Day 1 newspapers: Big souvenir in Shreveport
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Papers around Louisiana printed thousands of extra copies Wednesday, and in at least one city reality exceeded expectations of the high demand for a news souvenir of Barack Obama’s inauguration as president.
The Times of Shreveport doubled its usual printing for street sales, then printed another 5,000.
“This was not some marketing move. This was people in our lobbies, sharing their emotion of ‘I didn’t get one and I still want one,'” Executive Editor Alan English said Wednesday. Many also bought a special commemorative edition of the paper, he said.
The Advocate of Baton Rouge printed an extra 50,000 copies for street sales, and The Times-Picayune of New Orleans printed an extra 37,000. Neither had total sales figures Wednesday afternoon, but didn’t expect to need another printing.
“Reports so far from the field are that sales are very good,” said Philip Ehrhardt, vice president and circulation director of The Times-Picayune.
All three are based in parishes that bucked the state trend, voting for Obama and Joe Biden rather than the Republican ticket of Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who got 58.6 percent of the statewide vote.
In Calcasieu Parish, which went even more heavily Republican, sales were disappointing. The American-Press published about 3,000 more copies than usual, but many went unsold, circulation director Jackie Fontenot said.
“The day after the election, we sold every single paper we had. I did not increase sales, because we don’t normally sell out. But we sold every single paper,” she said.
The Town Talk of Alexandria printed 6,000 additional copies and probably had sold about half of them by midafternoon, circulation manager Mary Waters said. “We’re doing better than the normal Wednesday but not selling out,” she said.
The Leesville Daily Leader added 500 to its usual print run and expected to sell them all, publisher Brian Trahan said.
