New Star-Bulletin hits snags
By Frank Cho
Advertiser Staff Writer
The new Honolulu Star-Bulletin got off to a rocky start yesterday, publishing its morning and evening editions hours late and leaving some subscribers without their evening papers late last night.
In a statement released at 6 p.m., the newspaper's public relations spokeswoman said it was possible that some subscribers would not get home delivery yesterday. Those subscribers will receive a credit, she said.
Press problems hindered the Star-Bulletin's production, said Ken Berry, publisher of MidWeek, the sister publication of the Star-Bulletin that uses the same Kane'ohe presses.
The Star-Bulletin's public relations spokeswoman said traffic last night also exacerbated the situation by blocking delivery routes.
Berry said he expects the printing problems to be resolved today. He said he wasn't sure how many papers were printed yesterday, but called the problems minor. It was the first day the Star-Bulletin was printed on presses in Kane'ohe and under new ownership.
The Star-Bulletin's delivery problems coincided with a marketing promotion in which The Advertiser delivered its new afternoon edition, published for the first time yesterday, to its Sunday-only subscribers. Some of those subscribers who also receive the Star-Bulletin on weekdays were confused when that paper failed to arrive and The Advertiser's afternoon edition did. Subscribers flooded the Star-Bulletin and The Advertiser switchboards with calls.
Earlier yesterday, Star-Bulletin newsracks in downtown Honolulu and a few other parts of O'ahu stood empty despite the newspaper's launch of a morning edition. Some of the new morning papers bound for the Neighbor Islands missed their flights.
David Black, the Canadian publisher who took control of the Star-Bulletin on Wednesday, acknowledged some of the problems with the new edition. "We certainly short-changed the Neighbor Islands," said Black.
Last night, Black declined to comment about problems with the newspaper's afternoon edition.
Black arranged to buy the Star-Bulletin last November for $10,000 from Liberty Newspapers LP, which announced in September 1999 that it planned to close the paper because of declining circulation.
The Star-Bulletin added the morning edition after 119 years as an afternoon daily to compete with The Advertiser's morning edition.
The Advertiser, which launched its own afternoon paper yesterday to compete with the Star-Bulletin, plans to have a combined average daily circulation of about 155,000, up from the current 110,000 for the morning edition.
The new afternoon edition of The Advertiser hit the streets on O'ahu around 1 p.m. for single-copy sales and home delivery, said Mike Cusato, The Advertiser's vice president of circulation.
Cusato said there were no problems getting the paper to the doorstep of customers because a delivery system already was in place.
Many of the Star-Bulletin's problems started Wednesday night when editors tried to transmit pages for the newspaper's morning edition from the paper's downtown office to its printing press in Kane'ohe 14 miles away, Black said.
The Star-Bulletin had hoped to get 33,000 copies to readers on O'ahu yesterday for its new morning edition, but delays allowed it to print and distribute only 31,000 yesterday, Black said. For the Neighbor Islands, the paper planned to ship 12,000 to 15,000 copies, but sent far fewer because of the missed flights, said Don Kendall, president of O'ahu Publishing, the parent company of the Star-Bulletin. Black has projected a combined weekday circulation of 100,000.
Despite the rough start, the Star-Bulletin is optimistic about its future. "The vast majority of the island had their papers on time," Kendall said. "We are thrilled with the product and the response."
Several readers of the Star-Bulletin's new morning edition yesterday said they liked the new look and are enjoying the media competition.
"I just wanted to see what all the noise was about," said Dan Huffman of Kahalu'u. Huffman, a long-time subscriber to The Advertiser, said he plans to continue his subscription but may also buy the Star-Bulletin to support the paper.
"I do like the color format - it's nice and has lots of pictures," Huffman said, referring to the Star-Bulletin. "But it seems like a lot of fluff."
At a 7-Eleven store in Makaha, assistant manager Angie Simmons said The Advertiser arrived on time, but the Star-Bulletin arrived roughly an hour late.
Simmons said customers have expressed interest in seeing the new editions of both papers.
"I expect to sell more papers," she said.
Frank Cho can be reached by phone at 525-8088, or by e-mail at fcho@honoluluadvertiser.com.
