TKC EXCLUSIVE AND BREAKING NEWS TRASH TALK!!! PITCH INSIDER SAYS KANSAS CITY STAR ONLY HAS TWO YEARS LEFT!!!



There is no solidarity among Kansas City Dead Tree Media newsies.

And here's our quick tidbit for tonight . . .

INSIDERS @ THE PITCH GIVE THE KANSAS CITY STAR ABOUT TWO YEARS UNTIL CIRCULATION DECLINE AND FIRINGS DEVASTATE THE SO-CALLED CIVIC INSTITUTION!!!

The money quote that's exceptionally off-record . . .

"Look at the financials for McClatchy and the rate of layoffs and circulation. The business model just isn't sustainable. They're already talking about another sell-off to a bigger company which will only gut the paper even further. Just wait a couple of years and you'll see some drastic changes ahead for the Star."

Meanwhile, we hear The Pitch is doing well and we notice that they're back to focusing more on music and food which seems to be boosting their social media numbers and inviting more interaction among users.

Also . . .

The Pitch model is a different from the Dead Tree Media daily, like a community newspaper . . . The Pitch is almost an accessory to some of the more trendy places in the metro and the advertiser selection follows the often goofy writing and syndicated content. The Pitch and its parent company don't claim to be a civic institution while hustling sex adverts to accompany Dan Savage writing about dildos.

But I digress . . .

The main point here is that we want to offer a bit of distinction when we talk about Dead Tree Media decline that's hitting The Kansas City Star first and foremost and mostly because of their elitism and arrogance has thwarted their declining biz.

Developing . . .

Comments

  1. Newspaper beef is not delicious. Even when it's on special.

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  2. COMMIE STAR versus BOTELLO'S ARMY11/20/13, 5:44 PM

    BEGIN!

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  3. Whats the new Star building going to be. A homeless shelter?

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  4. Good one. Make a nice hotel when you think about it. Rooms with a view!

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  5. Hotel for what?

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  6. All the International tourists that will be arriving in legion for the chance to ride the toy train. And try out the new water slide.

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  7. Let Me Help You With Your Retirement11/20/13, 5:54 PM

    McClatchy's a good stock buy at 2.89 a share. It's only lost -80.55% of it's value since 2005.

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  8. Shilling for Shills11/20/13, 5:56 PM

    Blow back can be a bitch.

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  9. Brass Villanueva11/20/13, 6:01 PM

    Want to see something funny, as well as extremely revealing?
    Compare the Star to the Oregonian (Portland's paper) online...cities of similar sizes and media markets.
    Are people just inherently different here that we can't even pull off a respectable paper?

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  10. You have to have local ownership to have a respectable paper. I suspect Boulevard will be the next to fall after the Star bites the dust.

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  11. If you subscribe to the Star you get online access exactly like the Oregonian, Olive software and everything, just have to pay here.

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  12. Are they making their mortgage payments on their fancy new building or is that going to be handled for liquidation by the KSPS board?

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  13. The Pitch is Charles Ferruzza, Dan Savage. Lose either, and the Pitch will be history.

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  14. Don't worry were going to become just like Portland as soon as we get the toy train!!!! You don't need a paper with the toy train!

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  15. Sttteeevvvv Gloryasshole11/20/13, 6:14 PM

    Let me tell you how I bought the KC View as my own personal promotional vehicle and to further my personal fortunes. Ha ha ha what a ride. Here have some Bubbly.

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  16. Timmy Truthchurch11/20/13, 6:15 PM

    Maybe the Star should start accepting ads from Tugjob parlours?

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  17. I agree with the Pitch reporter for only one reason.

    The Star's debt structure. Most people don't realize it but KC Star is running a successful print business into the ground by subsidizing horrible opinion writers like Barb Shelly, Mary Sanchez, Lewis Duiguid and Yael Abouhalkah. If the Star trimmed the fat at the top they might be able to survive but at this rate they're just like the clowns at City Hall. It's survival of the un-fittest and only the worst reporters are making the cuts.

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  18. And let me tell you another thing! I abhor anonymous anything — the anonymous Web sites that pop up - and anyone who hates potholes, tax breaks for wealthy developers, low door frames!!!!!!

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  19. Don't forget about logistics. KC is too sprawled to support a downtown paper.

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  20. The Star has leaned left as long as I remember and that's a dying model. If they'd get rid of Yael Abouhalkah, Mary Sanchez and some of the leftists they have working there and take a more centrist viewpoint, the circulation might improve.
    The paper has been groveling for new subscribers for several years and it's just pitiful. The online news cycle is so quick that it's 12 to 24 hours ahead of print. Plus, it's free. The Star's site is awful and if they spend any money, it should be for a complete redo of their website.

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  21. Who's going to take a newspaper seriously who's latest online feature is... Was George Brett the Royals player who inspired Lorde’s monster hit?

    I mean come on already.

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  22. Another factor to take into serious consideration is the dumbing down of Kansas City is not yet complete.

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  23. True, I think we are leading the nation in the dumbing down race to the bottom.

    Detroit of course is already "gone".

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  24. City Kansas, no 1 on the race to the bottom.

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  25. CK! Look out below!!!

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  26. The Star longs for the days when KCMO, especially downtown, was the center of the universe and they were right in the middle of it.
    Unfortunately, things haven't been that way for around 60 years, but Star "news" is still based on every piddly event at 12th and Oak and every D-List celebrity or activist who's looking for some free publcity.
    And 85% of the population of the metro could care less.

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  27. The power players will probably launder and kite taxpayer dollars to keep their propaganda paper afloat if it comes down to it. What would they do without the Star to keep all their bullshit covered?



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  28. The comments with regard to lower circulation being directly related to the quality of the "Journalists" who work for the paper is dead on the money.

    The incessant "Hate Whitey" drumbeat of writers like Duiguid in conjuction with such a dramatically liberal agenda leaves the Red Star an object of revulsion amongst an older demographic, which is exactly what the Red Star's target audience should be.

    The Red Star's ability to reinvent itself while hanging on to an older demographic while the process is taking place, is diminished by it's inability to shift to center politically.

    Fuck 'em and let them eat shit.

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  29. Let Me Help You With Your Retirement11/20/13, 7:25 PM

    Again just a reminder. McClatchy's a good stock buy at 2.89 a share. It's only lost -80.55% of it's value since 2005.

    This is type of stock Buffet likes to jump on. Stocks of failing company's!

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  30. Thanks for the tip but I think I'll pass on you helping me out of my retirement.

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  31. 1.1 Nelson family ownership (1880–1926)

    1.2 Employee ownership (1926–1977)

    1.3 Corporate Ownership (1977 – present)-- R.I.P.

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  32. Two years is more time than the Pitch should have ever gotten.....

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  33. Knight Ridder's legacy is a massive $199 million, two-block long, glass-enclosed printing and distribution plant on the northeast side of the Star's landmark red brick headquarters at 1729 Grand Avenue. The plant began printing in June 2006. It took nearly four years to build, and is considered a major part of the effort to revitalize downtown Kansas City.

    Oh revitalize huh? $199 million for that?

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  34. Yes I'm sure they are paying their fair share of property taxes on a $199 Million dollar property. LOL

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  35. I got some money. Wanna bet it's still here in two years? Maybe that fuck head Glazer wants a tease??? I know Tony doesn't believe the shit he spews!

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  36. OCTOBER 18, 2013
    From ljworld.com

    Officials of The World Company, the parent company of the Lawrence Journal-World, announced today that for the first time in 122 years, the Journal-World will be printed at an off-site location. The current production plant at 608 Massachusetts St. will be closed Jan. 14, 2014, with the paper to be printed at the Kansas City Star in Kansas City, Mo.

    Well they are getting some outsourcing work maybe that will help. Feel sorry for the suckers losing their jobs in Lawrence though.

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  37. 6:15 came close to making this point, but let me drive it home; in a time when the Kansas City Star should have been evaluating ways to adjust their business model to adapt to the changing technology and readership climate, they spent $200M to build a giant new facility that was supposed to generate growth and create buzz, but they've been laying columnists off left and right ever since.

    In the meantime, through editorials and other exciting sounding stories, they're encouraging/enabling City Hall to ignore the changing population and interests of the city, and instead, spend $102M+ to build a tiny new streetcar that is supposed to generate economic development and create buzz, but they're already laying off City Hall employees and are looking for new places to cut spending or grab additional funding, like from the general fund or police and fire fighter pensions.

    The KCBJ took their place as the best source of city government and business news years ago, and The Pitch will most likely thrive with less competition, to write more of their in-depth coverage of local stories. We'll still get the murder reports and special interest gossip from the television media. I honestly can say that I don't believe the Star will be missed too much.

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  38. The McClatchy Company (MNI) NYSE

    Operating Income
    Yr. ending
    12-26-10 238,883,000
    12-25-11 201,315,000
    12-30-12 186,136,000
    2013 is continuing the trend

    I found the following footnote buried in the latest EDGAR financial filing:

    "McClatchy anticipates additional savings with the ongoing program of employee retirement plan asset swaps with additionally created Class B non-voting no-recourse shares."

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  39. Asset Swaps

    ROFLMAO

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  40. Asset swaps... Kinnda like kick the can? Sounds like government double talk.

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  41. I used to love the Times and the Star. I read both of them every day. I haven't picked up a star in years. I get more local news on TKC!

    Sad to see the demise of a once good paper.

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  42. Fire Yael and the entire editorial board. Dissolve the Star and bring in competent journalists who report on issues after researching them, not just taking hand-feeding from Sly, Sanders, and other politicos.

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  43. Tony, you gonna start remodeling the basement to make room for your 3 buddies Mary, Mike Hendricks and Hoopz to help you with TKC?

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  44. The Star will survive, even if the actual newspaper folds.

    For you numbnuts out there who are dumbass idiots and have what is called tunnel vision, I give you two words...

    Regional Distribution

    Google it.

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  45. Oh yes, we all remember how accurate and well-sourced your SOMETIME LATER THIS YEAR THE STAR WILL STOP PUBLISHING AS MANY AS THREE OF THEIR DAILY EDITIONS!!! exclusive was, almost five years ago.

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  46. 8:58 comment

    He/she shoots and SCORES!!!! Good one!

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  47. Ahhhhh....The Star needs to be history as payment for the likes of Gregg Clark and Mike Rice.

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  48. I'd like to inform the people who think Kansas City is the center of the universe and that all our issues are unique to Kansas City that the problem of declining newspaper circulation and revenues is industry wide.

    Once strong, powerful and highly profitable newspapers in cities both large and small are pushing the panic button in the Internet Age.

    The problems besetting the Star are hardly unique to the Star.

    And its a problem that even predates the Internet, which is why you find so few evening newspapers printed any more, and so few two-newspaper cities.

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  49. Llanview, PA has TWO newspapers. Yes, Victoria Lord (owner of the Banner) had to borrow five million dollars from her husband to fund the paper to avoid lay-offs, but she did it and refused to sell out.

    And The Kansas City Star gets thinner and thinner every day. And on Sundays the only thing worth looking at is the ads. The Banner has breaking news all the time.

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  50. They've had every opportunity to be a real source of reporting and news. Instead, they choose to kiss the asses of politian's that pay their bar tabs. Every crook in the metro can depend on their support. Two more years will keep this city on the path of failure.

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  51. I threw the Times and the Star when I was a kid. My feeling is that if the Star hadn't gotten so political, this never would've happened. Yes, print media is dying, but the pathetic CONTENT of the paper is killing it quickly. Yael is an absolute FOOL, as are most of the remaining writers. The Sunday paper is 95% advertisements and has no real news. The want-ad section used to be two inches thick....now it's just a few pages, with almost zero jobs in 'help wanted.' We haven't subscribed in over ten years, but now and then we'll buy a paper to use for starting our BBQ grill fire. Aside from that, and lining birdcages, it's pretty much useless, big ugly new green glass house/factory not withstanding.

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  52. If the Star, as in the whole company did go under and their 2 block long production facility does close, that would mean the death of the Pitch, as the Star prints it.

    The Star also prints The Wall Street Journal, The Topeka Capitol Journal, The Olathe Daily News, The Cass County Democrat, Sports Authority, The UMKC paper, The Ink, an assortment of Spanish language tabs such as Mi Raza and will soon be printing the Lawrence Journal World, The Daily Kansan and the USA Today.

    Because the Star does print all that shit, that is what keeps them and McClatchy afloat.

    The actual newspaper could very well shut down one of these day, but that production facility will keep chugging along.

    I have no idea why so many people, especially TKC readers look at that big green building as their idea of the Star.

    It's just a building full of presses, pre-press equipment, stackers and inserters and the space to warehouse ink, newsprint and hundreds of skids of ads that come in every week from outside sources.

    It's not the Star. It does not have offices for any writers, editorial staff, the publisher or anyone else that you whine about when you read the Star.

    It only has production workers and the production staff needed to print stuff, insert stuff and load and unload trucks.

    The Star you are thinking of is in a big 'ol brick building on 18th and Grand.

    Yael or Mary Sanchez couldn't get in that big green building even if they wanted to, without someone letting them in and escorting them around. Their key cards don't work on that building. They do not have access.

    Like V said, It's only a building, but maybe it does represent something to the dumb-down readers of TKC.

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  53. Btw, especially to Mr. El Bryan.

    If Knight-Ridder, who owned the Star at the time, did not build that big green building and fill it full of new presses and the other equipment inside it, the Star would of ceased to exist in 2006.

    And so would all the other newspapers that they print or will be printing in the future.

    Newspaper presses are extremely expensive. The Star is only following the reality of today's newspaper business model. Regional Distribution.

    As more and more newspapers are forced to face the fact that their presses are old and obsolete and can't print the color needed to attract advertisers, they have to see if they can afford to buy new presses or not. Most can't afford new presses. They then look for another company to print their paper for them. that's where the Star comes in.

    Regional distribution is a proven and winning business model that is already all over Europe, Asia, The Mid-East, Africa, the East and West Coasts of the U.S. and in Canada. It is now coming to the less densely populated areas of the U.S. as well.

    The Star, owned by Knight-Ridder at the time, built that building and bought the equipment to fill it at exactly the right time to do it.

    The problem they ran into after building it was they didn't have enough work to keep the 140 plus Pressmen that they needed on the old presses, working and the new presses didn't require the manpower needed at the old plant.

    The old presses required at least an 8 man crew at the minimum. On the new presses, you really don't need more than 4.

    They ended up letting go of over half of their pressmen, either through retirements or buyout's based on seniority.

    They now face the problem of an mostly older group of press operators getting older and retiring. They are gonna be in a real pickle in the coming years trying to replace those press operators.

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  54. Good info and interesting, thanks. Can't imagine press operator is a profession many young folk are considering right there with reporter or steel worker.

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  55. coffee press is the job for youth!

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