Keeping Tabs On The Tabloids
Posted on | May 2, 2008 at 8:13 pm | 4 Comments
Our local alternative weekly (alternative to what? aren’t all weekly tabloids about the same? maybe they should be called “liberal weeklies”?) Westword underwent a dramatic size reduction starting with this week’s issue. Instead of the standard tabloid size of 10.5″ wide by 13.25″ tall, it’s now only 12″ tall:
Now it’s practically swimming in the large newspaper boxes and bins where they are distributed. The strange thing is that there is no mention or explanation of it in the issue itself or on the website. There may’ve been some advance warning in the previous issue, but I don’t remember seeing it. This is the same newspaper that is always making a big deal about the downsizing (less page count, more ads, staff reductions) at the city’s daily periodicals, so I find it strange they let their own reduction go unexplained. But again, maybe I just missed it somewhere.
That said, I kind of like the new size. It definitely makes reading it easier at my desk or at a restaurant table. Still I wonder what’s behind it. Did all the Village Voice Media/New Times weeklies go to this new format or was it just Westword? You folks in other cities will have to let me know. How about it, SF Weekly? Seattle Weekly? Nashville Scene?
Latre.
P.S. The Rocky Mountain News, one of the few tabloid-sized dailies left in the country, remains the standard tabloid size (except for the Saturday combined Denver Post JOA edition, which is the full sheet size). I love that, which is one reason I stick to the RMN instead of switching to the Denver Post. It’s much easier to read on my breakfast bar.
Note: I haven’t been jogging lately, since I’ve had some weird feverish ailment all week. That seems to be slacking off though, so hopefully I can start running again soon.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “unattached hair phobia”.
Comments
4 Responses to “Keeping Tabs On The Tabloids”
May 3rd, 2008 @ 7:21 am
I had to stop reading the Rocky Mountain News. I figured having that much smoke blown up my butt couldn’t be good for someone with a family history of cancer. Now I get my news from BBC America and the internet.
May 3rd, 2008 @ 1:32 pm
The SF Weekly and San Francisco Bay Guardian are both 12″ as well. I do remember the Bay Guardian going from the larger format to the smaller one a year or so ago (there was an explanation about how it would save them $$ because of the cost of newsprint), but I think the SF Weekly has always been this size, or at least it has been for such a long time that I can’t remember it ever having been larger.
May 6th, 2008 @ 11:07 am
Westword’s May 1 size reduction was much less drastic than the change made eighteen months ago, when the Rocky Mountain News changed sizes — and since we printed there, we had to change size, too. This last change trimmed an inch in height; we’re now on a 48-inch web, which I think you’ll find is pretty much the standard for alternative papers across the country — including those owned by Village Voice Media. There are always variations, of course, because of the 120-plus alternatives in the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, maybe one owns a press — and the rest must work with whatever sizes their printer has available. (I think this is the eighth size Westword has been since we started thirty years ago.)
feel free to contact me at patricia.calhoun@westword.com if you have more questions.
May 6th, 2008 @ 11:31 am
Thanks for the explanation, Patricia. (For those who don’t know: Ms Calhoun is the editor of Westword.) As I said, I do like the new size and it makes it even easier to get my weekly lunchtime Westword-reading fix.