Message me
The first copies have just hit the streets today, but you can check out their site as well. Thoughts?
Former Chi-Town Daily News tribe launches print tabloid Chicago Current
chicagocurrent.com - 1 week ago - 445 views
14 Comments Have your say. Vote up the best responses. ↓
Reactions on the web
Latest tweets linking to this story (Share url: http://windycitizen.com/wfgo)
Latest tweets linking to this story (Share url: http://windycitizen.com/wfgo)
Invite your friends
Top Media Stories This Week
1
Comments
Some thoughts on the print edition:
1.) It's like the Sun-Times, but with longer stories and no columnists. Actually, it's nothing like the Sun-Times at all! In all seriousness, it's nice to have a tabloid that's free and filled with stuff that no one has really covered about the city's gov't and public affairs. I only joke about the Sun-Times thing because that's what I thought some guy was trying to give to me while passing them out. The cover design could stand out a bit more to distinguish itself, but I'm not really sure how.
2.) The design is fairly clean and consistent throughout. I'm sure a design snob could pick it apart if they really wanted to, but the information in the stories is rather clearly presented.
3.) Kind of surprised they went full color throughout every page, although it's a nice touch. Maybe this is one expense they can trim later if they make the move from monthly to weekly?
4.) I'm really confused on how I'm supposed to get future copies. There's no indication of when future issues will arrive (monthly, weekly or daily?) and where (newsstands? newsies? delivery?) in the print edition. Also, will it always be free? So, there's a huge amount of questions there for people that like it but want to know about the next issue.
Can you post a pic of what it looks like for those of us who work from home?
I'll post one around 5 p.m. when I get home and have my flatbed scanner. Sorry, I don't have a cameraphone.
Awesome. Can't wait to get a look. That'll be a great blog post. Just run through it page by page with some commentary.
Indeed.
I thought the articles were well written, and more like a real newspaper and less like a National Inquirer competitor. I wondered about the history of it. Upvoted for the background information.
According to their link for a subscription, apparently they don't quite seem to know, either, at least not yet:
"The Chicago Current will begin mail delivery of our print edition shortly. If you'd like to receive the newspaper, please provide us with your e-mail address so that we can contact you when home delivery becomes available."
Yeah, I didn't mean like "trashy tabloid," but rather the layout/format of the paper.
I was referring to it not looking like the NI, with a more serious focus on the news versus entertainment.
Hey, guys. Thanks for all the kind and thoughtful comments. Brad, you're welcome to come by the office with some more beer and I'll give you a newspaper. Or I'll e-mail you the pdf.
We have a long-range distribution plan that includes paid mail subscriptions and free single-copy distro at news boxes in the Loop and "L" stops. Obviously when that happens we will post a map showing where the boxes are.
For the moment, we're monthly, and we're distributing by hand at the Belmont, Fullerton and Damen "L" stops. Not ideal, but cheap and a great way to get the paper in the hands of readers.
Thanks for clearing up the distribution questions! I'll definitely subscribe when you get that going.
Just a thought though for hand distribution: Clark/Lake. Probably about 75-90% of the southbound blue line hops off there at the Thompson Center. Obviously, it's a large hub that connects to all the other lines except the Red. Might be a good stop to distribute on. Also might have more of your target audience there, given that building's full of gov't bureaucrats like me.
Great looking website. Haven't seen the print version. Good to see the next generation of Chi Town Daily News out there.
nice layout.
Hey, guys. We've got a pdf of the print version up here: http://www.chicagocurrent.com/subscribers/new.
We distro'd at Clark & Lake yesterday and talked to a lot of enthusiastic readers.
Great to hear. Good luck! We're pulling for you guys.
Post new comment