
v
,
s
sequen
y10 to 14. Wei -
ssuesIon
Keller, "we're going to develop an internal ad'
~~~c~' ? s
~,
L-manager and;?ai staff of sA3 Rd, FQr'Re j1;3~00300340.001-5
.:.. ectX."fit , bl
Most- of New Publications
Are Printed Outside City
By a WALL STREET JOURNAL 'Ctaff Reporter
NEW YORK-Most of the city's new
publications are printed outside the city.
High costs and a shortage here of the
offset printing facilities favored by the.
fledgling publishers have prompted,them to
look elsewhere. The New York Daily Col...
umn is produced in suburban Long Island,
the New York Knickerbocker in. guffalo,.
N:Y., and New York magazine .in Sharon
.Hill, Pa. New Jersey shops print the New. ?
York Free Press, Sportsweek and Rat.'
The. Daily World is bucking the trend.
"Some of ' the new papers are running' out
of town," says Joseph Brandt, business
managor of the Me,rxiet daily, "We want