What is Up With the Toledo Blade? (apartments, how much)

[davidafan]

I haven't heard anything about them struggling financially to the degree that some of the larger papers are, but geez...it keeps getting smaller and smaller, and now the first and second sections are one section. Also, when they sent us our renewal notice, there was no option to renew for any period less than a full year and the price had increased significantly. We cancelled our subscription, but does anyone know what's up? Is it just because of the loss of classified advertising revenue? How much longer is that rag sheet going to last at this rate?

[LiptonGuy]

I just got laid off from The Blade, just a couple months ago. I was there for 9 years. I had been laid off (briefly) a couple times before, but was always called back. This time around, I know for sure I'm done working there.

In my opinion, The Blade will ultimately become a 3-day newspaper, sometime in the next couple years. Sunday for sure. Plus maybe a Wednesday (with a neighbors section) and then maybe a Friday, with restaurant reviews....etc.

Sometime after that, maybe just a "Sunday only" newspaper.

A few more Blade employees got pink slips, within the last few days. People with 10+ years of service. They want to shed 60 more jobs in this latest round of job cuts.

The bottom line is that revenue streams are drying up, for newspapers everywhere. Years ago, people predominately spent money on classified advertising, to sell houses, cars, miscelaneous junk.....and to place help-wanted ads.

Today, people can take care of all this business a lot cheaper (or free) with the internet, than spending a lot of money for newspaper ads, that get little results.....if any.

A couple months ago, a co-worker at The Blade, was telling me he was having a difficult time getting 1 of his apartments rented. He spent money for an ad in the paper to run several days, but received only 1 phone call. I placed his apartment ad on CraigsList (for FREE) and he had a half-dozen phone calls by noon the next day. And the person that ultimately rented his place, was from out of town.

Also, display advertising revenue is drying up. Businesses are spending less on advertising, during these recessionary times.

Circulation numbers are dropping fast. People will cancel their newspaper subscription, before they give up their cable t.v. service or their internet connection. Everytime I see an old person's obituary in the paper, I say to myself....."There goes another Blade subscriber - gone forever."