Sunday, April 13, 2008

Sunday Reading

Some Sundays, the newspaper is so empty that I'm done before my first cup of coffee is gone. This weekend, though, there were lots of good stuff:

* Howard Stutz reports (second item) that Harrah's -- or whatever it's called these days -- has stopped "making the Review-Journal available" to its hotel guests. Stutz surmises it's because of the paper's coverage of the safety-code violations at more than one property. The Harrah's spokesman says it's a "cost-cutting measure." That's odd. What's it cost a company to offer the local newspaper for sale? The real shocker, though, was that the paper only sold 600 copies a day in the eight resorts that has tens of thousands of rooms occupied by twenties of thousands of people. What's THAT tell ya?

* Geoff Schumacher's column today looks at the very Kevin Bacon-ness of Henderson recently banning 18-and-under dance clubs. I hadn't noticed this April 2 news story in the paper, but it's a good one and probably deserves some national attention.

* Hubble Smith of the R-J and In Business Las Vegas had a solid round-up of all the foreign countries buying up Vegas.

* Norm gets threatened by Criss Angel. Don't ask. Just read.

* Liz Benston from the Las Vegas Sun did a really nice job examining the process and the personalities behind a Vegas couple who got rejected by the Gaming Control Board for an unrestricted gaming license. They can't get one of these, despite having a squeaky clean background, but Pansy Ho can? Hmm. (OK, this was Saturday's paper. I just got to it today.)

* Sometimes we're too close to the flame to realize how good a story is. How many times on "The Strip" podcast and elsewhere have we engaged in the parlor game of what other musical act could pull off a Celine-like Vegas run? And then USA Today's weekend edition goes and does exactly that story. Some of the answers from experts may surprise. (Fair warning, USAT's site seems to be down at the moment.)

4 comments:

twallack said...

Wow! 600 copies a day? I had no idea it would be so high.

Seriously, how many tourists care about local Las Vegas news? My guess is the ones that care about news are buying a national paper, such as USA Today, the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times -- assuming one of those papers doesn't come with the room already.

Mike G said...

I agree with Twallack re the 600 copies a day. Tourists all want USA Today. They want a lot of color photos and big easy to read fonts and graphics asking inane rhetorical questions and a monster Sports section. They should revamp the Review Journal and turn it into a combo of USA Today/LV Sun. Burn the RJ name too and just go with the Las Vegas Sun. Make everything as simple as possible, like a penny slot. And then watch sales numbers go up.

THE STRIP PODCAST said...

I agree that not many would be interested in local Vegas news, but the R-J does have a special tourist wrap that gives articles on entertainers, what's happening in town, etc. It doesn't look like the normal newspaper. And, regardless, that 600 copies a day is still pretty pathetic. I mean, we're talking about thousands upon thousands of people.

Anonymous said...

I read the R-J every day online. I always buy the local newspaper in whatever city I travel to. Seeing the ads, the layout and offbeat news stories gives a person a fuller understading of the city. I'm going to Las Vegas this Thursday. Just my luck, I'm staying at the Rio.
Hopefully, Vegas Today & Tommorow can make up a map of R-J locations near Harrah's, er Caesars, properties, much like their Coke vs. Pepsi map.
Jeff Leatherock