Media&Marketing/ Emmet Oliver: The Sunday Tribune is to relaunch on September 14th, as competition in the Sunday newspaper market resumes after the dormant summer months.
The paper's editor-in-chief, Mr Jim Farrelly, said last night the paper would be extensively redesigned by Mr John Belknap, who had worked on similar projects in Britain.
A 64-page colour magazine is also being produced, which would bring in new advertising revenue streams, he said. The magazine will concentrate on lifestyle issues and will be aimed at younger female readers.
The paper has also embraced a new form of market research popular among magazines in the US. It involves readers phoning a 1800-number and giving their views on what is good and bad about the paper.
Advised by the advertising agency AIM/Carat, callers rate the different sections of the paper using numbers, with one being "very poor" and nine being "excellent".
Mr Farrelly said the paper had done research but the phone-based survey was an additional tool that was highly successful in the US.
The move to shake up the paper comes as the newspaper industry braces itself for fresh Joint National Readership Survey figures.
The figures measure readership, rather than circulation. Readership is the number of people who read a title rather than simply buying one.
According to the research committee, the figures will "offer the most precise readership data to date for the Irish newspaper and magazine market".
All the leading Irish newspapers will be included and, for the first time, British-owned titles will be included - among them the Irish Mirror, the Irish Sun, the Sunday Times, the News of the World, the Sunday People and the Sunday Mirror.
The definition of a reader has also been changed. It will now be someone who has read the publication for at least two minutes. The change, which has been sought by advertisers for a long time, will vastly improve the quality of the data, according to Mr Seán O'Meara, chairman of the Joint National Readership Survey.
With advertisers demanding more accountability from newspapers, the readership statistics, released on September 3rd, could prove to be very important.
Lord Black's troubles
Things just go from bad to worse for one of the US's and Britain's most powerful press barons.
Lord Black has warned that full-year profits at his Hollinger Group will be sharply lower than previous forecasts, due to the costs of an inquiry into payments to senior managers at his company and weak advertising revenues in Britain, where the firm's main asset is the Daily Telegraph.
The newspaper group's operating income for the full year will be in the $54-$62 million (€48.6-€55.8 million) range, down from an April estimate of $65-$75 million.
Hollinger, which publishes the Chicago Sun-Times and the Jerusalem Post, has blamed much of the shortfall on the inquiry started in June over executive payments. It is focusing on a $74 million payment to a handful of senior Hollinger staff, including Lord Black. The payments were made as part of the sale of a number of Canadian newspapers during 2000.
Legal fees associated with the investigation have taken their toll, said the company.
Local radio thriving
Apart from maybe Today FM and 98 FM in Dublin, there were few winners out of this summer's JNLR jamboree.
RTÉ, with maybe the exception of 2FM, had little to cheer about, while new arrivals such as NewsTalk could only manage minimal progress.
However, the growth of local radio shows no sign of slowing. Independent local radio gained 59,000 new listeners a day while RTÉ Radio 1 lost 49,000 over the past 12 months, according to the JNLR figures.
Local radio stations have 1.7 million listeners a day, some 780,000 more than RTÉ Radio 1, twice as many as 2FM and three-and-a-half times that of Today FM.
"Our wide range of audiences is reflected in our advertising revenue, which has increased by over €1 million, or 15 per cent, over the past 12 months, bucking the trend across the advertising sector," said Mr John O'Connor, chief executive, Independent Radio Sales.
The biggest fall in listenership was at North-West Radio, which is to lose its licence. This decision has been very acrimonious, with a vocal campaign fiercely opposing the move.
North-West's listenership was down 10 per cent, while its market share dropped 15 per cent. However, its market share is still quite high for a local station.
WLR FM in Waterford also took a hammering, with its listenership dropping by 8 per cent and its market share slipping by 9 per cent. However, it has just signed a new 10-year deal with the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland to provide a service for Waterford city and county.
WLR, which also has a stake in Beat FM, still maintains a commanding presence in Waterford with more than 50 per cent of the population tuning in at some stage during the week.
There was also bad news for, East Coast Radio, a station associated with Mr Denis O'Brien. He is a major shareholder via a company called La Touche Investments. Serving Wicklow, the station lost 7 per cent of its listeners and 11 per cent of its market share. The station has one of the smaller market shares among the local stations and it appears the nearer you are to Dublin the harder it is to hold audience.
Dublin for foodies
Dubliner magazine will shortly unveil the 2003 edition of its annual restaurant guide, with a €50,000 sponsorship deal from Chilean wine firm Santa Rita.
Last year's book sold 17,000 copies and was in the bestseller list for four months.
While the Dubliner is a relatively new title, it has managed to build up a major presence in the restaurant and food area.
Dubliner's Mr Trevor White says the sector remains vibrant and serious foodies want to read about restaurants in which they have dined and the ones in which they cannot afford to dine.
While Dublin has yet to host a title such as Zagat (which makes and breaks New York restaurants), inclusion in the Dubliner's top 100 would seem to be prized.
The opening pitch of this year's guide leaves readers in no doubt that not everywhere is up to scratch. "Eating out is supposed to be a pleasure. In the city of Dublin, it is usually a chore. Bad food, woeful service and high prices are all too common."
