Both major papers see circulation shrink even as the Tribune's Chicago Now blog network shows growth. more ›

Keep those extra quarters handy if you're a fan of the Tribune. The newsstand price of the Monday through Saturday edition of the paper will increase from $0.75 to $1 starting January 18th, the paper announced yesterday. The Sunday edition will remain $1.99 and the price increase won't affect home subscribers. The Chicago Tribune Media Group's president, publisher and chief executive, Tony Hunter, said via a statement, "While this pricing action will improve our financial results, the increase is consistent with pricing trends across the industry." more ›

Circulation in 2009 for Chicago Public Libraries is expected to be record-breaking, surpassing the mark set just a year ago in 2008. CPL officials said Monday that 9.2 million items were checked out through November, a pace likely to beat the 9.8 million total items checked out in 2008. The back-to-back record-breaking years is a nod to the lasting economic troubles in the area, as Chicagoans continue to look for low-cost forms of entertainment. Librarians have also reported an increase in the usage of their services, including resume building and school application guidance. Unfortunately for the libraries, despite the record usage, the economic crunch will bring a cut in hours and services for most of the city's branches in 2010. more ›

• We had this pop up about a dozen times in the inbox today: Google Map used to track Swine Flu.
• The Tribune takes a look at the new modern wing at the Art Institute, due to open in a few weeks and the possible ramifications of the new admission hike.
• Speaking of the Trib, Crain's is reporting today that circulation for the paper in the six months ranging from October '08 through March '09 is down 7.4 percent, while the Sun-Times also saw a drop, but a far smaller one of 0.04 percent. The decline for the Trib was right at about the national average of 7.1 percent.

You know that thing you never do? Now it will cost another 25 cents if you start to do it. Yes, the Tribune is increasing its newsstand price to 75 cents for Monday-Saturday editions, but the Sunday edition remains $1.79. The memo sent out from Tony Hunter, the Trib's senior vice president of circulation and operations, said: more ›

The Audit Bureau of Circulation released its Fas Fax data today, giving newspaper ombudsmen everywhere a topic for tomorrow's column. Too bad everyone's going to write largely the same story: Newspaper circulation is down. Circulation is down 2.6 percent across all major US daily newspapers, with the Trib faring worse than other papers, falling 2.9 percent over the last six months to a paid weekday circulation of 559,404. That makes the Trib the eighth biggest... more ›

Everyone is to blame for album sales being down except the actual industry itself. Who gets the spotlight for bringing down the sales this time? It’s the media and those promo copies they receive in order to review albums before they hit the street. Everyone remembers the Jack White/Q101 fiasco a few weeks back after Electra played Icky Thump in its entirety and then (surprise!) the album showed up on file sharing sites three weeks... more ›

• Producers of NYC's are suing the Chicago show for using too many elements of show.
• Some black alderman called Daley out on corruption in a City Council meeting. Oh, and that $300 parking permit for real estate agents got approved because it's an important part of Daley's budget.
• The Sun-Times circulation settlement means charities are getting a bunch of moola.

"Only the Asbestos Remains" by marinaro500, who notes "Taylor Street Housing Projects are falling! Last week there were warning signs for asbestos." more ›

It’s a well-known fact that Chicago has the largest Polish population of any city outside of Warsaw. But Gridskipper reminds us that it’s also the city with the largest Bulgarian population outside of Bulgaria. The Encyclopedia of Chicago says that Bulgarian writer Aleko Konstantinov’s book Do Chikago i nazad (or To Chicago and Back) was instrumental in the wave of Bulgarian immigration in the 1870s. Currently, the unofficial estimates of the Bulgarian community put the... more ›

Maybe it's the drink specials in Metromix, or that one "Boy on Boystown" column. Perhaps it's the full page ads and the fact they get stories for free from their parent newspaper. Who knows how or why, but the Red Eye is apparently going to turn a profit for the Tribune company by the end of the year. more ›

Truth be told, when it comes to international fare, Chicagoist often chows down on a Patio burrito. So, when we headed over to Caliente (3910 N. Sheridan) for some Latin fare, we were excited to break out of the microwave-meal rut. more ›

Now that the primaries are over, we can all take a deep breath before we look ahead to the November election. However, there are still plenty of questions that need answering. Will Stroger be on the November ballot? We all know that he is currently recovering from a stroke, but what we don’t know is just how serious his condition is, and if he will recover well enough to stay on the ballot or serve... more ›

It has been a while since we've read something from a major newspaper that caused us to repeatedly hit our head against the wall. Just that happened when we were introduced to the first blog from the Chicago Sun-Times. We'll pause here for you to skim the first page of Debra Pickett's new blog. Go ahead... just watch your head. See what we mean? The Sun-Times hasn't had the greatest last couple of years: circulation... more ›

The old man of porn, Chicago-based Playboy, announced that it will raise the newsstand price of its magazine $1 and promised advertisers less sales. The price increase is only expected to effect teenagers scamming a copy at the corner magazine stand/porn hut and horny businessmen buying copies at the airport, since 89% of of Playboy's readers subscribe and have their copies subsequently stolen by the mailman. more ›

The Audit Bureau of Circulation reported yesterday that the Chicago Tribune's daily newspaper circulation dropped 6.6% to 573,744, making it the nation's eighth largest newspaper. ABC, a non-profit organization set up to impartially audit newspaper circulation figures, released the figures as part of a report on the nation largest newspaper circulations. The Chicago Sun Times, which has in the past reported a daily circulation of about 415,000 was not included in the report due to disiplinary action stemming from last year's fudging of circulation figures. more ›

a study he conducted found that Chicago's young adults are actually reading the RedEye and Red Streak. more ›

Can Chicagoans handle another weekly read? Following London and New York, Chicago finally gets a Time Out magazine all to itself. Today marks the launch of TimeOut Chicago, a weekly "bible" of food, movies, events, books, arts, theater, clubs, music, gay/lesbian happenings... the list goes on and on. The magazine aims to give Chicagoans what Metromix, the Red papers and Chicago Reader lack. In the debut issue, Editor-in-Chief Chad Schlegel declares, "We've read the other... more ›

Earlier this week, the Tribune Company announced that Hoy, its Spanish daily, is going to be free in Chicago and Los Angeles. It will still cost a quarter in New York, in case you were curious. This announcement comes in the wake of a circulation scandal—it turns out the Tribune Co. overstated Hoy's New York distribution by almost 43,00; the correct circulation is 49,681, not 92,604—but Trib higher-ups deny that there's a connection. OK, right, that's fine, we don't need to trust newspapers that much anyway. more ›

The Hollinger scandal has finally busted itself wide upen, but the ensuing legal battles have probably just begun. Hollinger International, which owns the Sun-Times, has admitted, after a three-month investigation, that they inflated the Sun-Times' circulation by over 50,000 for weekdays and 17,000 on Sundays. According to Hollinger's press release, Saturday circulation was not inflated. Weird. more ›

Chicagoist was about to write a post about our bucking the national trend of rising syphilis rates when we noticed on Gapers Block that Chicago ranks really low on the list of the most literate cities . So now we must sit back and ask ourselves: "What's more important? Being able to read or being clean? The University of WI - Whitewater released "America's Most Literate Cities 2004," a report that ranks 79 US cities... more ›

Chicago-based commercial printer RR Donnelley announced today that it has a multiyear agreement with Time Inc. to print a weekly newspaper edition of LIFE magazine. Time plans to insert LIFE into 50 newspapers each Friday, giving it a circulation of 12 million. more ›

» Summer Time = Fair Time more ›

Bad news for booze hounds, late night partiers, and folks that didn't pick up at the 2 am bars: The city is making it harder to get a 4am license. Ald. Burt Natarus, who represents the downtown area and more bars than any other alderman, sponsored an ordinance yesterday that would give more residents the right to reject new applications for a 4 am liquor license. more ›

Oh, they are definitely peeing in their newspants over at the Tribune right now. Information about the inflated numbers started surfacing after April 1, when the Sun-Times raised prices from 35 cents to 50. more ›