Basel arms itself against Zurich commuter papers
BaZ expands Basler staff, hires Basler Woche and rides on public transport with the free paper
BaZ expands Basler staff, discontinues Basler Woche, and rides public transport with the free paperNow it's definite: The Basel Media Group (BMG) will discontinue one of its two free titles, the heavily loss-making Basler Woche (BaWo), on June 29 and, in return, will expand the editorial staff of Baslerstab from September 1. BMG hopes to be prepared for competition from the commuter newspapers 20 Minuten and Metropol, both of which are planning to come to Basel (and Bern) in the fall.The new free paper is to be distributed in Basel from Monday to Friday with a circulation of 8,000 copies to all households in the city by early delivery, and another 20,000 copies will be placed at 100 stops of regional transport companies.
On Wednesdays and Fridays, a regional edition with 95,000 copies is also planned as before, which will be distributed to almost all households in the Basel area. For years, the Baslerstab had a Saturday edition in the city and a fortnightly edition for southern Baden across the border. Both will now be discontinued, according to Daniel Sommer, Head of Publishing Basel in the BMG Group Management.
The new newspaper-format paper contains eleven pages (40 percent of the total) of current brief information, services and radio and TV programs. The editorial team with Editor-in-Chief Luc Bürgin (previously Deputy BaWo Editor-in-Chief) consists of eleven people. The previous BaWo Editor-in-Chief, Walter Schäfer, will take over the Communications/Human Resources division at BMG, while BaWo Publishing Director Matthias Hugenschmidt will be given an as yet unspecified "executive function" in the Basel Publishing Division.
The Baslerstab will not see any changes in advertising rates. Regional ads will be acquired by the crew under publishing director Daniel Weick himself, while national ads will be handled by Publicitas.
Despite the new free competition, the two other newspapers in the Basel region, Basellandschaftliche Zeitung (bz, 26100 copies) and Volksstimme (8100 copies), are currently doing nothing. For bz publisher Mathis Lüdin, early delivery is not an issue for financial reasons, but he would be interested in taking over Volksstimme. According to Volksstimme co-publisher Robert Bösiger, the paper is not for sale. Markus Knöpfli
On Wednesdays and Fridays, a regional edition with 95,000 copies is also planned as before, which will be distributed to almost all households in the Basel area. For years, the Baslerstab had a Saturday edition in the city and a fortnightly edition for southern Baden across the border. Both will now be discontinued, according to Daniel Sommer, Head of Publishing Basel in the BMG Group Management.
The new newspaper-format paper contains eleven pages (40 percent of the total) of current brief information, services and radio and TV programs. The editorial team with Editor-in-Chief Luc Bürgin (previously Deputy BaWo Editor-in-Chief) consists of eleven people. The previous BaWo Editor-in-Chief, Walter Schäfer, will take over the Communications/Human Resources division at BMG, while BaWo Publishing Director Matthias Hugenschmidt will be given an as yet unspecified "executive function" in the Basel Publishing Division.
The Baslerstab will not see any changes in advertising rates. Regional ads will be acquired by the crew under publishing director Daniel Weick himself, while national ads will be handled by Publicitas.
Despite the new free competition, the two other newspapers in the Basel region, Basellandschaftliche Zeitung (bz, 26100 copies) and Volksstimme (8100 copies), are currently doing nothing. For bz publisher Mathis Lüdin, early delivery is not an issue for financial reasons, but he would be interested in taking over Volksstimme. According to Volksstimme co-publisher Robert Bösiger, the paper is not for sale. Markus Knöpfli
