The Providence Journal’s advertising sales dropped again during the first three months of this year, as Rhode Island’s statewide daily newspaper reported losses in nearly every type of notice.

The Journal’s advertising revenue was down 15% between Jan. 1 and March 31 compared with the same period in 2012, parent company A.H. Belo disclosed in an SEC filing. Quarterly ad sales fell to $9.6 million, or $1.7 million below last year’s level.

Total first-quarter revenue at The Journal from all sources was down 9% from 2013, falling to $20.6 million, thanks to a 10% increase in its contracts to print and distribute other newspapers. Circulation revenue fell 7% to $8 million.

“In Providence we got off to a bumpy start for a variety of reasons,” A.H. Belo CEO Robert Decherd told investors in a conference call last week. He said some of The Journal’s promotional plans for the start of the year were hamstrung by the winter storms that hit Rhode Island.

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The Providence Journal’s Sunday print circulation fell 10% during the six months ended March 31, figures released Tuesday showed, as the newspaper’s parent company reported a first-quarter loss of $8 million.

The Journal’s print circulation on Sundays – the most lucrative edition of the week for most papers – totaled 109,516 copies, down by 12,763 since March 2012, the Alliance for Audited Media (formerly the Audit Bureau of Circulations) reported Tuesday morning.

The Projo sold an average of 79,244 traditional print editions on weekdays between Oct. 1 and March 31, a decrease of 6,252 from a year earlier and 45% fewer than in September 2007.

Saturday circulation dipped below 100,000 for the first time, falling by 10,484 to 98,651. Weekday circulation fell below 100,000 for the first time in 2010. The overall pace of circulation loss has slowed since 2009-10, when the annual rate of decline on Sundays peaked at 17%.

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Robert Decherd

The Providence Journal’s parent company gave its top executives pay raises and $1.7 million in bonuses in 2012 as they eked out an annual profit for the first time.

A.H. Belo awarded CEO Robert Decherd $1.9 million in 2012, up from $1.6 million in 2011 and $499,180 in 2009, according to a Securities & Exchange Commission filing.

Decherd’s compensation included a $567,692 salary, bumped up from $480,000 in 2011; $705,678 in cash bonuses; $487,500 in stock awards; and $127,139 in other benefits, including $7,920 for life insurance. Decherd is also A.H. Belo’s chairman and president.

In addition, the Dallas-based company said it paid Executive Vice President James Moroney $1.4 million in 2012, up from $1.1 million in 2011; Chief Financial Officer Alison Engel $805,490, up from $626,091; and Senior Vice President Daniel Blizzard $557,672, up from $424,991. Former executive John McKeon received $272,286 before his departure last April.

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By Ted Nesi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The Providence Journal’s revenue losses nearly stopped in 2012 as significant growth in the company’s contracts for printing and distribution helped offset dwindling advertising and declining circulation.

The Journal’s revenue totaled $93.8 million in 2012, according to an SEC filing by its parent company A.H. Belo. The 1.4% decrease compared with 2011 was the newspaper’s smallest in at least eight years. Total Journal revenue has plummeted 43% since 2005, when the paper pulled in $165.6 million.

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The Providence Journal laid off at least 23 of its roughly 460 employees this week as the paper struggles to stop a continuing decline in its circulation numbers and advertising sales.

The Journal said on its website 23 full-time workers lost their jobs Wednesday on top of the 11 who accepted a voluntary buyout in September. No reporters or columnists were laid off, and the paper said the cuts would have “minimal impact” on its news coverage. Three photographers reportedly lost their jobs.

Separately, Journal parent company A.H. Belo disclosed that the Providence paper’s total advertising revenue fell 13% compared with last year during the three months ended Sept. 30, to $10.5 million. The paper’s overall revenue rose 0.7% to $23 million as circulation and printing/distribution sales improved.

A.H. Belo CEO Robert Decherd told investors the Dallas-based company’s revenue picture worsened in October. “It’s been a little bit choppier in October and I couldn’t begin to tell you what will happen in November,” he said last week. “We’re definitely seeing a softer market in all three [A.H. Belo] markets – well, Providence and Dallas; Riverside is holding its own.”

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The Providence Journal’s print circulation fell 7% during the six months ended Sept. 30 as subscriptions to its new electronic edition rose past 4,000.

The Journal sold an average of 83,733 traditional print copies on weekdays between April 1 and Sept. 30, a decrease of 6,352 from the same period a year earlier, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported Tuesday.

The Journal said its total average weekly circulation was 114,303 when “branded editions” are included, which would include its free ProjoExpress publication. The Audit Bureau changed its rules in 2011 to count those.

The Projo’s print circulation on Sundays – the most lucrative edition of the week for most papers – totaled 117,784 copies, a drop of 11,240 since the September 2011 report. Saturday circulation fell by 9,117 copies, from 115,892 to 106,775.

ProvidenceJournal.com had 1.2 million unique visitors as of March 31, up from 868,693 in the six months ended March 31 and matching the audience for the old Projo.com a year ago, the Audit Bureau said.

The Journal reported 4,224 subscriptions to its e-edition, broken out as 1,398 on weekdays, 1,411 on Saturdays and 1,415 on Sundays.

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The Providence Journal is set to lay off more than a dozen employees during the first week of November, according to the president of the newspaper’s largest union.

Providence Newspaper Guild president John Hill told WPRI.com he was informed late Wednesday by Journal executives that the paper had “a dismal October revenue experience” and they’ve decided the only option is to reduce headcount permanently.

“The advertising market is so uncertain,” Hill said Friday. “They do not have confidence in their ability to predict revenue at this point.”

Journal executives are still seeking $1.2 million in savings, which the Guild estimates will require the elimination of roughly 16 of its members’ jobs. The terms of its contract gives the publisher “complete discretion” over the size of the paper’s staff, he said.

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The Providence Journal’s executives are seeking about $1.2 million in concessions from their workers to deal with falling advertising revenue, a person familiar with the matter told WPRI.com on Thursday.

It’s estimated reaching that level of savings would require around 15 layoffs, but it’s unclear whether those will be ordered or if the paper’s union will get the chance to make an alternative offer, the person said.

Messages were left with Providence Newspaper Guild President John Hill seeking more information. The Journal’s work force has shrunk by a third since 2008 to an estimated 468 employees, about 220 of whom are members of the Providence Newspaper Guild.

Update: The Providence Phoenix’s Dave Scharfenberg has more information.

• Related: Union: Providence Journal to disclose plan for layoffs Tuesday (Oct. 5)

The leader of The Providence Journal’s largest union hadn’t heard anything as of late Tuesday afternoon about whether the company will order layoffs or take other action to deal with falling advertising revenue.

Providence Newspaper Guild President John Hill told WPRI.com he hadn’t been contacted by the company’s executives as of 5:15 p.m. Last week, Hill said Journal executives told him they’d disclose today how many employees they’re looking to lay off.

Asked if he still expected to receive word on Tuesday, Hill said: “I don’t expect anything one way or the other. I don’t know what to tell you.” Journal employees have been anxiously awaiting news, and Hill’s union has asked to discuss other concessions that could be made to avoid layoffs.

• Related: Union: Providence Journal to disclose plan for layoffs Tuesday (Oct. 5)

The Providence Journal is exploring a $10 million sale-leaseback deal for its historic headquarters on Fountain Street, executives disclosed last week.

Dallas-based parent company A.H. Belo has valued The Journal’s “non-core” real estate holdings in Providence at $18.85 million, executives said last Thursday in a presentation at its annual investor day.

The Journal currently occupies the entire five-story 75 Fountain St. building, which was built in 1932 and has 160,000 square feet of space that could be rented. The company wants to sell the building for about $10 million, then lease half of it to run the newspaper.

“A recent space-planning study confirmed that The Journal could fit on the top two floors, thereby freeing up the lower two floors for redevelopment,” Dan Blizzard, A.H. Belo’s senior vice president, told investors. “The building is currently being offered for sale on a sale-leaseback basis to a select group of potential buyers.”

The Journal is also trying to sell three parking lots worth a combined $4.85 million and a vacant inserting facility worth $4 million. Blizzard said the paper’s production plant is not for sale. In 2010 the company tried to get the city to buy the Fountain Street building for $9.75 million or lease it for $1.17 million annually.

Separately, Journal publisher Howard Sutton briefly summarized the paywall system the paper launched last February, noting that it differs significantly from that of sister paper The Dallas Morning News.

Sutton said the strategy has three goals: to “stabilize print circulation; increase value for subscribers by launching the e-edition and other value-added products; [and] maintain a vibrant online community.” He didn’t offer any details on the impact of the paywall thus far.

• Related: Union: Providence Journal to disclose plan for layoffs Tuesday (Oct. 5)

(photo: A.H. Belo)

An earlier version of this story incorrectly described The Journal’s building as four stories.

The Providence Journal’s top executives will disclose on Tuesday how many employees they’re looking to lay off to deal with its falling advertising revenue, according to the president of the paper’s largest union.

Providence Newspaper Guild President John Hill told WPRI.com he’s been told management will call him Tuesday and provide the number of layoffs it’s expecting to order to reach a certain level of savings.

“And the question will be, how do we achieve those savings?” Hill said. “Do they achieve it by laying people off or do they achieve it by bargaining concessions?” Hill has said repeatedly he wants to sit down with the paper’s management to discuss alternatives to layoffs before they make a move.

“If it’s a number that’s worth five jobs or if it’s a number that’s worth 35 jobs – that’s a completely different conversation,” he said. “We don’t know what we can or should do until we know what that is.” The Guild is surveying its members to see what they would be willing to give up to forestall layoffs.

Hill described the mood inside the newsroom as anxious. “Everybody’s stretched like a snare drum on this,” he said. But he also expressed hope that this morning’s better-than-expected employment report could be a sign the national recovery is picking up steam, which will eventually boost Rhode Island as well.

The Journal’s work force has shrunk by a third to an estimated 468 employees since 2008.

• Related: Projo union may offer concessions to avoid newspaper layoffs (Sept. 14)

More than half a dozen Providence Journal employees are ready to accept a buyout offer from the company and depart their jobs on Sept. 30, according to the newspaper’s largest union.

Journal management has informed the Providence Newspaper Guild that four of the union’s members requested buyouts – two editorial staffers and two advertising staffers, union president John Hill told WPRI.com. The deadline to apply for a buyout was 5 p.m. Monday.

Management also said more than four managers who aren’t Guild members requested buyouts, but the company won’t release the number until Tuesday morning after taking time to review whether any of them are essential to the paper’s functions, according to Hill.

Though no specific target was set, Journal management told the union earlier this month the paper needed “significantly more” than eight employees to volunteer for the buyouts in order to avoid layoffs.

The union isn’t releasing the names of which employees took the buyouts, and Hill cautioned his colleagues about what they’re hearing. “Until things are officially announced, they’re not official – there’s a lot of rumors going around and a lot of them are not correct,” he said.

The Journal’s work force has shrunk by a third to 468 employees since 2008.

• Related: Projo union may offer concessions to avoid newspaper layoffs (Sept. 14)

By Ted Nesi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The Providence Journal’s largest union says it may consider offering contract concessions such as temporary pay cuts in order to avoid layoffs if too few employees accept the voluntary buyout offer put forward last week.

In a letter sent Friday, the Providence Newspaper Guild asked Journal management for a chance to discuss other ways of saving money before the company moves forward with layoffs. Employees must volunteer to take the buyout by Monday and have been warned layoffs could follow if too few accept it.

Guild president John Hill acknowledged it would be new territory for his union to reopen a contract that was already ratified, and he emphasized that no offers can be made until he formally surveys his roughly 220 members to see what they would be willing to accept.

“We want to see if there’s something we can do,” Hill told WPRI.com. Journal management has indicated that it won’t be able to respond to the Guild with specifics until the first week of October, he said. The union would need to vote to approve any deal on concessions.

Hill described the mood in the newsroom as “tense and anxious” with a few days left before Monday afternoon’s deadline to volunteer to leave with a buyout. “The people who are most vulnerable [to layoffs] are some of our best – we’re going to build a future on these guys,” he said. “We’ll lose the seed corn if this goes through.”

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By Ted Nesi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The Providence Journal will cut an undetermined number of employees this month through buyouts or layoffs, according to the largest union at Rhode Island’s statewide daily.

The Providence Newspaper Guild said Friday management has told union officials the paper will offer “a new round of buyouts, and warned layoffs are possible if enough employees don’t accept them.”

The deadline for workers to request a buyout is Monday, Sept. 17. Eligibility will be determined by seniority, though exceptions may be made for workers in key jobs. The Journal’s work force fell by a third to 468 employees between 2008 and 2011.

Union president John Hill told WPRI.com he’s pressed executives to put a specific number on how many staff members they need to shed, but Journal management has only told him they want “significantly more” than the eight cuts they targeted in last December’s buyout round.

That “is making it difficult for us,” Hill said. “A number would help us communicate the seriousness, the magnitude of what we’re confronting.” Journal publisher Howard Sutton did not respond to a request for comment.

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By Ted Nesi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – A growing number of contracts for printing and distribution gave The Providence Journal a slight bump in revenue during the first half of this year despite a deep drop in springtime advertising revenue.

The Journal’s total revenue rose to $46.7 million during the six months of 2012, an increase of $597,000 or 1.3% compared with the first half of last year, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing this week by its parent company A.H. Belo.

The share of total Journal revenue that came from advertising fell below 50%, a symbolically important milestone in light of newspapers’ historic reliance on advertisements to pay the newsroom’s bills. Printing and distribution contracts’ share of revenue jumped to 13% and circulation accounted for 37%.

The Journal is one of many papers with a changing revenue mix, said Ken Doctor, a media analyst with Outsell. “All are seeing rapidly increasing percentile contributions from circulation – or what we should call reader revenue,” he told WPRI.com. “Projo is at the leading edge of change, probably due more to ad decline than [its] digital circulation program.”

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NPR slighted a legendary Rhode Island journalist this week.

Appearing on “Morning Edition” Monday to promote his new book, Wall Street Journal economics editor David Wessel had this exchange with host Renee Montagne (emphasis mine):

MONTAGNE: In your book, you write about a prominent Republican politician who made headlines for the taxes he did not pay on his wealth, and that would be Richard Nixon, 1973. Tell us that story.

WESSEL: It’s an amazing story that I had no knowledge of until I started working on the book. Richard Nixon, who did not have to disclose his tax returns as a candidate was embarrassed when his tax returns were leaked, and there were stories actually in the Wall Street Journal that revealed that in 1970, 1971, and 1972, he had total income of nearly $800,000 and he had just paid $5,000 in combined federal income taxes. And that turned out to be a huge scandal at the time.

A lot of focus on this, and in fact, it was that report that led Richard Nixon to utter his famous words: I am not a crook. What followed that was: I’ve earned everything I got. That was a response to questions from newspaper reporters and editors about his tax returns, and in the end he had to pay a lot of back taxes. But that’s kind of lost to history because the Watergate scandal obscured it.

Say what?

As just about anybody in the Rhode Island press corps could tell NPR, Nixon’s taxes were actually uncovered and “revealed” in The Providence Journal by the late Jack White, who founded the paper’s investigative unit and later had an Emmy-winning career here at WPRI 12. (He’s also the father of my colleague Tim White.)

Don’t take my word for it – take the Pulitzer Prize committee’s, which awarded White a Pulitzer on May 6, 1974, in honor of “his initiative in exclusively disclosing President Nixon’s Federal income tax payments in 1970 and 1971″ (emphasis mine). Jack even held his bombshell story while Projo reporters were on strike, praying the whole time that a big paper – like, say, The Wall Street Journal – wouldn’t scoop him.

This isn’t the first time Jack White and the Projo have gotten snubbed in the national press over the Nixon tax story. In 2005, the AP was forced to run a clarification after wrongly giving a different journalist credit for getting Nixon to say “I’m not a crook” in response to the story. (It was Projo editor Joseph Ungaro.)

Wessel didn’t reply to a tweet asking why he attributed the Nixon story to his paper. It’s a small thing, perhaps, but big papers like The Wall Street Journal get enough glory without taking credit from enterprising journalists at the state and local level.

Update: Wessel just tweeted a link to this post to his nearly 30,000 followers and commented: “I stand corrected.” Read his Capital column or “Red Ink” to show your appreciation.

• Related: Jack and Tim White’s 35-year project unlocks Bonded Vault (Dec. 19, 2010)

(photo: WPRI 12)

By Ted Nesi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The Providence Journal’s finances brightened during the first three months of this year, as the paper used higher circulation revenue and more third-party printing work to offset another sharp drop in advertising.

The Journal’s revenue totaled $22.7 million in the three months ended March 31, up 3% from $22 million in the same period last year, according to a regulatory filing. That performance helped offset weakness elsewhere within its Dallas-based parent A. H. Belo, which said companywide revenue slid 7% in the first quarter.

The Journal’s first-quarter contract work nearly doubled to $2.8 million year-over-year as the paper distributed more national and local newspapers and landed new commercial printing jobs. The paper’s circulation revenue also posted a healthy gain of nearly 6%, rising to $8.6 million.

Advertising is no longer the bedrock of The Journal’s business that it once was, contributing only 49.5% of total revenue in the first quarter. Ad sales through March 31 fell to $11.2 million, down nearly 10% from a year earlier, with declines in all categories. Digital advertising on ProvidenceJournal.com slipped 7% to $1.5 million compared with 2011.

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The Providence Journal’s print circulation fell almost 7% during the six months ended March 31 as it sold fewer than 300 subscriptions to its new electronic edition.

The Journal sold an average of 85,496 traditional print copies on weekdays between Oct. 1 and March 31, a decrease of 6,311 from the same period a year earlier, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported Tuesday.

The Journal said its total average weekly circulation was 114,013 when “branded editions” are included, which would include its free ProjoExpress publication. The Audit Bureau changed its rules in 2011 to count those.

The Projo’s print circulation on Sundays - the most lucrative edition of the week for most papers – totaled 122,279 copies, a drop of 8,380 since the March 2011 report. Saturday circulation fell by 7,676 copies, from 116,811 to 109,135.

ProvidenceJournal.com had 868,693 unique visitors as of March 31, down from 1.2 million for the old Projo.com in the six months ended Sept. 30, the Audit Bureau said. That echoes other estimates showing traffic down by about a third.

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The Providence Journal’s parent company, A.H. Belo, shaved its top executives’ compensation in 2011 after more than doubling their pay in 2010, according to a Securities & Exchange Commission filing.

A.H. Belo awarded CEO Robert Decherd $1.6 million last year, down 14% from $1.9 million in 2010, and up 222% from $499,180 in 2009, the filing said.

Decherd’s pay included a $480,000 salary, $899,997 in stock awards, a $168,474 cash bonus and $61,441 in other benefits. Decherd’s salary rose to $600,000 a year effective this month, a separate filing said.

The Dallas-based company awarded Executive Vice President James Moroney $1.1 million in 2011, down from $1.3 million in 2010; Chief Financial Officer Alison Engel $626,091, down from $800,001; Senior Vice President Daniel Blizzard $424,991, down from $575,000; and departing executive John McKeon $891,788, down from $1.3 million. The first three executives’  base salaries also increased this month.

A.H. Belo posted a net loss of $10.9 million in 2011, compared with a net loss of $124.2 million in 2010, as revenue fell 5% to $461.5 million. The company’s stock is down almost 3% this year based on Tuesday’s closing price of $4.62 a share, after declining 45% in 2011.

• Related: Projo parent AH Belo’s board awards big raises to top bosses (March 20)

(chart: DailyFinance)

If you’re like me, you may be having a little trouble keeping straight all the twists and turns of the scandal engulfing the Institute for International Sport.

I mentioned Wednesday that the Hartford Courant has all its institute stories in one place. A Journal tipster reveals our paper of record now has a special page of its own with direct links to the full print versions of its staff’s institute stories (as opposed to the truncated blog posts), which is great news.

Check it out here - if you scroll down to the “Stories from The Journal” area you can get the institute stories that ran in the paper from Feb. 10 through March 12. This may be a sign of flexibility in Projo management’s back-to-print strategy, as well, though it doesn’t appear Google can spider the eEdition.

Top executives at The Providence Journal’s parent company, A.H. Belo, are getting big pay raises despite a 45% decline in the publisher’s stock price during 2011, the fourth straight year it lost money.

The compensation committee of A.H. Belo’s board of directors awarded the largest increase to CEO Robert Decherd. His annual base salary will jump 25% to $600,000 in April, the Dallas-based company said in an SEC filing. Decherd is chairman of the board.

In addition, A.H. Belo said Dallas Morning News publisher Jim Moroney’s base salary will increase 15.5% to $540,000; Chief Financial Officer Alison Engel’s will increase 8.3% to $325,000; and senior vice president Daniel Blizzard’s will increase 12% to $280,000. Their total compensation for 2011 will be reported later this spring.

John Hill, president of the Providence Newspaper Guild union, said the four executives “should be ashamed of themselves” for taking more money less than a year after laying off and buying out Journal staffers. The paper’s work force fell by a third between 2008 and 2011. The Guild signed a new contract in February 2011.

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You may have heard President Obama made fun of President Rutherford B. Hayes on Thursday for reportedly saying about the telephone: “It’s a great invention but who would ever want to use one?” You may have also heard that Obama got his facts wrong. But did you hear an ancient article from our own local daily corrected him?

Here’s New York magazine:

We thought it was a bit unsporting of Obama to attack President Hayes, who is quite unable to respond. So we called up the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, Ohio, where Nan Card, the curator of manuscripts, was plenty willing to correct Obama’s ignorance of White House history. Just as soon as she finished chuckling. …

She then read aloud a newspaper article from June 29, 1877, which describes Hayes’s delight upon first experiencing the magic of the telephone. The Providence Journal story reported that as Hayes listened on the phone, “a gradually increasing smile wreathe[d] his lips and wonder shone in his eyes more and more.” Hayes took the phone from his ear, “looked at it a moment in surprise and remarked, ‘That is wonderful.’”

As far as I know, the June 29, 1877, edition of the Projo is not available as an eEdition.

By Ted Nesi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Advertising sales at The Providence Journal plunged by more than 60% over the last six years, forcing Rhode Island’s top newspaper to eliminate a third of its work force and to rely increasingly on subscribers and printing contracts to pay the bills.

The Journal’s total revenue dropped for a sixth straight year in 2011 to finish at $95.1 million, down 5% from 2010 and off 43% since 2005, parent company A.H. Belo disclosed in an SEC filing. Lower advertising and circulation sales were partly offset by $3 million in new printing and distribution contracts.

Journal publisher Howard Sutton declined to comment on the results. “The printed Journal has adapted to changing times, intensifying its focus on local and regional news and carefully managing its cost structure to match lower revenues,” A.H. Belo CEO Robert Decherd wrote in an op-ed on Feb. 26.

The Journal sold $52.9 million worth of advertising in 2011, down 11% from the prior year, with retail, preprint and digital lower but classifieds higher. Advertising has fallen a dizzying 61% at the paper since hitting $136.5 million in 2005, though last year’s percentage decrease was the smallest since 2007.

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The Providence Journal will start charging online readers Tuesday, doubling down on its strategy of selling a digital replica of the print edition rather than using an HTML-based paywall like those of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal said it will create 10 subscription tiers on Tuesday. A seven-day digital-only subscription will cost $208 a year for the Web and iPad e-editions or $192 a year for the iPad e-edition alone through Apple’s App Store. A seven-day subscription to both the print edition and the e-edition will cost $416 a year, unchanged from the current price, effectively making it free to current subscribers. A weekend print subscription with seven-day digital access will cost $312 a year.

The Boston Globe charges the same price – $208 a year – for digital access to its new website without a print subscription. The New York Times charges $195 a year for full access to its website and smartphone apps.

The Journal’s new e-edition designed by Olive Software has been available as a free trial since Oct. 17, when the paper launched its new website, which also offers brief blog items and sports stories for free. The paper’s online traffic has declined 33% since the new site debuted. The paper has not created iPhone or Android apps and did not say whether those will be added.

(more…)

A.H. Belo executives gave no explanation Tuesday for why The Providence Journal’s sales trailed those of its two sister papers in 2011 and didn’t say if they’re satisfied with the response to its new website.

In a short conference call with investors, A.H. Belo CEO Robert Decherd and his management team outlined no plans for the Providence paper and didn’t indicate when the company expects to start charging Web and iPad readers for its new electronic edition created by Olive Software. The company’s Dallas Morning News flagship started charging last March.

Only one investor asked A.H. Belo executives questions during Tuesday’s call. Chief Financial Officer Alison Engel promised “a robust update” about its “subscriber content strategy” on its next investor call, which will likely happen in April or May. An executive said in November The Journal will launch its paywall this year.

The Journal suffered the largest year-over-year drop in advertising revenue during the fourth quarter among A.H. Belo’s three papers, the company said. Ad sales surpassed expectations at the Morning News and Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif., during the three months ended Dec. 31, Decherd said.

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My colleague Tony Petrarca reminded me this evening that today marks 34 years since the Blizzard of ’78. Remember when it used to snow here?

Providence got a record-breaking 27.6 inches of snow. The images from the storm we saw in Governor Garrahy’s obituary are still astonishing. Here’s the cover of the old Evening-Bulletin’s “snow edition” 34 years ago today (via Quahog.org):

The storm was so epic that the Projo actually published a hardcover book recapping it, “Blizzard: The Great Storm of ’78 as Reported in the Pages of The Providence Journal and The Evening Bulletin.” You can still buy the Projo’s book used for $15 on Amazon. Nowadays they’d publish a Kindle Single.

(As an aside, what are we going to show to mark historical events if we stop printing daily newspapers? A screenshot? An iPad?)

The Providence Journal’s new website is drawing a smaller online audience than the one it replaced in October, according to two companies that track Internet traffic.

The total number of visitors and page views to ProvidenceJournal.com/Projo.com were both down 32% in the 10 weeks ended Dec. 24 compared with the 10 weeks before the new website launched, figures from Experian Hitwise show. The paper switched to the new, scaled-down ProvidenceJournal.com site on Oct. 17.

ProvidenceJournal.com/Projo.com averaged 300,241 U.S. visitors a week between Oct. 22 and Dec. 24, down from Projo.com’s 439,013 weekly average between Aug. 13 and Oct. 15, Hitwise said. Average weekly page views declined from 1.3 million to 884,706 over the same period.

Separate figures from Nielsen also showed a decline in The Journal’s Web audience.

(more…)

Veteran Providence Journal columnist Froma Harrop, in her capacity as president of the National Conference of Editorial Writers, got the “Daily Show” treatment last night from John Oliver – who apparently was right here in Providence at some point recently:

(I didn’t realize how fancy the Projo staff’s offices are.)

This is the third time The Journal and Rhode Island have provided fodder for Jon Stewart’s show lately, following the holiday tree debate and Stewart’s subsequent PolitiFact’ing.

(h/t: Felice Freyer)

The press corps at Rhode Island’s State House just got a little smaller.

The Newport Daily News will not send longtime political reporter Joe Baker to Providence to cover this year’s session of the General Assembly that began Tuesday for the first time in memory, WPRI.com confirmed on Thursday. Baker, who joined the paper in January 1984, is no longer writing his political column but remains on staff.

Daily News editor Sheila Mullowney minced no words about the decision, describing it as a disappointing move and one of a number the paper’s parent company is making to deal with the financial challenges facing print media. She said she hopes the absence of a Daily News reporter at the State House is only temporary.

“We feel right now we can’t afford to send somebody to Providence during the session,” Mullowney, a former president of both the Rhode Island Press Association and the New England Associated Press News Executives Association, told WPRI.com. “It’s unfortunate. It’s not an easy decision to make.” Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed herself is from Newport.

(more…)

It’s looking like 2012 may be a make-or-break year in the long history of The Providence Journal.

With revenue and circulation still falling precipitously, the Projo is poised to bet big on pushing readers back to print by forcing those who want all its content to either subscribe to the print edition or read it in an electronic format that’s an exact digital replica of the dead tree version.

The strategy is risky, to say the least. The new ProvidenceJournal.com’s debut was met with withering criticism, including from the paper’s own commenters. The e-edition software developed by Olive Interactive remains buggy (the share tools stopped working on Firefox 8 for Mac earlier this month) and its article pages don’t even say that you’re reading a Providence Journal story. There are still no Projo iPhone or Android apps. It’s all a marked contrast with the award-winning new BostonGlobe.com, also launched this fall and also charging readers.

Journal management is notoriously tight-lipped, so it’s hard to judge if the new website is meeting their expectations. Compete.com says the paper’s unique visitors on the Web plunged from 425,486 in September (on Projo.com) to 233,091 in November (on ProvidenceJournal.com). But take that with a grain of salt, since Compete’s numbers are notoriously unreliable.

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