SPOTLIGHT ON BUCKS
Times Publishing Newspapers, Inc.
About 30 years ago, while working at a daily newspaper in Lancaster, PA, Donna Allen began to see a wave of newspaper failures and a new way forward in the publishing business.
“Newspaper circulation was on the decline in the late 80’s and early 90’s,” Donna explained. “As a regional manager of co-op advertising, I also began to see a decline in corporate advertising in pass-through vendor support and small business advertising including mom & pop shops.”
Later in her work in the Philadelphia publishing market, again the writing was on the wall. “People didn’t like the negativity nor the large geographical coverage,” she explained.
“Advertising clients would say… ‘why would a I want to advertise 25 miles away from my store when people will only drive 5 miles for a pizza?’ as a frequent response … or … ‘I hate all the bad news and sensational stories they cover.’”
“I’d always find the ‘feel-good’ stories coming over the fax, just landed in the trash.”