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Twice-weekly title to revert to single edition

A North Yorkshire newspaper currently published on Tuesdays and Fridays is set to move to a single edition.

Publisher Johnston Press plans to switch the Whitby Gazette back to weekly publication from January 20 after 11 years as a twice-weekly title.

The newspaper has been published on Fridays since 1854 but the Tuesday edition was added in 2000.

The single bumper edition will be priced at 80p compared with the current 55p Friday paper and 50p Tuesday paper.

The plan follows the successful merger of the company’s two Driffield titles, the Driffield Post and the Driffield Times, in September to form the single edition Driffield Times & Post.

Stephen Plews, MD of Yorkshire Regional Newspapers, said: “The merger of our Driffield titles saw both advertising revenues and circulation increase on the new single edition platform and was very well received locally. We will be looking to repeat this success in Whitby.”

Presentations are taking place locally with readers, advertisers and none readers to gauge feedback and a full working dummy has been produced.

The company says there will be no impact on editorial jobs.

4 comments

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  • November 25, 2011 at 9:01 am
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    The cover price is a disaster and readers won’t buy the ‘two for one’ argument. For a start, no-one buys Tuesday anyway, so what they are effectively seeing is a whacking rise for the Friday edition. I suspect this makes the Gazette the most expensive weekly paid in the country. In these economic climes? They must be mad.
    And shouldn’t a piece like this refer to the closure of The Scarborough Trader and Filey Mercury, both YRN weeklies, a few weeks back? (The Mercury has been absorbed into the Saturday edition of The Scarborough Evening News.)

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  • November 25, 2011 at 12:06 pm
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    This is surely about drops in circulation and print slots. Good luck to all who sail in Whitby! A Driffield success story? I note there are no actual circulation figures to support these claims. Watch this space!!!

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  • November 29, 2011 at 9:30 am
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    P Stoff – be quiet. You have no idea what people around Whitby think. Your opinion is not relevant.

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  • November 29, 2011 at 11:48 am
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    The new paper will be approx 80p for 80 pages…. I don’t think that’s bad value for money for a weeks worth of news considering some daily papers like The Times are £1!

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