US: Hearst Corp’s Express News to launch young-adult 210SA

Posted by Jean Yves Chainon on February 27, 2007 at 9:52 AM

In a memo to employees, Executive Vice President and Editor of the San Antonio Express-News, Bob Rivard, announces the launch of 210SA on Feb. 28. 210SA will be a “new weekly publication aimed at the 18-35 year-old reader,” read the memo.

The paper will be distributed free at over 600 locations through the San Antonio metropolitan area. As other free young-adult papers (Chicago’s Red Eye, Quick in Dallas), 210SA will “focus on music, the Web, film, gaming, pop culture and trends in general, the arts, local nightlife and outdoor recreation.”

The paper will follow the same model used by Conexion, “also a weekly featuring a blend of local and wire content and supported by paid advertising.” The paper will have an initial small staff and use contributions from freelancers, Express-News staffers and newswires.

In the memo, Rivard also mentions 210 SA is part of a company strategy to launch niche products, and reflects “a strategy to grow horizontally -- that is, to continue the expansion of our portfolio of publications in print and online.”

Rivard reaffirmed the importance to grow online, and even see beyond the online status quo. “Online newspapers, in and of themselves, must become even more for the communities they serve.”

Source: Association of Alternative Newsweeklies