Tampa Tribune veterans discuss the future of Newspapers

Share

Today Radioactivity discusses the future of newspapers with several former staff writers at the Tampa Tribune. Rob Lorei speaks with former film critic Bob Ross, the former TV critic Walt Belcher, and the former religion reporter Michelle Bearden who had long careers at the Tampa Tribune but they have since left the paper.

When WMNF started in 1979 there were at least seven daily newspapers serving the Tampa Bay area: The Tampa Tribune, The Tampa Times, The Clearwater Sun, The Lakeland Ledger, The Sarasota Herald Tribune, The St. Petersburg times and The St. Petersburg Evening Independent. Eventually three of those newspapers stopped publishing.

The disappearance of the three papers ushered in an era where two papers emerged as dominant and fought for audience share right up the coast from Pinellas and Hillsborough northward to Pasco, Citrus and Hernando counties. Those papers are still dominant today- The Tampa Tribune and the Tampa Bay Times- formerly the St. Petersburg Times.

The Tampa Tribune, was founded in 1895 and in 1969 it was bought by a conglomerate – Media General and later- in 2012 it was sold to a group of investors….Los Angeles-based Revolution Capital Group.The purchase price was reportedly $9.5 million.

The Tribune once had a large editorial board, a strong presence in Tallahassee and bureaus all over West Central Florida. Like all newspapers- in the last fifteen years they’ve faced declining revenue and in turn have had to lay off staff, close bureaus and even downsize the number of pages they print. The situation has led to fewer reporters scrutinizing government, business and the issues that people care about.

http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/603/

In response to a listener comment at the top of the show today about companies that profit from war, here is further information:

http://247wallst.com/special-report/2014/03/05/companies-profiting-the-most-from-war/

http://www.alternet.org/story/41083/the10mostbrazenwar_profiteers

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/10-companies-profiting-most-war-f330249

You may also like

‘Everything is on the line’: Tampa voters speak out on election day

It’s Election Day, and voters in Tampa are making sure...

Political reporter William March
Billionaire donors pour money into DeSantis-led campaign targeting Andrew Warren

A dormant political action committee recently received $2.5 million from...

2024 election candidate signs
Election Day conversation with Hillsborough’s Supervisor of Elections

Election Day 2024 in Florida. Hillsborough SoE Craig Latimer plus...

Election Day 2024: Live updates & results

Live election coverage with local newscasts every 20 minutes, real-time...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Follow us on Instagram

Freak Show
Player position: