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Papers' circulation dips in hurricanes' wake

Numbers for many state papers were hurt by hurricanes, with exceptions in Orlando and Tampa.

The hurricanes that gave Floridians fits in August and September put a damper on Sunday sales for most of the state's major newspapers. However, the Tampa Tribune and Orlando Sentinel bucked the trend, recording gains for Sunday and weekday editions.

"We were hitting on all cylinders until the hurricanes hit," St. Petersburg Times circulation director Jerry Hill said. Store closings and evacuations hurt sales through stores and vending racks, some subscribers stopped delivery temporarily when they evacuated and some seasonal residents postponed their annual forays south, he said.

Circulation audit rules allow two Sundays to be deleted from the calculations, but three Sundays with poor numbers were part of the averages, Hill said.

The net result: Daily and Sunday circulation were down, though less than 1 percent. The Times' daily circulation was 311,680 for the six-month period ending in September, a decline of 0.9 percent from the same period a year ago. Sunday circulation was 395,973, a loss of 0.4 percent.

The Times remained the state's largest circulation daily newspaper and second largest on Sunday for the circulation report, which is based on data the newspapers submit to the Audit Bureau of Circulations twice a year.

The Tribune had by far the best Sunday showing among the state's major newspapers, selling an average of 7,603 more papers for a total of 293,090, a gain of 2.7 percent. The Sentinel led the daily sales gains, adding 4,338 for a total of 248,492, a gain of 1.8 percent. The Tribune gained 4,005 for a total of 214,269 daily, up 1.9 percent.

"We've seen a rebound in tourism and hotel occupancy here and the number of copies we sell through hotels or that hotels provide their guests has increased," said Bob Eickhoff, the Orlando Sentinel's vice president of circulation and operations.

He said the hurricanes hurt the Sunday circulation numbers but gave the daily circulation a boost because widespread power outages in central Florida made the Sentinel the only source of news for many people.

Eickhoff said the expanded its efforts in direct mail and door-to-door solicitations to compensate for restrictions on telemarketing as a result of the creation of the national do-not-call list.

David Kirkman, circulation director at the attributed his paper's increases to planning and marketing. "It's due to our concentration on our primary market, our marketing efforts, branding campaign and pricing strategy," he said. "Had it not been for the storms, I think we would have been up even more."

The Tribune deleted the same two Sundays from its average as the Times.

Helen Huntley can be reached at huntley@sptimes.com or 727 893-8230.