Afternoon Papers Have Fallen Victim To Modern Times -- Most Big Dailies Now Publish In Morning

Publishing an afternoon newspaper in a major American city has become a losing proposition.

With its announcement yesterday that it would become a morning paper and compete directly with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Seattle Times joined a growing number of big-city afternoon dailies that have either shifted to the morning or stopped their presses permanently.

Industry experts say longer commutes, hectic work schedules, the Internet and television have all put pressure on afternoon newspapers, contributing to their steady decline the past 20 years.

"In Grandpa's day, Grandpa came home from the steel mill or the office, put on bedroom slippers, curled up with the evening paper, and Mom brought a glass of milk," said Marshall Loeb, editor of the Columbia Journalism Review. "Now, not only Dad comes home, Mom and Dad come home, the kids are just back from day care and there are a million things to do. Then there's the seduction of television."

Not all afternoon newspapers are following the Hula-Hoop to the history pages that recount America's bygone passions. It just seems that way, because the decline of afternoon newspapers has been so dramatic.

In 1950, there were more than four times as many afternoon papers as morning ones. Now their numbers are nearly even.

And the most obvious decline has come from the country's largest afternoon dailies. Afternoon newspapers are now largely a phenomenon of small towns or rural communities, with fewer than a dozen remaining in big cities.

Seattle Times Publisher Frank Blethen said The Times could have survived in its afternoon position for a number of years, but it would have taken a significant capital investment - $150 million to $200 million for a new printing plant - to overcome rush-hour traffic and other obstacles that have made it increasingly difficult and costly to distribute a paper in the afternoon.

In 1991, The Herald of Everett made a similar assessment and moved into a morning position. Publisher Larry Hanson said traffic gridlock was the biggest factor.

"The competition with school buses and commuting really makes it a challenge to distribute in the afternoon," he said. "The message was pretty clear that if you are going to grow, you better be a morning newspaper."

The Denver Post moved to mornings nearly a decade ago and has since overtaken the Rocky Mountain News in their circulation battle.

"People don't have the leisure or take the leisure to read afternoon newspapers," said Dennis Britton, editor-in-chief of The Post. "The appetite for what's in the morning papers is greater."

The remaining big-city afternoon dailies know they are fighting a tough battle. In San Francisco, the afternoon Examiner is nearing the end of its joint operating agreement with the morning Chronicle. In 2005, both papers will be free to publish whenever they want.

"It's anybody's guess what's going to happen," said Tim White, editor and publisher of the Examiner. "It's going to be wild and woolly."

Some industry experts say that although The Times had been successfully bucking the national trend by maintaining its lead over the P-I, it was inevitable that the challenges of publishing an afternoon paper would catch up with it.

"In larger cities, there is no future" for afternoon papers, said John Morton, president of Morton Research, a newspaper-consulting firm. Morton said The Times was able to maintain its position longer than most afternoon dailies because of its close-in suburbs and because its time cycle was favorable to same-day East Coast news. Others say the large number of Boeing workers, who got off work in the midafternoon, helped to keep circulation strong.

But Blethen attributed The Times' strong position to its established place in the community.

In the end, even that wouldn't be enough, the experts said.

Stephen Lacy, acting director of the Michigan State University School of Journalism, said afternoon dailies simply don't fit the lifestyle of most city dwellers. Americans work harder, commute longer distances and have less time in the evening and much more competition for their attention from other news sources.

"It's simply a matter of demand," Lacy said.

Susan Byrnes' phone message number is 206-464-2189. Her e-mail address is: sbyrnes@seattletimes.com