Technician, NC State’s student newspaper since 1920, announced in its first edition of the fall semester that it will no longer publish on Fridays, cutting its frequency from five to four days a week.
Patrick Neal, director of Student Media, blamed the change on loss of advertising revenue and reduced student fees. He said Student Media was down about $100,000 in non-fee revenue in the past fiscal year compared to the previous year.
“While our support from local businesses has remained steady, our national and campus advertising fell dramatically,” Neal said.
Neal said the Friday edition was eliminated after consulting with the editorial and advertising staffs.
“That’s the day of the week when the fewest students tend to be on campus,” Neal said. “We will be shifting our ‘Football Friday’ coverage to our Thursday issues beginning this season.”
Changes in publication frequency have occurred before in the 94-year history of Technician. It was originally published biweekly, then weekly, then thrice weekly. It went to five days a week in the early 1990s.
Other Publications Also Affected
The other three campus publications will also see changes because of reduced revenue, Neal said.
The Agromeck, the university’s yearbook since 1903, will now go to a paid model, instead of distributing 1,000 free yearbooks to seniors who posed for senior portraits and other students featured in the book. Now anyone who would like a yearbook can purchase it for $68.25, which is the sum of the printing and mailing costs for each copy, Neal said.
Neal said Student Media is searching for sponsors to cover the printing cost of Windhover, the student literary magazine since 1954. The Nubian Message, the campus African-American newspaper, will reduce its frequency from 20 to 17 times per year.
Student radio station WKNC has been relatively unaffected by the advertising downturn, Neal said.
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