Similar to the way it sells network radio, Clear Channel has organized its 71 stations in California into eight statewide advertising networks. Each of the networks groups its stations by demographics, such as the Female Voter Network (23 stations), the 50-Plus Mature Adult Network (26), News/Talk (12) and the Coastal Network (37). Candidates can also purchase individual stations.

Continue ReadingClear Channel Offers New Political Ad Networks in California

With half of all Americans pulling on joysticks and the game industry topping both music and film in total receipts, video games might seem ripe for regular review by AAN papers. But an informal survey conducted by AAN News reveals fewer than a dozen regular columns focused on video games, and more editors and publishers with reasons not to attempt it. "Games have yet to seep into the cultural consciousness and become part of the daily language as movies have," says Village Voice "Joystick" columnist Nick Catucci. "But that's changing."

Continue ReadingAlt-Weekly Video Game Coverage Still in Incipient Stages

National Rifle Association member and right-wing firebrand Bob Barr was hired recently to write a regular column for the Creative Loafing chain's flagship paper in Atlanta. Editor Ken Edelstein hopes that publishing Barr will broaden readers' perspectives -- and spice up the paper. "Alternative newspapers tend to be a bit predictable, and having a guest columnist who adds another dimension is a good thing," he tells AAN News.

Continue ReadingUltra-Conservative Ex-Congressman New Columnist For Creative Loafing

Preliminary data from a report Pew is to release this fall shows pattern in which the older tech elite, ages 42 to 62, are fond of technologies yet fall back on more traditional ways and means of doing things.

Continue ReadingPEW Study: Boomers Prefer Print

Executives at Troy, N.Y.-based PowerOne said when the deals are completed, the company would provide online help-wanted services to papers representing about half of the nation's daily circulation and put it in fourth place behind Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, and HotJobs, in terms of unique visitors to the job sections of its customers' online sites.

Continue ReadingOnline Services Group to Take Over 2 Job Vendors

Two days after reporting that "the paper's freelance writers heaved a sigh of relief" when Salt Lake City Weekly Editor John Yewell was fired, Elaine Jarvik of Deseret News is back to report that her earlier story "prompted other free-lancers to weigh in with praise for their former editor as thorough, honest and hard-hitting." Despite the dueling free-lancers, staff members at City Weekly still chose to remain silent for the record.

Continue ReadingDaily Tells New Story About Yewell Firing

Houston's alternative newsweekly was never an enthusiastic cheerleader for the so-called Houston Miracle, the "public relations barrage" that landed former Houston schools superintendent Rod Paige his job as U.S. secretary of education. So PR whiz Terry Abbott (pictured), "the man behind the curtain of the 'miracle'", last week announced an official policy that he would do his best to ensure that no school district employee ever speaks with the paper. "We just can't get any kind of fair shake out of the Houston Press," says Abbott, whose new policy applies to "a few reporters at other organizations and then the Houston Press in general."

Continue ReadingSchool District Creates Separate Interview Rules For Houston Press