Escondido Daily to Add Morning Paper for Racks; All-Day Format Considered

The Escondido Times-Advocate has announced plans for a morning edition to be sold at news racks that company officials said could open the door to an all-day format for the afternoon daily.

Publisher John Armstrong said Friday that the newspaper will launch an early-morning edition Dec. 9 that will be available at news racks and newsstands at local convenience stores.

He said the possibility of the paper changing to an all-day format--with home delivery of all editions--is still under consideration. “We’re not ready to make that commitment right now,” he said.

The 82-year-old Times-Advocate, which was purchased in 1977 by the Chicago Tribune Co., has a daily circulation of 43,424 and a Sunday circulation of 45,444. More than 85% of the newspaper sales come through home delivery, the rest from single-copy sales.

Officials at the paper have researched a continuing national trend that has seen numerous afternoon newspapers either fold or combine with their morning counterparts.

Last year, the Oceanside Blade-Citizen, another North County afternoon daily, made the transition to a morning format. In February, the San Diego Tribune will merge with larger San Diego Union to provide an all-day format for the Copley flagship newspapers.

“Our studies have told us that some people want to get the Times-Advocate in the morning,” Armstrong said. “And anyway, the overall trend is toward morning newspapers, and that’s been an influence.”

Armstrong said the Times-Advocate is also hiring several new editors and reporters to beef up both its local and business coverage. Although he refused to say how many new employees will be added to his staff of 50 editorial workers, a newsroom employee said the paper was looking to hire two new reporters and one editorial assistant.

On Friday morning, the day after the new venture was announced in staff meetings, officials at the paper directed staff members not to talk publicly about developments at the paper.

Employees, who asked not to be identified, said Times-Advocate officials eventually plan to phase the newspaper into a morning-only format and will begin working out any problems with the expected changeover of carrier staffs.

The employees also said the paper would not be in any financial position to hire laid-off Union-Tribune reporters. The San Diego papers expect to lose as many as 139 newsroom employees in the merger.

The Times-Advocate, the newsroom employees said, simply could not match the salaries of the Union-Tribune, where top-scale reporters earn $45,000 annually or more. Many Times-Advocate reporters earn half that amount, they said.

In the Times-Advocate newsroom, some welcomed the new product, but others said the night hours required to produce a morning edition could cut into time spent with their families.

“People are generally happy that something new is happening,” said one newsroom employee. “But nobody knows what the new schedules will be like or how they’re going to affect us.”