Competition in Sacramento

The logotype that tops Page One of the Sacramento Union carries a proud boast: OLDEST IN THE WEST. And that is true enough. The California state capital's morning daily was founded in 1851 to bring the news to the crowds that had drifted into town with the '49 gold rush. Back in those good old days, stories ran under the bylines of Mark Twain and Bret Harte; the paper was so rich in talent that Jack London was merely a stringer. Since then, though, the Union has suffered a morose procession of 15 different owners and be ome steadily more anemic under each one. By this spring it was down to just 30 pages a day. Circulation was a slim 63,000. The paper was managing to eke out a small profit only through such stringent economies as cutting its reportorial staff to a grand total of four.

Buzzing the Bee. The Union hardly seemed a bargain at any price. Yet the Copley newspaper chain paid $2,650,000 for it last May, and Copley is not known for spending its money foolishly. The chain's 15 other papers are all well-established dailies in such cities as Joliet, Springfield and Elgin, ILL., and San Diego, San Pedro and Burbank, Calif. They all turn a profit, and though nominally independent, all generally stick to the conservative Republican philosophy of their owner, Jim Copley.

The Sacramento Union, for all its failings, has the virtue of offering Jim Copley an outlet for that philosophy in Northern California--which promises lively newspaper competition in Sacramento, where the far stronger afternoon Sacramento Bee (circ. 177,000) has had the field to itself for years. The Bee's owner, Eleanor McClatchy, has used that position of power to back her liberal preferences, such as Pat Brown over Sam Yorty in the recent Democratic primary. Copley arrived at the Union just in time to start pushing Ronald Reagan over George Christopher in the Republican primary.

Copley clearly has his work cut out for him before his new paper will be as strong as he would like. For his investment, he found only one pencil sharpener in the entire office. The photography darkroom was a closet, and prints were dried in the men's room. "When the editor wanted to have an editorial staff meeting," says New Publisher Carlyle Reed, "he would sit down and think. He was it." Adds Assistant City Editor Tom Horton: "We were so shorthanded you couldn't even consider getting sick." Copley plans to pump in as much as $8,000,000 to give the Union the muscle it needs to fight the Bee.

Tough All Over. He has begun by purchasing the building next door. At noon one day last month, the tiny news staff picked up its typewriters and marched single file through a hole in the wall to the new quarters. Reporters could hardly believe their eyes. "It was like going from night to day," beamed one veteran. "A new room, new desks, cushioned chairs, pleasant pictures on the wall, good lighting. And everyone treating you so well. It was 'Do you need anything else?' not 'Well, the world's tough all over.' "

The beleaguered but talented staff is already half again as big as it was; Managing Editor E. E. ("Nick") Nichols as well as all the other veterans have been retained, and still more hands will be added. The paper has also been improved in format. Gone are the frontpage ads, the squiggly lines around feature pictures, and the banner headlines that did not vary in size whether they reported the start of a war or a local vice raid. Pages are now divided into six instead of eight columns. And the changes have already started to pay off. Circulation is up to 70,000; the number of pages has jumped to 44, with a resultant 25% increase in news space. There are 25 new advertisers, with the promise of more to come.

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