The team behind abortive plans to set up thrice-weekly newspaper in a seaside town has launched a monthly magazine in its place.
Scarborough seemed set for a good old-fashioned newspaper circulation battle last year after Johnston Press-owned daily the Scarborough Evening News went weekly.
Shortly afterwards, plans were unveiled for the launch of a new thrice-weekly newspaper called Scarborough Voice, with a potential March 2013 launch date.
However the Scarbrorough Voice team decided to scale back its plans and has now launched the title as a a new free magazine with a print run of 15,000.
The new A4 title replaces the monthly Scarborough Advertiser, which appeared in A5 format and was mainly advertising-led.
Editor Steven Thurston said the decision had been taken to focus on good news stories in order to present a positive view of the town.
He told HTFP: “This new publication is going to concentrate on the best of Scarborough, with positive news and events that are coming up in the local area.
“The initial reaction has been overwhelmingly positive for this new publication, and I see it going from strength to strength in the months and years to come.”
The magazine will be distributed free to the residents and businesses in Scarborough.
Last week’s ABC figures showed that circulation of the Scarborough News, having peaked at 16,736 after its weekly relaunch, is now down to 14,806, although that is still significantly more than the 9,914 it was selling as a daily.
Also fighting for readers in Scarborough is former SEN sports reporter Pete Spence who plans to launch a new independent weekly title for the town in the coming months.
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Wow it looks really good!
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Seriously hoping SubBeGoodToMe is being sarcastic.
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Well its niceto see something new come out after all the news that we have all be hearing about, to be honest good luck to the Voice, like the website too looks vvery interesting too.
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Not for me. The Scarborough News (and its website) has deteriorated since launch and I really hoped the Scarborough Voice would fill the void. Unfortunately, this hasn’t happened.
What we need is a publication that isn’t afraid of taking the council to task, and not pandering to its advertisers.
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I like it.
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It’s a free magazine so why wouldn’t you put a digital version up on the website for others to view it or have I missed this somewhere in the site?
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Not only does it look pretty good, it will attract advertising, I expect, and be kept and referred to for nights out/local traders/coffee table reading for the duration of its shelf life, not binned like a newspaper after a couple of days. Every town should have a (good!) one. In fact, I’m surprised that JP haven’t thought of it already. Oh wait… they did in my town, and it was glorious and colourful and interesting. Then they knocked it on the head.
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Just went on website – looks more like a student mag, a bad one at that.
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The “good news only” line has been tried before & failed, dismally, every time. For one thing there’s never enough of it to fill the pages and for another, it’s usually boring & unexciting. Pity they look like being too scared to be a proper Scarborough scandal sheet (and I don’t mean the mayor with his pants down, I mean Cllr whatever with his hands in the till)
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I was being sarcastic!
It is looks abysmal
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GladImOutOfit, SubBeGoodToMe and the other detractors, you are the reason the UK newspaper industry is in dire straits. You guys need to stay in your caves, and let the Steven Thurston’s of this world get on with doing something positive
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Whats up with you lot esp the ones who have such a sour taste in your mouth, get a grip with yourself you lack backbone and at least the people behind the venture are doing something for the town. steven thurston congratulations on all your effort, shame there are not a few more like you in this world. Also if you actually read the online version there is alot more than news. you can tell a hack by how they feel, they are negative down trodden and very much moulded in to a paper way of thinking, yea shame a newspaper never came out but its a magazine that is free, giving the advertisers as much publicity as possible, and as its free then everyone will pick them up if they are delivered door to door then its a win win for both publisher and advertiser alike as they will be in places where paid for publications are less likely to be placed.
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As someone who has run his own publishing company for a long time now you would have to be insane to launch a new magazine.
The clever ones got out of print ages ago.
And I am sorry the front cover is abysmal
I could explain why but it would take too long
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One bit of advice for them. If you are going to copy and paste press releases in full at least read them before making them live on the website. Some of the stories on the site have the “editors notes” still attached.
Also get someone with some subbing experience:
“Scarborough Voice, Its Your Community, It’s Your News, We are here for YOU!”
That is a bit embarrassing.
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Mr I
I applaud Steve and his team for trying something like this, but I believe a better product would have been a newspaper that questions organisations such as the council, Yorkshire Water, York Potash, and others that are either investing or ruining the town, depending on your point of view. Or the county council about why the A64 is like Port Stanley airfield on the approach to the town,
Anyway, it’s leaving the door open for somebody. Even a crowd sourced website would be better than what Johnson Press is producing every week.
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I am in the right place for the Steve Thurston fan club meeting?
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Its nice to read the positive comments posted on here about The Scarborough Voice ( you can spot the ex -journalists a mile off , with their jaded , apathetic comments ) The response to the first edition has been really good , with Advertisers putting their money where there mouths are and committing to 12 month bookings with us ! . We are hopefully going to get bigger and better ( thus creating more jobs ) .
We never said we were going to be ‘ another ‘ Scarborough News , and what is the problem with publishing good news , god knows there is enough doom and gloom in this world . Steven Thurston should be given a pat on the back ( most nights he was in the office until midnight pre -launch ) so all you haters …keep hating …just remember there are some decent honest people just trying to earn a crust and provide a service for the people of Scarborough .
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SubBeGoodToMe: He who criticises, but offers nothing constructive should keep his or her comments to themselves.
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Well, I live in Scarborough, close to the town centre, and I’ve not seen the new magazine ! It certainly hasn’t been distributed to our street, so how are we supposed to get hold of a copy ?
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