Goodbye, Rocky Mountain News

By | February 28, 2009
1 Comment

I always called it “the News” — I thought “the Rocky” was a stupid nickname for a newspaper. But that nickname was an example of marketing that worked. When I first came to Colorado two and a half decades ago, I remember there were either TV or radio ads with a jingle that went:

The News gets Denver up
The News gets Denver up
The News gets Denver up
Every morning!

(Sheesh, I feel like James Lileks rattling something like that off.)

I don’t think that ever caught on. A few years later, they did another set of ads in which locals gave testimonials as to how much they like the paper, with several of these folks referring to the paper as “the Rocky.” I had never heard anyone call it that before those ads — but the last couple of days I’ve hard people all over town lamenting the death of “the Rocky” — so maybe the Rocky Mountain News marketing folks got a meme going, there.

Anyway, it was “the News” to me. It was a two-paper city. You got your Post and you got your News. I liked the News because it was easier to read on public transportation, plus I liked the sports coverage better. On the other hand, the Post had Dilbert. So, you know, that’s something.

I haven’t subscribed to a local paper for years, but I was still sorry to see the News close down after 150 years. It was a real institution.

Also, I can’t help but wonder what the deaths of all these newspapers across the country has to say about my bet with Stephen. Newspapers are going away, but books will still be with us, and will thrive?

I got one US dollar that says so. We shall see.

  • https://www.blog.speculist.com Stephen Gordon

    Maybe ebook devices like the Kindle could actually keep some of these papers alive.

    I don’t know, but I imagine that printing costs must be incredible. What if a substantial chunk of their subscribers could be encouraged to move to edelivery?

    It might pay for these papers to subsidize these devices. Something like “buy a two year esubscription get $50 off the purchase of a Kindle.”

    At present the Kindle only offers subscriptions to 31 newspapers.

    They’re the big ones. The first three listed are “New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USAToday.”

    Unfortunately there’s no midsized town paper like “The Shreveport Times.”

    Give them a year or so. Smart papers will be pushing to get into the Kindle store.