Feb 27th 2008 06:56 am Let them eat cheese
Speaking of Bugs Bunny and economic uncertainty, I’ve been meaning to mention the passing of an old friend. Yes, there’s only one left in Albuquerque, one newspaper that is. The Albuquerque Tribune ceased publication this past Saturday. It was one of only about 600 remaining afternoon dailies in the country. Afternoon journalism has been a tough slot for a generation or more, but the Internet is being called the straw that broke The Tribune’s back. The Tribune was a subscriber to Arlo and Janis. I thank the paper for its support and mourn its passing.
Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J
33 Responses to “Let them eat cheese”
Rick in Lancaster, Ohio on 27 Feb 2008 at 7:16 am #
Our country is headed for a future that will be either prosperous and high-tech future or the one that Michigan and Ohio are experiencing right now.
Diana on 27 Feb 2008 at 7:42 am #
Cabana Boy is my FAVORITE game!!! I hope we get to see more of him! Whoo-hoo!
Bea in Bakersfield on 27 Feb 2008 at 7:49 am #
I remember the afternoon daily (M-F) and the competing newspaper came only Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Our family subscribed to both papers so we received ALL the news. The other cool thing was that the front page of the 3-day was printed on a different color, as I remember it was an orangeish newsprint. One way to tell the papers apart in the pile.
Tom Y on 27 Feb 2008 at 8:03 am #
Heck, I’m surprised there are that many afternoon papers left!
I used to deliver the afternoon paper in my home town of South Gate, Calif. It was a 6-day a week local paper called The Daily Signal. I started delivering for them when I was 7. The great thing about it was that you delivered it after you got home from school; you didn’t have to get up very early in the morning. It also was a reasonable size, so a hundred newspapers folded and stuffed into canvas bags hanging from the bike’s handlebars didn’t weigh a hundred pounds.
I used to sit on my lawn folding papers while reading the comics, then the rest of the paper. I’ve always loved reading the paper! Too bad my local paper where I live now (southern Ohio) isn’t worth the time.
Do kids even deliver newspapers any more?
Regards,
Tom
Don from Minnesota on 27 Feb 2008 at 9:53 am #
Some one throw some cold water on Diana and cool that girl down!
Bryan on 27 Feb 2008 at 9:55 am #
I have lived in New Mexico all of my life and always enjoyed The Trib. It had a very different editorial slant than the morning papers in the area and, more importantly, had a better cartoons page! Many of us will miss it.
Stewart from Boston on 27 Feb 2008 at 10:30 am #
I lived in Albuquerque for several years before I moved to Boston, and sadly, I’m afraid one of the main reasons the Tribune couldn’t survive was that it simply wasn’t a very good paper. It really was little more than a compilation of the previous 24 hours’ worth of AP feeds, with almost nothing in the way of local flavor.
When I moved to Albuquerque, I dropped in at the combined offices of the Journal and Tribune to pass some clips to the arts editors and inquire about work as a stringer. I got as far as the front desk, where an unaccountably sniffy receptionist said “We don’t even talk to people who don’t have journalism degrees.” Which is a shame because — and apologies to anyone here who does have a journalism degree — all of the best newspaper people I have ever met DON’T have journalism degrees. But whadaya gonna do.
Boston is still a two-newspaper town, at least for the moment. The Herald appears to be on a mild uptick at the moment, although time will tell as to whether it’s just the dead cat bounce. Pat Purcell, the publisher, seems to have seen the writing on the socio-political wall and is dialing back considerably from the hard-right neo-con editorial slant it had for a while (which got so annoying that I finally cancelled my subscription, and got some satisfaction out of saying to the person who asked why, “Because I’m embarrassed to have this rag in my house!”) into more of a good old-fashioned pugnacious tabloid. And if you’re going to have a two-newspaper town, the weaker paper has to strongly differentiate itself from the leading paper. (The Globe is easily the better paper, not least because it carries A&J.) The Herald has its problems — foremost that they apparently fired all the copyeditors, and also their star sports columnist is an unapologetic racist of the sort that gives Boston sports their (mostly incorrect these days except for this yahoo) bad reputation in the rest of the country — but I enjoy living in a two-newspaper town that deserves having two newspapers. I’m afraid I couldn’t say that about Albuquerque.
Stewart from Boston on 27 Feb 2008 at 10:55 am #
To continue with the quasi-political tone of my last post, I’m saddened to learn just now of William F. Buckley’s passing. Suffice to say that I disagree with most of the positions the man ever took in his life, but he unfailingly had well-reasoned arguments supported by facts, as opposed to the inchoate screaming and ad hominem attacks you hear too much of on the AM dial these days.
More on-topic: bravo for today’s A&J. It’s just refreshing to see a comic about a long-married couple who still have the hots for each other, in a form where marriages are portrayed as either sexless or downright antagonistic.
Jeff in Ann Arbor on 27 Feb 2008 at 11:37 am #
Stewart wrote, ” It’s just refreshing to see a comic about a long-married couple who still have the hots for each other.”
I agree, but as one half of a such a couple (39 years), I have to also chuckle appreciatively at the occasional theme this month on the slowing effect of age, such as Feb. 4 (I know I suggested that we have a “date” tonight”), Valentine’s Day (Now, that was a romantic dinner why?), and Feb. 22 (We should do that more often).
Speaking of the Valentine’s Day strip, I’ve been waiting for someone else to note that Janis seems to be shucking her clothes, starting with her coat in the first panel, and she is down to her camisole, still in the living room, by the third panel. And they’re both too pooped to care!
Remember when Arlo found a trail of clothes through the house, and it turned out that it was just Janis doing the laundry? Back then he was disappointed – now he might be relieved. Sometimes.
dAVE on 27 Feb 2008 at 11:48 am #
About 15 years ago I moved 95 miles from Chicago, IL, to South Bend, IN, which at that time produced the afternoon edition of their Tribune. The great thing was that the South Bend Trib had all the news that appeared in the morning edition of the Chicago Tribune plus some of the local flavor. It had a great comics section as well (3 pages!) and yes, they carried A&J. Alas about 10 years ago, the SBT couldn’t compete with the morning edition of the Elkhart Truth, produced a mere 8 miles away. So the Trib decided to go to a morning edition and ended a 90 year tradition of afternoon publications.
Bernie on 27 Feb 2008 at 11:50 am #
I worked for an afternoon daily or moderate circulation when I got out of the Navy. It’s now defunct, of course, which I think is a crying shame. There was something about getting today’s news today in print that was appealing and worthwhile. Of course, the sister paper, the morning edition, remains…but it’s ninety percent advertising and society pages and the rest is, well, almost news. (And yes, I do say that directly to the editorial staff who likes me less than a little, especially when I proclaim that the only, truly, never failing GOOD think I can find each day is
Arlo and Janis! This is the same “rag” that last year had a survey of comics in which A&J came in third or fourth in spite of having the greatest majority of Number One votes!) It does make good bird cage liner, of course. And I ceremoniously clip out A&J before so using it.
Jim in Dallas on 27 Feb 2008 at 12:25 pm #
There used to be 2 newspapers in Dallas. The Times Herald was where Molly Ivins began. It got bought out by the Morning News, and then shutdown. Oddly, the company who owns DMS also owns a local TV station and a radio station. This never bugged people who worry about a monopolistic news market.
Jim F on 27 Feb 2008 at 12:25 pm #
The Internet may be finishing off afternoon newspapers, but I’m guessing their decline was started by the network evening news shows on television. I grew up reading both the (morning) Nashville Tennessean and the (afternoon) Nashville Banner. Now the Banner has gone the way of the Atlanta Journal, the New Orleans States-Item, the Jackson Daily News, and many other afternoon papers–either closed or swallowed up by the morning papers. That’s a loss, particularly when the evening and morning papers had diverse editorial views, as they often did.
Luey Lipshits on 27 Feb 2008 at 12:51 pm #
When I was young I use to look forward to the afternoon paper out of Syracuse (The Herald American) so I could see all the late night sports scores from the day before. Of course this was before the internet and ESPN. Since I had school in the morning and all the local stations(all 3 of em) had only kids shows and local news it was my only way to find out how the Buffalo Sabres and the NY Yankees(which I always hoped lost) did the night before. Especially when they played on the west coast.
Tobias Gibson on 27 Feb 2008 at 12:53 pm #
Stewart was right on the money when he said:
“More on-topic: bravo for today’s A&J. It’s just refreshing to see a comic about a long-married couple who still have the hots for each other, in a form where marriages are portrayed as either sexless or downright antagonistic.”
I think this is why after all these years, I’m still reading Arlo And Janis. Well that and Ludwig. Thanks for not adding another kid when Gene went to college.
Its seems a long time since Arlo was actually at the office. It’s even been a longer time since Janis went to work, so long in fact that I can’t ever remember if we ever saw her at her office.
Maybe you can rerun a few work episodes, that is if you take requests.
BTW the new format is terrific.
Randy in Irving, Tx on 27 Feb 2008 at 1:58 pm #
Diana,
Do not fret. If Don from Minnesota attempts to dose you with cold water, I will offer you a towel. … In fact, now that I think about it, I chuckle to myself of what JJ could have drawn if Janis had a little less “Don” and a little more “Diana” in her, in today’s strip. LOL
God bless those (like Arlo) who continue to pursue.
Great stuff, JJ! Keep it up!
Kerry!!! in Lake City Fl on 27 Feb 2008 at 2:33 pm #
I was a paper boy in my younger years. Morning daily and Sunday papers. I used to get up at 5:00am and deliver my route. I enjoyed it until I got to my teen years.
Now I have a bone to pick with newspapers in my adulthood. When I moved to my current town I ordered the local morning paper. The deliverer always had the paper at my house before I was up in the morning. I like to walk out to get the paper in my pajama’s and I like to read the paper before I go to work and preferably while I am drinking my coffee. Then my paper deliverer changed and the paper didn’t come until after 7:00am. I get up at 5 and I am at work by 6:30. A 7:00 am paper just didn’t cut it with me. So I switched the the morning paper for the near by big city morning paper. They couldn’t deliver the morning paper early enough either. So now I get no papers. Am I just whining in the wind here or are there others that like the paper early. Okay, really early.
Kerry!!!
p.s. I am also disenheartened that I can pick up the Sunday paper on Saturday evenings by 5:00pm. What is the point?
bob in se fla on 27 Feb 2008 at 3:05 pm #
I really love the new blog. I think that it is great to actually read and feel what others think of my favorite cartoon characters. Of course since I am sort of lazy and only read the blog once or maybe twice a week, I still have to slog through long pages of comments but it is worth it. I do make sure not to miss the daily A&J by having it delivered right to my email. Just wanted to voice my opiinion on the new website. Keep it up. By the way, today’s cabana boy bit brought chuckles and good tears to my old eyes.
Mary in Ohio on 27 Feb 2008 at 4:24 pm #
Even scarier is the number of major US cities that have only ONE newspaper. Cleveland used to have 3 and Akron 2. But of course the Akron Times-Press folded (or LAST folded) in 1936, even before my time. The great names such as The Times Picayune and The Post-Intelligencer are going by the wayside too. Of course, who can forget The Frostbite Falls (Minn) Picayune-Intelligencer.
Dean in Chicago on 27 Feb 2008 at 4:46 pm #
Well I am finally caught up. For some reason I got behind checking for updates, and the next thing I know you have a new format. Well it took me about a week but I am up to speed, and I think it looks great. Newspapers in general are in trouble.
The Sun Times here in Chicago keeps getting smaller and smaller. Less real reporters and more AP stuff. They just fired the TV review guy. They are getting killed by the internet. Classifieds are almost extinct. You can post on Craig’s list and get a much quicker response and it’s free.
I hope they can survive It is still my favorite way to get the news. Unlike TV you can pick and chose what you want to be informed about and they don’t have A&J!
Bonnie from Gloucester on 27 Feb 2008 at 7:51 pm #
Thanks for the enough-about-cats support Jim from Boston and Ken from Framingham. But we’d better be careful or we’ll give the Massachusetts crowd a bad name.
I’d much rather think about CABANA BOY. I’ve been getting “visits” from my own cabana boy for 25 years. We call him….well, never mind what we call him. I find it interesting that either Arlo or Janis will be in a playful mood but I can’t recall strips where it’s been simultaneous. Hmmmmmmm.
Someone commented recently (I can’t find it now, sorry) that Janis was removing her clothing in the background of the “romantic” Valentine’s Day strip while Arlo was conking out on the sofa after a big dinner. I caught it too and always enjoy the subtle stuff in the background – when I catch it. Alas, I suspect it totally flies by me sometimes.
Friday is Sadie Hawkins Day, invented (I think) by Li’l Abner’s Al Capp. Ladies – that’s the day to chase your guy around the house!
Karen in Madison on 27 Feb 2008 at 10:49 pm #
The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin, the feisty afternoon daily that has brought a progressive voice to the city for over 90 years, just announced earlier this month that it will effectively cease existence in May. Oh, they’ll still do a twice-a-week version that’ll get stuffed into the glossy, light-weight, tabloid-style, conservative Wisconsin State Journal, and they still plan to maintain a web presence, but my favorite way to end a long work day – in my favorite easy chair with perusing the Cap Times (and reading A&J, of course!) – will disappear.
I’m really glad that JJ gives us addicts a way to catch our daily dose, even if the traditional way is gradually disappearing, but it concerns me that there are fewer and fewer people who care enough to get their news in print form. And the newspapers that are left are full of color and bright graphics, with plenty of gossip and fluff, but they’re woefully short on real news.
*Sigh* I guess I’m feeling my age. But I’d much, much rather get my news from a big, thick, satisfying hunk of newsprint than from a computer screen. And I suspect that sometime during my liftime, that activity will cease to be more than an interesting anachronism.
Jim in southwest Illannoy on 28 Feb 2008 at 1:09 am #
dAVE, it’s a small world. Back in my high school days I used to deliver the Elkhart Truth, by bicycle at that. My folks have moved back to that area and they were some of the customers abandoned when the South Bend Trib went under. I think they’re still able to get their A&J fix from another paper though. I sure hope so anyway.
Luey Lipshits on 28 Feb 2008 at 4:50 am #
My wife won’t have to chase me far on Sadie Hawkins Day. Only I’m not sure if it’s because I want to be caught or I just can’t run very far anymore.
Ken from Framingham (Boston Globe reader) on 28 Feb 2008 at 6:38 am #
Following up on Bonnie’s post about cats, an employee once told me that no dictator ever had a cat. She knew I have no fondness for cats, so I’m not sure what she was trying to say about me. Anyway, I googled and found on the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association site that 38.4 million American households include a cat (or cats, I assume). If my math is correct, that translates to 34.02% of households nationally. Amazing.
Jim from Boston on 28 Feb 2008 at 8:15 am #
Hi Bonnie from Gloucester,
Give the Massachusetts crowd a bad name???!!! I’ve heard a rumor that Ted Kennedy’s endorsement of Barack Obama was actually a ploy by the Clintons to disparage Barack to the rest of the nation
Mark on 28 Feb 2008 at 8:40 am #
Here is why I think some papers have gone down the toilet. When I was a kid we had the same paper route for 21 years. It was passed on from brother to brother etc… It was printed at noon and we delivered it after school. Now the paper is owned by Gannett, printed in the middle of the night, and delivered to businesses by 5 or 6am. But, like most people, my carrier is a student so I get it around 4:30pm. So the paper is still delivered to the majority of subscribers late in the afternoon, but instead of being printed 5 hours prior it is now printed closer to 15 hours prior to delivery. Plus we get a lot of AP news and very little local stuff. Gannett owns most of the papers in the area and the articles are all the same. I envision a day when there will be a regional paper only. Maybe I am biased because I delivered the paper for many years, and it was the best way to earn a buck back then. But having older generic news is not conducive to growth.
Faith on 28 Feb 2008 at 5:12 pm #
When I was a kid, we lived in Michigan, and the South Bend Tribune was the “big city” paper we got in our small town. I didn’t know it had died.
Years ago, maybe late 1980′s, the afternoon paper, the Denver Post, was losing circulation numbers, so they became a morning paper. As far as I know, Denver still has 2 morning papers. The Sunday Post used to come on Saturday afternoon, but there was no separate Saturday Post.n
DOuG pRATt on 28 Feb 2008 at 6:48 pm #
Regarding the decline of newspapers, nobody in the business can say the writing wasn’t on the wall. It was predicted at least as far back as 1972:
“One popular new feature on the Net is [the] Associated Press service. From anywhere on the Net you can log in and get the news that’s coming live over the wire or ask for all the items on a particular subject that have come in during the last 24 hours. Plus a fortune cookie. Project that to household terminals, and so much for newspapers (in present form).”
Stewart Brand
Rolling Stone
December 7, 1972
Another amazing quote from the same article is, “Since huge quantities of information can be computer-digitalized [sic] and transmitted, music researchers could, for example, swap records over the Net with “essentially perfect fidelity.” So much for record stores (in present form).”
Click here to watch an extraordinary 1972 documentary where scientists and engineers in Cambridge, Massachusetts predict the future.
Rick in Lancaster, Ohio on 03 Mar 2008 at 7:06 pm #
DOuG pRAT:
Thanks for the article and the link.
Because I teach two online classes for Virtual High School (www.govhs.org), I thought that both the teachers and my students would enjoy the video. So, I copied your entire post and put it in VHS for everyone to read.
If you prefer that I not use your post, let me know, and I will delete it.
Rick
PS: 1972. Man, it doesn’t seem that long ago. Surely, I am having an Arlo moment.
DOuG pRATt on 04 Mar 2008 at 1:22 pm #
Rick — Please be my guest to use my blog post. I know the Rolling Stone article from when it came out, and I still have the original issue. Online you’ll find it at this link. There’s a section in it called “The Hackers.” Amazing, huh? Hackers on the Net — in 1972.
Rick in Lancaster, Ohio on 04 Mar 2008 at 10:49 pm #
DOuG pRATt:
I just realized that I misspelled your last name in my post of yesterday. Sorry about that.
Thanks for the new link! I will put that link in my classes, too.
In regard to the hackers in ’72, I didn’t know that they existed then. Actually, I don’t think that I heard the term until the ’90′s.
Truth be known, even though I was a chemistry major at the time, computers “talking” to each other was unheard of at my school, along with any term remotely resembling the Net. The big news at that time was my chem teacher’s calculator; all of the students were using slide rules. I can’t recall how many functions the calculator had, but I remember that he said that it cost $400. That was my freshman year: 1971-72. How much would $400 be today?
Back to the hackers. Never heard of hackers in ’72, as I said. The big buzz then was ripping off Ma Bell, and the kings of that crowd were known as “Phone Phreaks.” In a sense, they were hackers.
Rick
DOuG pRATt on 09 Mar 2008 at 9:03 pm #
I use DOuG pRATt as sort of a trademark. Dog Rat is a way to distinguish myself from the Doug Pratt who is editor/publisher of the DVD Newsletter, the Doug Pratt who’s a big name in model rocketry, and the Doug Pratt who’s the solar energy expert, et.al.
Regarding Stewart Brand’s SPACE WAR article in Rolling Stone, it’s amazing that pretty much everything in online and gaming culture, including hackers and malware, was already in place over 35 years ago, with only 40 nodes on the Net and very, very few computer gamers.