‘Byte Buyer’ Challenged by New Computer Paper

Despite an industry slump, a Sacramento-based publishing company is banking that there are enough computer users and advertisers in San Diego to support another publication devoted solely to computer news and advertising.

GMW Communications will introduce on Wednesday the southern edition of California Computer News, a two-year-old monthly newspaper with a free circulation in Northern California of about 36,000. The new publication will be challenging The Byte Buyer, a two-year-old San Diego-based publication with a free circulation of about 30,000.

California Computer News Publisher Dennis McKenna acknowledged that although California Computer News is not in direct editorial competition with The Byte Buyer, the two publications will be competing for the same pot of advertising dollars.

That pot includes a growing number of dollars that are generated by computer manufacturers and chain stores that previously funneled their advertising through general circulation newspapers and national computer magazines.

Founders of both The Byte Buyer and California Computer News said their publications’ futures are linked to landing those advertising dollars.

Although The Byte Buyer has attracted advertising from smaller companies, founder and publisher Jack Dunning acknowledged that the twice-monthly magazine has not been as successful when it comes to drawing advertising from the chain stores and manufacturers.

“We used to think that it was critical to get those ads,” said Dunning. “But the backbone of our business is the small, local businesses because we work well for them. We can survive fine without the big ones, although obviously we’d like them to recognize what we can do for them.”

McKenna said he expects California Computer News’ Southern California edition to reach a circulation of 40,000 within one year, which would give the newspaper a statewide circulation of about 80,000.

As for expanding during a slump, McKenna noted that “although the industry isn’t in the (sales) whirlwind that it was six to 12 months ago, the need for computer systems is still there.”

“There’s a shakeout going on, no doubt about it,” Dunning agreed. “We’d probably be growing faster if it wasn’t going on.”

McKenna and Dunning suggested that although the sales slump is hurting some manufacturers and store operators, others are boosting advertising expenditures in order to weather the storm.

Editorially, the two publications are worlds apart.

California Computer News, a tabloid, uses staff and contributing writers who turn out “newsy” articles that appeal to a broad range of computer users. The Byte Buyer, which settled into a magazine format, uses free-lance writers for articles that are written for computer neophytes.

“That is really a deliberate approach,” Dunning said. “When we grow we expect we might put a little technical editorial in, but we don’t want to scare off the neophytes.”

“What we’re trying to do with our publication is totally different than The Byte Buyer,” McKenna said. “We will have regional news, and a lot of legislative and regulatory news as it relates to computers and computer users.”

California Computer News, which started out in 1983 as a Sacramento Valley newspaper, switched to a broader distribution in March.

Interestingly, California Computer News turned to Reece Franklin, founder and publisher of the now-defunct San Diego Computer News, to serve as its “Southern California regional manager.” Franklin’s company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy in April following less than two years on the San Diego scene.

Although McKenna acknowledged that the California Computer News publication is “similar” to Franklin’s old publication, he predicted the new arrival will succeed.

“We’ve been very successful in managing (the change from Sacramento Valley Computer News to) California Computer News,” he said. “We have a formula that worked very well for us in Northern California and feel we can translate that to San Diego.”

McKenna reported that representatives from local computer publications in several California cities have met to discuss forming a statewide advertising network. “That never came together because the publications are quite different,” McKenna said.