Before you know it we'll be printing on ticker tape

The Visalia (Calif.) Times-Delta and Tulare (Calif.) Advance-Register converted to 44-inch-wide webs, in the process becoming the first North American broadsheets to adopt the narrower format.

The Gannett Co. Inc. dailies made the switch Aug. 6, according to Amy Pack, president and publisher of the papers.

The Times-Delta and Advance-Register didn’t make any major changes in their design to accommodate the narrower pages, Pack said, outside of moving a few features from the classified section into the comics page.

The news hole, she said, remained virtually the same. “We had maybe a net loss of 30 words, which we have been able to get back by tweaking some of the breakout elements,” she said.

Although the Times-Delta and Advance-Register are the first Gannett papers to convert to 11-inch-wide pages, they may not be the last.

Austin Ryan, Gannett’s vice president of production, said Gannett is conducting a site-by-site evaluation of its other papers to see if a similar change to 44-inch-wide webs can be made in those markets. “In those markets where we feel it’s doable we are making the change.” The evaluation covers both singlewide and doublewide press sites, he said.

The Times-Delta and Advance-Register’s moves to 11-inch-wide pages reflects the increasing pressure U.S. publishers are under to keep a tighter rein on newsprint costs. Pack said she expects to reduce the papers’ annual newsprint consumption by more than 5 percent.
Getting thinner

North American newspapers have been reducing their page widths at an accelerated pace over the last several years. Some milestones:

•1992 — Toronto Star first paper to adopt 50-inch web.

•2004 — News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., first to move to 48 inches.

•2005 — The Bismarck (N.D.) Tribune first to move to 46 inches.

•2006 — Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind., switches to Berliner format that features cutoff of 18.5 inches and web width of 48 inches.

•2007 — The Visalia (Calif.) Times-Dispatch and Tulare (Calif.) Advance-Register first to move to 44 inches.