POST GOES WEEKLY...NOT WEAKLY

12-11-2009

The Birmingham Post publishes its first weekly edition today after breaking with 150 years of tradition and scrapping daily publication.  Editor Marc Reeves admits the experiment has “got to work” to ensure the paper’s survival.

Sounding upbeat as the paper went to press last night, Reeves said:  “Because we’ve got less space in overall terms, we’ve had to be quite ruthless about what leave in and what we leave out – become more discerning I suppose.

“We’ve got a good interview with Mike Whitby, a good take on Business Link and one or two exclusives as well”.

The revamped paper costs £1 and boasts 160 pages of editorial in addition to supplements devoted to Marketing Birmingham, plus residential and commercial property.

Reeves estimates that the Post’s beefed up online coverage has attracted 25-30% extra traffic since the daily print edition ended last week but he believes growth is also possible with the newspaper.

“The Bath Chronicle made a similar change just over a year ago,” he says. 

“They put on from 12,000 sales as a daily to 18,000 weekly.  We’re not predicting anything like that, but the fact that we’ll be in the newsagents on a Thursday, Friday and at the weekend can only help us.”

He admits that from a business perspective the change has “got to work”, not only for Trinity Mirror shareholders but for the good of the city and the region.

“If you [The Stirrer] and we weren’t prodding about, just look at the crap the Council and AWM would be getting away with.”

HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEW WEEKLY BIRMINGHAM POST?  LEAVE YOUR VERDICT ON THE STIRRER FORUM