Is the Galway Voice gone

manonthestreet

Has this paper gone out of business already. I do not see it anywhere and the newsagents on my street said that they stopped taking them because they sold only 4 in three weeks and had to return about 400. Bad year to be starting a paper anyway with all media taking a hit.

Sponge Bob

saw some yesterday ....not that that means anything .

The advertiser has shrunk a bit recently . It ain't 160 pages like it was.

ErnieBert

There is ANOTHER free paper starting soon. Not only is it a freebie, but it will be coming out on THURSDAYS. I was told this by a mate who works for the Tribune.

The Galway Voice is crap. It costs €1.80 (or thereabouts) and is full of rehashed press releases and cooking recipies. If they gave it out for free, it would still be poor value.

Bass Cadet

Is the Galway Voice produced by the irish Independent?? If so, it's no great loss and at €1.80 you'd expect a Hell of alot more

padraig71

I blame this here interweb.

Robbo

padraig71 wrote: »

I blame this here interweb.

There's only so many times a week you can do the court reports, recycle some press releases and give a platform to local politicians to think aloud...

Steyr

Loads of it here in Dunnes Westside beside the Birthday Cards, they aint moving..

manonthestreet

i hear that they have cut back too with some staff not being replaced. They lost 1.3 mill last year so its no wonder they will cut back. I noticed the advertiser thinner alright but that must be just the houses for sale. They had 70 or 80 pages of that last year. Had only about 20 or 30 this week, but the Independent had almost none, so the auctioneers that are surviving must be sticking with the advertiser.
Do ya know what looks terrible lately is the Tribune, it seems to have gotten even grayer than it was before.

ErnieBert

Bass Cadet wrote: »

Is the Galway Voice produced by the irish Independent?? If so, it's no great loss and at €1.80 you'd expect a Hell of alot more

It's not owned by the Indo, that's for sure. There is a consortium of busienss people who set up a 'chain' of papers (Kilkenny Voice, Athlone Voice etc) with a plan to sell it onto a large media organisation when the whole thing is up and running after a few years. They'd serioulsy need to review the contents and improve it first. I bought it 3 times and it was a backward progression by the third time. I couldn't even tell you what day it comes out even though I am in a newsagent everyday to but a daily rag.

The only 2 papers I really enjoy are the Sentinel and Advertiser. All the others are dire IMO

Zzippy

manonthestreet wrote: »

I noticed the advertiser thinner alright but that must be just the houses for sale. They had 70 or 80 pages of that last year. Had only about 20 or 30 this week,

Hit the nail on the head. Half the paper used to be the property section. Now there's only a few houses for sale, the papers a lot thinner...

Sponge Bob

manonthestreet wrote: »

I hear that they have cut back too with some staff not being replaced.

Its not as thick as it was a year or two back . Property advertising has plummeted in Galway and the Independent have lost their general manager who was very respected ...but that was a good while ago I thought . I know some people who stopped advertising with them when he left .

Did Jarlath Feeney not move from the airport to replace him ??

manonthestreet

no, Jarleth Feeney set up the paper before that. it will be the survival of the fittest this year. Sentinel looks nice since they changed it around. Nice and newsy but still damn all are buying it. People in galway are to used to getting free news on radio and papers. The Athlone Voice is not owned by the crowd who own the Galway Voice and Kilkenny Voice. The Athlone one is owned by that Lord John Taylor. My faves are the City Trib and Advertiser, the Indo has no personality to it at all and the Voice is just too much nothing. The Galway First still is proving itself and with the backing of the Advertiser probbaly make it alright, but a new paper in Galway will go the way of the Voice, the Observer, remember that?

Sponge Bob

The voice has no advertising !

I will bet we will be back to trib sentinel advertiser and independent by end 2008 .....and the Tuam Herald of course

gufcfan

So is the voice still in it then.

The only time i saw it, it had nearly 30 pages of sport in a week that nothing major happened. I hope they keep that up when the Irish soccer season kicks off in march

kellyreilly

How I would save the Voice

* Make it free

* Lose thge magazine section, no galway news, pointless and nobody buys the paper for the mag section

* Reduce the size-max 80 pages

* Advertising-if it has to be given for pratically free so be it. Must get advertisers used to advertising with the Voice.

* Finances-cut costs. They have a very good sports section with some high profile names but it all costs money. If the paper is free there can be more press releases and less journalism, not good for the punter but good for the paper.

* All free papers as the Voice should be now all distribute door to door. If the Voice cut costs and go free then its a gonner.

Just some ideas-make sense or plain mad

Fey!

Oh My GOD!! A zombie thread!!!

LOOK OUT!!!!!!!!!

kellyreilly

I wrote an earlier post some time back as to what they should do and 1 hour ago the paper came through the door as it's now smaller and free

vulcan57

kellyreilly wrote: »

I wrote an earlier post some time back as to what they should do and 1 hour ago the paper came through the door as it's now smaller and free

One just fell through my door as well, first time seeing it. Nice to see staples holding it together instead of falling all over the place when you open it.

Derek_N

You'd have to wonder can small Galway support 4 freesheet papers and 2 priced papers. The pressure on the Tribune papers must be enormous.

kellyreilly

MONDAY
Galway First (free)
Galway Voice (free)

TUESDAY
Sentinel (paid)

WEDNESDAY
Galway Independent (free)
Tuam Herald (paid)

THURSDAY
Tribune (paid)
Galway Advertiser (free)

FRIDAY
City Tribune (paid)

That doesn't include the fringe areas which get newspapers from other counties such as Mayo, Clare and Offaly

Something has to give. The country readership that buy the Tuam Herald and Tribune are loyal readers who will continue to pay for the paper though the danger is they are literally dying away.

Tribune has let go all its printing staff and is now outsourcing it.

Nationally and locally papers are suffering as a result of the property downturn. Friday's Independent has got rid of its pull out property sections.

When the Voice set up there was talk of another freesheet being set up as well.

Personally I believe the First to be complete rubbish full of crap that the Advertiser wouldn't put into its thursday edition. Sentinel isn't worth paying for. Both papers were set up to reduce competition at the start of the week.

renmorescout

Galway First was delivered today, Just what I need! another "Free" paper
to add weight to my green bin! :mad:
Had a quick look thru it, and it seemed to carry a lot of county news.

TristanPeter

kellyreilly wrote: »

MONDAY
Galway First (free)
Galway Voice (free)

TUESDAY
Sentinel (paid)

WEDNESDAY
Galway Independent (free)
Tuam Herald (paid)

THURSDAY
Tribune (paid)
Galway Advertiser (free)

FRIDAY
City Tribune (paid)

That doesn't include the fringe areas which get newspapers from other counties such as Mayo, Clare and Offaly

Something has to give. The country readership that buy the Tuam Herald and Tribune are loyal readers who will continue to pay for the paper though the danger is they are literally dying away.

Tribune has let go all its printing staff and is now outsourcing it.

Nationally and locally papers are suffering as a result of the property downturn. Friday's Independent has got rid of its pull out property sections.

When the Voice set up there was talk of another freesheet being set up as well.

Personally I believe the First to be complete rubbish full of crap that the Advertiser wouldn't put into its thursday edition. Sentinel isn't worth paying for. Both papers were set up to reduce competition at the start of the week.

Just got The Galway Voice through my letterbox about an hour ago.

I think Galway First belongs to The Galway Advertiser. It seems as though they brought it out just as The Galway Independent launched...because the Galway independent comes out earlier in the week than The Advertiser. Couldn't have that now :rolleyes:

snubbleste

Not suprised it has turned into a freesheet. There were piles of it left on newsagent floors that were not selling for the last number of months.

Mars Bar

Do ye ever get people ringing ye to see if the Indo has been delivered?

LadyMayBelle

Yup, we have, and from the Advertiser too..altho service has been slack the past few weeks, ie getting the Galway First on Tuesdays and the Advertiser on Fridays..and I live in a city suburb..Ive a good mind to ring up and complain...but then again I couldnt be arsed, there are enough free ones coming thru the door! Galway Voice is rubbish..all the farming news?!

Climate Expert

Well thats interesting that its free now.

About a month ago I saw this paper and the headline on the front page had a very obvious typo. The first time I've ever seent that in any paper or magazine in my life. Who the **** would pay for that.

gaeilgegrinds

Was given out free today...

manonthestreet

It will be hard to see how it will do in a recession. Most of the other papers are feeling the pinch. I always think it is not a good sign when something starts with a lot and then gets worse. They had a magazine and 160 pages. It is the other way they should be going.

renmorescout

I also noticed that nearly all the free papers are delivered by a team of adults. This used to be a pocketmoney job of many a youngster, but it seems that even that has fallen foul to the people that "will do any work for any money"

smackbunnybaby

nearly every week the advertiser gets put through my letter box.

a few weeks ago i walked into my estate, very close to the city centre, and someone had dumped the pile of advertisers (still in plastic) on the pavement for people to take. they must have been short on staff to put them through the letter box....

Mars Bar

I think that happened here too(Tuam) and that's why we had a woman ringing us...I hope the person got fired for being lazy! lol
Got our Galway Voice this morning too...

Derek_N

The freesheets are now delivered by professional leaflet delivering companies.

It is sometimes the case, that when a delivery team is working, a van will leave a pile of papers at the top of a street so that the person actually going door to door has less to carry. They then pick up the pile when they get to that street.

I imagine it just got too hard to get today's kids to do a paper route. Probably major insurance issues aswell.

kellyreilly

Came through the door today. Their newsdesk and advertising contact numbers are (01) Dublin based