Local papers

The writing could be on the wall for many local papers because of poor circulation figures
Would you miss the Observer or the Post if they got the chop

In 2007 UK newspapers and magazines attracted £7.1 billion of advertising revenue out of a total of £17 billion advertising spend.
In 2022 it was £2 billion out of a total spend of £35 billion. Google, Facebook and their subsidiaries accounted for £15 billion of ad. spend. They steal the news items from papers and grab the advertising on the back of it.
Unless the US media giants are required to pay a levy to support the UK newspapers in lieu of the stories they lift the outlook for our press is bleak

I haven't read a newspaper in years, but I think it would be sad if the Observer was to cease publication. It's been going for about 170 years now, so it would be a tragedy if people couldn't read it any longer.

Bluddy technology! It's taking over our lives completely and, I know I'm using a computer to moan about that, but where will it all end? What's it going to be like in 25 or 50 years from now? People will lose the art of using a pen and paper; books will no longer exist; English language has already begun to change with stupid words that nobody heard of 10 years ago; and so on. I know change is inevitable but, luckily, I won't be here to see it.

Keep our local newspapers on the presses.

Its not just newspapers Mollie, its mags and everything written , In my work we used to go in a builders merchants or a plumbers merchants and ask for and a competent sales person , we called them counter rats, would walk in the ' back' and get it, Then came the catalogue stores where, the counter rat was now a ' item number' colleague, We had to look up the item number of the plumbing part and the person serving would get it, Now that has gone on another level where, Today I walked in screwfix for a plumbing part and now the catalogs have gone and you go to a screen and search the part online and tap ' get' then pay by card, then go to the counter super rat to collect the part,
Jeeeesus Aicth Priest,,,,,,,,, Today is the last time I do that, I spent a full morning doing a half hour job,,

I remember my grandads outside closet as he used to call it. News of the World cut into squares and threaded on string. It was very disappointing
when you found a juicy story but couldn't find the next piece to continue reading.

Tom:

Yes, and that’s another thing about technology. Back in the 60s I worked in King Street, next door but one to Chamberlain’s music shop. I wanted to buy a particular LP by Roy Orbison called Crying so I went downstairs to where they sold records and asked the “old” lady at the counter if she could order it for me. Well, as a 17 year old she was old to me. I remember her clearly as she was very fragile looking, had grey hair tied up in a bun at the top of her head so, to me, she was old.

There were no computers back then, but she hauled out this huge ledger – must have been at least eight inches thick - and found what I wanted within seconds. She told me that the LP had now been withdrawn from British sales BUT, she said she’d make some enquiries. Anyway, there was just one left in the UK and she got it for me. That’s how things worked back then.

First Mate:

Yes, I remember those squares of newspaper in the lavvy at the bottom of the yard. Problem was, if it was damp, you got yesterday’s news tattooed on your bum! Not sure what that has to do with technology, but has a lot to do with the way things used to be and, in many ways, it was better. I no longer have a mobile phone, but most folk can’t actually survive or live without one now, especially the young kids who have one permanently stuck to their ears, which is not good, as they emit a small amount of radiation but, over years of use, what is that going to do to their brains?

I know we’re perhaps drifting a bit from I-Spy’s original post, but it’s a sign of the times that’s affecting our everyday lives without us gradually having to accept that change. We’re all from a different era that we’ve been used to all our lives, and I can imagine our grannies – well, mine anyway – found it hard to accept changes as well. My granny would have read the Observer in the late 1800s, and she only had gas lighting and candles in her home until she moved in her 80s, so that would have been a big change for her, but that would have been a welcome one that she found fascinating, along with the advent of radio and TV.

double post

Like a lot of people I cannot remember the last time I bought a local paper.Some people used to buy the Lancs Evening post every day and the Wigan Observer mid week .The Post is now £1-20 a day and the Wigan Observer is £1-80 so you could spend nearly a TENNER on old news which you can get instantly on lineI also stopped buying a daily national paper in 1992 when Fergie was plastered over half of the newspaper having her toes sucked and also cancelled at the same time 2 magazines which my wife used to flick through but never really read.

My Dad used to make logs out of the old news papers, there was never a shortage of . reporters , Observers and daily tabloids, He would soak the news papers in a barrel of water, Then load them into a gadget he made . A 3 inch steel tube with a lever that moved a plate to press the water out of the paper and would form a paper log, After drying out , He then burned the logs in the fire at home and his stove in his shed and greenhouse stove too, those logs would burn for ages and gave out a lot of heat, They would not allow that kind of re cycling today because it would be against the law of, Getting summut for nowt and fuel tax avoidance

I think a lot of the tabloids are contributing to there own downfall by allowing their newspapers to be available free online.
Ive never fully understood this?
I know they generate online income from paywalled content subscriptions but I would have thought that can't compensate them for the lack of actual product sales, although it does help them.

Maybe if the good old paper boy was resurrected sales would improve.
A lot of people don't have a nearby newsagent, and some are unable to get to one. In fact, there are hardly any newsagents around these days! Most newspapers are sold in supermarkets or a local Premier / McColls, etc.

Now, if you want to read any local news, you have to look at a website and if you want to view the news etc, you have to pay a subscription because the newspaper proprietors say they are not gettingh enough income from advertisements.

All very well for those with a PC etc and prepare to pay the subscription, but not very good for the those who have not got the technology, especially if there is no alternative of a paper newspaper available.

I think most people have a TV you can get the news any time òf day

When they stopped printing the Wigan Examiner mi gradma said wheer art we going ger are clean table cloths

Posted by: bentlegs (5310)
"I think most people have a TV you can get the news any time òf day"

You can't get all local news any time of day on TV

If you use the buses, there are free local paper for you to take,

I don't think I've ever read a paper paper. I get my news online / phone / TV. Even the online newspapers are behind the current news on social media.

Is tomplum still delivering papers for arfur How much do paperlads/lassies get paid these days.?

I was a paperboy

Yes Tommy I was too, at the age of 13 we had to have a medical first and get a cert from the skool and then I got a job in Sixsmiths on Bryn Street, Next to the Oirish club in Ashton . I got 12/6d per week for a 5 day week and I wanted to do the week end paper too but, He told me that I'm only allowed to do, the 5 days because child slavery had been abolished,

A medical certificate ?

Give over

I kid you not tommy 2 stoke, Sixsmith would only employ a 13 year old, or older with a certificate issued from the , Queen St clinic in Ashton with certified the holder to be fit enough in body and mind to deliver papers and competent to ride a cycle in all weathers with an attitude of a Canadian Mountie to achieve his mission whatever the rigors of nature would hazard his journey, I passed with flying colours and furthermore, achieved status of, head paper boy 1966 in the,
Global Golden EMI, paper boy awards of the year,
Which gained me my own sign written bag and a 2 bob raise per week,

Our youngest son used to deliver the Sunday papers but only took 12/14 papers because of the weight of the papers with all of the supplements which came with the Sunday papers

PeterP

Speaking has a former Paper Boy, your son must have been delivering to a posh area