The Spokane Newspaper Price War Heats Up
A cutthroat competition between rival morning and evening papers leads to plummeting subscription rates and new publishing schedules.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Spokane, Oct. 2: Spokane is in the midst of a hot newspaper fight. Several months ago the Spokesman, a morning paper, reduced its size and cut the subscription price to 50 cents a month. The Evening Chronicle soon followed suit. The Morning Review pursued the even tenor of its way until yesterday, when it announced a reduction of subscription price to 50 cents per month. As soon as the Spokesman learned of this it reduced to 25 cents per month. Last night the Review decided to issue a Monday morning paper, beginning tomorrow. The matter was kept secret until 7 o'clock this evening, when it reached the ears of the Spokesman management, who at once rustled printers together and will also issue the paper tomorrow morning. Both papers have published only six days heretofore. The Review declares it will give their contemporaries their stomachs full of low subscription rates.
“The Review declares it will give their contemporaries their stomachs full of low subscription rates.”
This cutthroat battle for print supremacy mirrors the modern digital 'attention economy,' where media outlets aggressively lower barriers to entry or pivot business models to survive intense local competition.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.