Big changes at Register

More spaghetti is being thrown against the wall as OC Register Publisher Terry Horne plans a three-pronged approach that will include free community newspapers, expanded Web offerings and a smaller daily paper. Horne says he's tearing apart the old-fashioned business model because a one-size fits all newspaper is no longer viable. "The Register has to become a 21st century business," Horne said in an interview with his paper. "We can't have the same model that worked 10 years ago." Can't say I blame him - ad revenue is down 14 percent, newsprint is going up, and paid circulation continues to decline. Nevertheless…

Horne believes the combination of offerings will fill gaps for both readers and advertisers. The subscription-based Register will include premium content targeted at a mostly older readership. Free community weeklies go to a broader base with a hyper-local focus. OCregister.com will provide free content to a younger audience. Local advertisers will have a similar choice to get their message out on any or all of these platforms. Horne implemented a series of changes last month to address the immediate crisis, including 25 layoffs, consolidation of the stand-alone business section into the main news section, elimination of the stock tables, the end of Business Monday and a new system dividing local news into six separate geographic zones.

Other changes include narrowing the paper (each page will shrink by one inch in late summer or fall), sharing advertising and news content through a new consortium of companies, and possibly expanding the free Irvine World News/OC Post tab to five days a week from three. Horne also is looking at zoning local news as a way of attracting smaller advertisers (not exactly a fresh idea). Newspaper analyst John Morton warns that all the changes could alienate loyal readers. Already, there have been lots of complaints about pushing business news to the main section and before that eliminating the stock tables.