OD to Outsource printing

[lioneljoe]

I'm surprised that no one has commented on this yet... Perhaps because so few even read the OD anymore.

"The Observer-Dispatch will be switching to a new format and full color reproduction with conversion to a new printing facility beginning June 22. The O-D is owned by GateHouse Media.

Donna M. Donovan, President and Publisher of the Observer-Dispatch, said the newspaper will be contracting with Gannett Central New York to print the O-D at their plant in Johnson City. The new production facility also will handle all mechanical work to insert advertising and other supplements...The new O-D will be streamlined and printed on a narrower roll of newsprint, Donovan said, similar to the format used by USA Today""
More here: www.uticaod.com/latestnews/x1796495123/O-D-plans-new-format-with-sharp-high-quality-color

No one knows what it will look like until it gets here but some of the effects include:

-Smaller, narrower print (which should go over great with the older crowd)

-Layoffs in the printing department and advertising department

-Removal of two comic strips that will no longer fit into the new format.

[pops69]

It's probably the older crowd that subscribes to the O D anyway. If Gatehouse alienates them the rag will fold in a month. For cryin'-out-loud, I can hardly see the newsprint now ! If I want a mini-paper I'll read the Pennysaver !

[Deleted]

The only part of the OD worth a read is the local and the OBITS. THey are not always up to date with the local stuff but then again what really goes on locally!

[Clipper]

Our newspaper here in Bristol went to a modern, German made, high speed press a couple years ago. The changes were as the OD describes. Smaller print, narrower newsprint rolls, enhanced color, and all the rest.

I am not a fan of small print, but the difference in prints size was not really that noticeable and didn't cause me any discomfort or problem reading.

It has been 10 or 11 years since I worked at the OD and the press was in sad shape when I was there. If you have taken notice, there has been WAAAYYY too many mornings when they had to offer the E Edtion for free to those that didn't receive a paper, or received it very late.

My sympathy is with the extremely talented and dedicated press room crew, who would work from 8PM until sometimes 8 or 9 AM to insure that the paper got on the street, and that the press was repaired and ready to go for the next night's edition.

It is the sad end to a great printed newspaper when it no longer is printed locally. We are looking at the end of an era, and soon the OD will be competing with UDN for the online news business, with no printed paper advantage in marketing.

When winter comes, trucking the papers from Johnson City, Binghamton area will be a nightmare when roads are bad. You will get a paper even later than when the OD press problems make it late now. It has been looked at way back when I worked there. There WILL be times when weather on Paris Hill or coming up I81 to Syracuse will prevent the paper from being delivered at all.

When Gannett still owned the OD, they also owned the Ithaca Journal. They looked at one time at combining all their eggs in one basket in Johnson City, and the logistics made it less than desirable at the time. Some customer service functions went to Ithaca for a while but were brought back when it didn't work out as planned.

Next question is this: Are they going to shut down printing operations completely or are they going to continue to print the penny savers and the valley papers in Utica?

Many proposals have been tossed around over the years. When I was there, there was talk of a new press and a new off site printing and distribution facility. With declining circulation, that was scrapped. That is what Media General did here. We have a printing plant in the industrial park outside of the city and everything is transmitted on line to that facility from the offices and newsroom downtown for printing and distribution.

Get used to reading stale outdated news. By the time the OD gets it to you from the Southern tier you will have seen it on TV or online anyhow. You will be reading yesterday's news tomorrow.

It is a very sad beginning of the end for a wonderful old newspaper with a rich history that goes back to the Utica Saturday Globe, and the !880's. As a young man, I would never have foreseen the demise of printed news. Progress is sometimes cruel. A great American institution is becoming a victim of obsolescence.

[firstamendment]

Newspapers are a dying industry, right along with video rental stores. The internet is slowly pushing them into obsolesence...

Ironic that they are contracting with Gannett when they used to be a Gannett newspaper before Gatehouse.