Everyone has their Achilles heel…
Even if you never heard of George Orwell or his novel, 1984, like my suburban neighbors. That said, the definition is, “a weakness in spite of overall strength, which can lead to a downfall.”
These days Achilles heels are everywhere, even at daily newspapers like the Kansas City Star and Arizona Daily Star. In KC, it was always a given that the comics, puzzles, horoscopes and the microscopically small daily TV listings were of vital importance.
Not to me, except maybe as a child or young adult. I’ll admit to pouring over the Sunday comics and weekly TV grids in search of an odd old movie. It was tedious and time consuming, but hey, that of course was before Al Gore invented the Internet.
I found cartoons like Peanuts, Blondie even Brenda Starr (remember that one?) somewhat tolerable, but never really sank my teeth into crossword puzzles and other games, though I know others did.
As I grew up, I found other distractions far more important. Things like pro wrestling, backgammon and dating, to name three.
That the Star placed such – to me, inexplicable – importance on comics and the like was baffling, but I figured in time, the rest of you would outgrow them as well.
Was I ever wrong.
Fast forward to the present where any number of other distractions take up countless hours of my life. Who has time tiny for black-and-white comic strips anyway?
I’ll tell you who, newspaper readers…and in droves.
Which may explain why many oldsters still venture into their driveways to get what passes for daily news.
And like Art Brisbane and his forebears knew, take them away at your peril.
Because readers will have hissy fits and cancel subscriptions if you mess with them.
Which is exactly what the youthful geniuses at the Arizona Daily Star did recently.
They told readers they were axing a handful of puzzles and shrinking the remaining comics again, and everybody went c-r-a-z-y.
What I viewed as child’s play, was still vital to newspaper readers. Funny, I thought they mainly wanted cutting edge news reporting and opinions. Silly me.
All of the sudden, editors here were backpedaling like mad and publishing angry “letters to the editor”from folks griping about the changes and canceling their subscriptions .
“My parents were civil employees of the federal government during World War II,”
wrote Judi. “They worked in a weather observation station in Cochise.And everyday my dad would walk into the desert along the railroad track to pick up his daily paper after it was thrown from a passing train. That is how long I have experienced having the newspaper in my home. I have now lived through the era of the printed press because I am choosing to let my subscription to the Arizona Daily Star run out. The ‘suits’ of the corporation that owns the Star have decided (we) don’t deserve our puzzles and comics anymore…Color me blue.”
In a letter from Nancy headlined, “Three strikes and you’re out,” she wrote, in Strike One, “My daily paper, which has become more liberal” doesn’t come until far later in the day.
For Strike Two, she groused, “The editorial page is now one full page comprised of hate-filled letters which I can hardly stand to read. (And) the comic section is now only one half page, in lettering which is too small.”
In Strike Three, Nancy said she’s “not sure when the next bone-headed decision will be made, but when it comes my subscription will be canceled.”
Directly across from the full page of angry letters was a lame, full-page ad for the newspaper’s unwanted “This is Tucson” T-shirts, mugs, hats and phone cases. They’ve been running large filler ads trying to unload them for about a year. Kinda like when KC ‘s Star used to run huge ads for Jason’s Whitlock and Joe Posnanski’s boring paperbacks that nobody really much wanted.
Ah, but now, this just in…
“To our readers. Two favorite puzzles are back in Star.”
You got it, Arizona’s “Red Star” will add back two puzzles and run the shrunken comics in “the size and number they are now.”
Exciting, huh?
My old time favorites were Sunday coupons, comics all week and the crossword puzzles. The good ole days of comics are gone and I do miss them. But the good ole days of a newspaper as well are gone. I use to enjoy that two or so hours of dealing with the Sunday paper every week. The online stuff isn’t the same as kicking back in the recliner and enjoying what was once called a newspaper.
Hey Super, time marches on and I’m sure you’ve evolved. Which isn’t to say your nostalgia gene isn’t giving you some trouble.
It just seems strange to me that such a large portion of newspaper readers and subscribers place so much in antiquated stuff like comics, puzzles and tv listings.
They obviously still do, and I know even as recently as 15 years ago, it was considered serious business and something not to be trifled with.
But, today?
On the web comics and such are nearly a 10 Billion dollar business
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-webcomics-subscriptionadvertising-market-report-2022-a-9-99-billion-market-in-20266—new-romantic-comics-gaining-popularity-301618295.html
Not everyone puts away childish things
I guess so…
Hey, trust me, I’ve got more than my share of “childish” things, just not those exact ones!