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Santa Maria Times cuts Monday edition

May 24, 2016

NewspaperAs local publisher Lee Central Coast Newspapers announced it would stop printing the Times Press-Recorder, it also informed Santa Maria Times subscribers that they would no longer receive Monday newspapers. The publishing company says it is adapting to an industry that places more emphasis on digital news. [KSBY]

With the Times Press-Recorder out of circulation, Lee Central Coast Newspapers owns the Santa Maria Times, the Lompoc Record and the Santa Ynez Valley News. Recently, the Lompoc Record print publication was reduced to just Wednesdays and Sundays. The Santa Ynez Valley News is published weekly.

Marga Cooley, the managing editor for the publisher, released a statement saying journalists who work on the Times Press-Recorder are being reassigned to the Santa Ynez Valley News. Subscribers to the Times Press-Recorder are also Santa Maria Times subscribers, and they will continue to receive the Santa Maria paper, Cooley said.

The Times Press-Recorder covered the Five Cities area and South San Luis Obispo County. It shifted from two days a week to one day a week in 2008. The last edition of the newspaper will be printed on Friday.

Annual statements filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission show that the San Luis Obispo Tribunes circulation is also declining. The Tribune’s daily circulation was down from 34,046 in 2011 to 27,281 in 2015. Sunday circulation dropped slightly from 38,408 in 2011 to 38,308 in 2015.

The Tribune’s parent company, McClatchy, operated at a loss of $300 million in 2015, and it concluded the year with approximately $937.3 million in outstanding debt.

As of Dec. 2015, McClatchy’s pension obligations exceeded assets by $464.8 million. In order to keep up on its pension payment obligations, McClatchy transferred ownership of a number of his real estate holdings to the pension fund.


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The daily “print media” is obsolete it terms of timely news and pathetic editorial commentary. It is dyeing except for lingering advertising revenue perpetuated by momentum and not by creativity! The diminishing advertising revenue is being displaced by creative advertising on TV and in weekly print media.


One may be consoled by the fact that nothing is lost – for the print media has served its time – being buried by technology – and the news as it happens dynamically.


The giants of the New York Times, the Washington Post and .McClatchy news organizations (et al) are buried in the dust of progress. Time does march on. Hurst rolls in his grave.


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I stopped subscribing to the SLO Tribune after repeated calls for billing errors.

They adjusted the first one or two, then more errors and no return calls, no adjustment, no mas Tribune.

I would love to support the local paper for many reasons including that particular paper’s view on things.

No way will I tolerate financial schemes which seem to swindle me out of money.

This is NOT capitalism, for the record.


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I stopped subscribing to the online version of the Tribune when they eliminated the anonymous comments. That’s where all the action was. No one posted after you had to give your real name. Boring.


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Were they running Saturday sports results in their Monday edition like the Tribune? This gives politicians more excuses to release new bills on Sunday night.


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The Tribune’s shocking decline from 40000 to 27000 circulation they like to blame on the internet. But that’s not truthful. They’ve killed their own paper. They’ve dumbed it down, fluffed it up, and made it a worthless rag. I don’t subscribe because it’s such a piece of journalistic trash. If it were what it used to be, an in-depth local newspaper that really told us what we need to know, I’d subscribe, Internet or otherwise.


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The Trib’s management wrongfully decided somewhere along the line that news had no place in their newspaper, and wrote their own obituary. Readers seem willing to pay for the news when the news being reported has some value to them. And to get bonafide coastal region news for free? Astounding. Thanks, CCN.


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I stopped subscribing to the Tribune when news was readily available on the internet. It became free, and I didn’t have to fill up the recycle bin with paper. So, in my case it is truthful and it can be blamed on the internet.


But your rant was classic nonetheless. Just remember that your experience is that of one person and does not account for everyone else.


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To be fair, the OP has a valid point, as do you. Think about this: you chose to find your news online: did that include the tribune? Usually the answer is “no” because there are better options available, even when “free” (i.e. CCN, which while free, does ask for donations). So you both are correct.


The Tribune could not compete in the marketplace, whether via print or online, so that is why they are quickly bleeding out whatever revenue source funds them.


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