It happens to radio stations all of the time. And sometimes newspapers experience it as well. Yes, on occasion media institutions of all sorts have to “re-tune” or “fine time” what they do. This phenomenon is also referred to “changing the format”.

On Friday, July 18 listeners to WRKA-FM were shocked (some of us were actually more like horrified) to discover that the station’s mix of Top 40 Oldies music had been replaced by something referred to as “Modern Country”. How dare they replace Sonny & Cher, the Supremes and Tony Orlando and Dawn with COUNTRY MUSIC!?! Is nothing sacred?!? More than 20 years of Top 40 music had been replaced with “Modern Country” (Isn’t that phrase an oxymoron?).

So now my big announcement. The time has come to “change the format” at THE LETTER newspaper, starting with our August 2008 issue. However you can rest assured that you will NOT find any sort of radical change of format that loyal listeners of the “old WRKA” discovered last month!

While I believe that long-time readers will notice some changes in terms of content, these will mostly affect the back half of the newspaper. Most importantly, these should be positive changes!

Readers and advertisers alike over the past few months have asked for MORE pictures (especially of local events) and more regional news coverage. So as far as the front half content of THE LETTER is concerned, you will find more pictures and more regional news.

Since the “Good Fairy” does NOT pay our bills (they are paid mostly by our advertisers and to some extent by our paying subscribers), the reality is that we are not in a position to increase the number of pages we print each month.  So when I add MORE content to the front of the newspaper, I must REMOVE some content from the back half of the newspaper to make EVERYTHING fit together within 24 pages.

Over the past year we have downsized most issues from 28 page to 24 pages. This move was appropriate given the current economic climate. Lest any gossip begin about this change in page count, two other GLBT newspapers within the region we serve have also undergone a downsizing in the number of pages they print each month. One newspaper has gone from printing 56 pages down to 40 pages. The other publication is down eight or more pages from what they were printing one year ago. During this same time period THE LETTER has only reduced it’s size by four pages. Also remember that a GLBT newspaper based in a much larger metroplitan area than Louisville (namely Saint Louis) publishes only 16 pages every two weeks.

We ARE in a deep recession (understatement!) and it IS taking a toll on the advertising business. So please don’t assume that only THE LETTER is experiencing lean times. Another monthly GLBT publication serving the Louisville market hasn’t printed during two of the past six months (e.g., February and July). At least THE LETTER has never missed printing at least once per month for over 19 years. So while we are in a tough economy we are nonetheless able to consistently serve our community.

Now back to the “format change” at THE LETTER…

I’ve decided to delete some of the feature content in the back half of the newspaper (the features that tend to not have a local/regional focus to them) so that our expanded news coverage and picture content will have expanded presence in both the front and back  of each issue. I didn’t make this decision without first consulting with nearly 20 of our long-term readers. Also, two years ago we asked all of our readers to comment on the feature content of the newspaper.

So based on these recent conversations with our readers and the results of the written survey, some features have been deleted. At least for now. Should their be a massive outcry about any deleted feature, it WILL (eventually) return. So please don’t ”go postal” on me if you can’t find one of the features you like in the August issue.  Just state your position calmly and it will defintiely be taken into consideration when we make future “format changes”.