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There are a multitude of FREE Newspapers throughout Ocean City and I have to be perfectly frank, their print quality is seriously 100% better than the Daily Times, in which you have to pay $ .50 a day for or $1.50 on Sunday.
The information is usually the same, especially based on the fact that one of them, (if not more) are owned by Gannett and they're free.
I got my hands on the second paper shown above and looked at the printing of the photos and thought, how the heck could these guys have a hundred percent better photos and printing than the Daily Times that charges for their paper?
It's no wonder so many people have dumped the Daily Times and have chosen to go to the Blogs instead. In this day and age, the Daily Times should be a free paper, especially since they charge as much as they do for advertising. I mean, that's how the Ocean City Papers can afford to give out so many papers each week.
13 comments:
And, as if those issues weren't enough to cause you to pause, there is the most annoying pop-up on their website, today it's a bright neon yellow for a car dealership, seems to run from your cursor trying to close it. That WAS the last straw for me. Even the enjoyment I get from the crossword puzzle isn't enough to make me go there again.
It depends on the business model. Because OC is a tourist-dependent town, the papers know that many of their readers aren't residents so they don't follow a subscription-based model and make virtually all of their money from advertising. I'd guess that ad rates are set by time of the year as well.
The Daily Times operates more on subscriptions and sells it advertising based on a constant number of readers. Believe it or not, I still think they have more readers on a daily basis than you do. After all, you don't have the comics or the obituaries.
Let me go back to the basics here to start out Michael. First of all, let me try for a second time to get your attention on the QUALITY of their paper verses a FREE paper. I believe the photos I've provided in this article clearly show the quality difference. One would think when you're paying for a newspaper you'd get beter quality than a free paper.
Secondly, let's let the visitors of this site tell you if they like or dislike the Daily Times on line version.
Lastly, how would you know how many people come to my site verses the Daily Times? I can assure you that I get more hits per day than the Daily Times. They go by page views, not actual hits. So their numbers are all screwed up to their advertisers.
Michael, I'll finish with this. I am one person and they are a Staff of 200. Give credit where credit is due. Agree with me or not, I've put a hurting on the Daily Times and I'll be totally honest, you're nowhere near our league, yet you have a lot to say about it. I'm NOT knocking you. I'm simply saying, even those who visit your site, (95% of them) can't get past the first paragraph of most of your articles. Sorry Dude but it's the truth.
Oh, thanks for using your name this time. See, it works and you do get published.
I'm not saying that the Daily Times is of outstanding quality, I'm just supplying my answer to the question that was posed. There's not enough of a population base in Salisbury and the surrounding area for the Daily Times to make it as a free paper. They can't even get their ad paper, the Wicomico Weekly, to me on a regular basis - it truly is distributed weakly.
Joe:
I have been to Ocean City three times in the past week and picked up 'Free Papers' every time.
My impression was the same as yours, higher quality production & higher quality ads.
The 'Indy's' we have advertised auctions with in the past ALL provide superior service and if a mistake was made (rare because they depend upon repeat business) they jumped on fixing it or adjusting the price.
I believe Mr Swartz is wrong in assuming the Indy's don't make money from subscriptions. After dealing with resort real estate for over 20-years I have found many people subsribe to local papers to keep in touch & make purchasing decisions.
Gotta give it to him on the Obit's they are one of the main reasons people over 60 subscribe to local papers.
Perhaps we should start an obit or death notice section of the blogs.
All in All the Gannett Publications on the racks at the beach look like shit compared to the other FREE papers.
The Daily Times has never been a great paper in my opinion. When I moved here from the DC area I killed myself hanging on to the Washington Post and figting to get it sent to my house. I loved and STILL love that paper.
Sadly though, many people subscrive to the DT because there is not real competition here. I live just outside of Salisbury and although we do subscribe to the paper, we use it more as a fire starter and occasional reminder of how crappy the economy is.
It's nice to have a paper you can sit down with and sip your coffee on Sunday morning - unfortunately in this area, the Daily Times leaves you wanting for more. Their writers are lacking and the most poignant articles are the ones with humanitarian value, not the meat and potatos of real news.
Maybe you should start a new local paper, Joe. Clearly there is money to be made through advertising and it would be nice to see some news with substance - and a fine quality paper perhaps... who knows.
There are a number of things in the paper that are not posted on the blog. I read many other things
besides the news or the political
situations .
NEVERMIND, KEEP PAYING FOR CRAP QUALITY AND ENJOY THE CROSSWORD PUZZLES AND COMICS. I FORGOT, THIS IT THE EASTERN SHORE. YOU KNOW, THAT PLACE DONALD SCHAEFER TALKED ABOUT SO ELOQUENTLY, RIGHT?
the pop up's are horrendous. don't they realize that no matter what amount of money they are getting for those ad's that people DO NOT WANT TO SEE THEM. It is so annoying that it makes you not want to go to the site. They are driving people away with those things and they don't even realize it. Also, when it comes to Gannett papers, they crawl into towns that have no media competition and then plant their seed and take over. They can never survive in areas with real newspapers, with real journalists and real news. Their motto is quantity over quality.
Had pop ups got MAC THANK GOD!
Free yes but,be careful they can have the most peculiar odors!
That is if you can get your Daily Times that is paid for already as they take the money automatically out of my checking account. This past week NO paper on Friday, Saturday or Sunday morning. After numerous calls was told District Manager would call me back. Guess what, NO call from district manager either. Finally found my Sunday three hours later in the Driveway, not even in the paper box. They have gone to H--- in a bushel basket.
The free OC papers have always had more in them than the Daily Rag, I miss the Advertiser, it was always fair and more community info in it.
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