AOL Patch continues to hire

The AOL Patch network of city blogs continues to expand in Southern California.

Redmond Carolipio, formerly night editor at the San Bernardino Sun, will take over as assistant regional editor for San Gabriel Valley Patch sites.

Melanie Johnson, who got laid off from the Press-Enterprise in Riverside and was a former Sun reporter, will edit the city of Walnut and City of Industry patch sites - expect a good deal of news about Ed Roski Jr.'s planned football stadium project.

Gina Tenorio, who worked at the Desert Sun in Palm Springs, will become editor of the Loma Linda Patch.

Apparently, AOL wants these two Patch sites up and running by Dec. 13.

New publisher for the Desert Sun

Gannett has named Mark Winkler publisher of the Desert Sun in Palm Springs effective Sept. 27. Winkler will replace Rich Ramhoff, who was hustled out of the position earlier this month.

Winkler comes to Gannett from Dean Singleton's MediaNews Group, where he served as chief of sales and chief marketing officer. One has to wonder whether his move to inland Southern California, a region saturated by MediaNews newspapers, is a sign of a developing partnership with the Singleton's Los Angeles Newspaper Group.

In addition to being publisher of the Desert Sun, "he will also hold the position of West Group vice president with oversight responsibility for the U.S. Community Publishing markets in Visalia, Tulare, Salinas, CA, and Guam," according to Marketwatch.

Here's more on his business background:

Prior to Winkler's work at Media News Group, he served as chief operating officer for Capital Securities Real Estate, LLC, a global real estate investments fund. From 2000-2006, Winkler was a division vice president/general manager for Comcast Communications and from 2004-2006 had oversight of corporate interactive and new sales technologies for Comcast. From 1997-2000, he served as a Western Region vice president for Media One, Los Angeles, CA. Winkler is a cum laude graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Publisher out at the Desert Sun*, **

**Just getting word that the publisher of the Desert Sun, Rich Ramhoff, is out of a job and the newspaper's editor-in-chief, Rick Green, will step in as interim publisher. The Desert Sun is owned by Gannett and based in Palm Springs.

*Update: A press release from the Desert Sun says Ramhoff " is taking a new assignment within Gannett Co." The release does not specify what the new assignment will be.


**Update II: Jim Hopkins at Gannett Blog offers a little perspective on Ramhoff's sudden departure. His take: This was no promotion, as Ramhoff's reassignment comes amid financial struggles in Gannett's western division. From Gannett Blog:

The Sun is part of Gannett's West Group, a portfolio of community dailies whose financial performance has been unsatisfactory to Corporate, one of my readers says. Revenue is down at several of the papers, my reader says, and rumors are flying that some directors have been asked to offer contingency cuts that could take effect sometime in the last quarter of this year.

West Group President Laura Hollingsworth, who also is publisher of The Des Moines Register, personally delivered news of Ramhoff's reassignment to staff yesterday, three of my readers say. According to one of those readers, Hollingsworth told staff, "there is money sitting on the table" -- a reference to untapped advertising dollars the Sun hasn't been aggressive enough in chasing.

Gannett's four California papers were hit especially hard in the real estate bust. The Sun's circulation is about 46,000 Monday through Friday, and 52,000 on Sundays.

Comings and goings

From Gorkana:

Pat Maio has joined the North County Times as an Economics Reporter, where he’ll also cover agriculture, financial services, tourism and small business. He was most recently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California. He has also held reporting jobs for Dow Jones Newswires, the Financial Times Group, the San Bernardino Sun and Desert Sun, among others.

Gannett thaws frozen wages

The Gannett newspaper chain is apparently ready to lift a wage freeze implemented roughly a year ago, the Gannettoid blog reports:

Gannett has not commented on the expiration of the wage freeze, but executives have confirmed to Gannettoid.com the budgets are set with room for wage increases to begin in April.

Thawing wages will be welcome, but pitfalls remain:

Despite the upcoming return of raises, Gannett remains in a cutting mode. The round of layoffs [newspaper division president Bob] Dickey announced over the summer has yet to complete, employees are required to take five furlough days during the first quarter and the company is considering whether or not to impose another week of furloughs in the second quarter. The announcement last month that Westchester would lay off 166 employees when it outsources its printing is a part of the 1,400 planned layoffs Dickey announced over the summer.

Gannett is the largest newspaper chain in the country and USA Today is its flagship. Locally, Gannett owns the Desert Sun in Palm Springs.

Local papers see circulations drop*

Newspapers across Southern California saw substantial drops in daily circulation over the last six months, according to the most recent Audit Bureau of Circulations report.

The region's largest paper, the Los Angeles Times, lost 11.1 percent of its weekday circulation between April and September. The paper now sells an average of 657,467 papers a day during the week.

Dean Singleton's LANG papers lost circulation as well, the Times reports. Circulation at the flagship Daily News in Woodland Hills plunged 26% to 95,938. The paper has had several rounds of buyouts and layoffs and, as a result, has shifted focus away from Los Angeles to concentrate on cities in the San Fernando Valley.

The Pasadena Star-News fell 5.3 percent to 24,362. The Long Beach Press-Telegram dropped 8.2% to 71,411 and the Daily Breeze in Torrance 2.7%, giving it a circulation of 61,925*.

Singleton's Inland Empire papers - also part of LANG - experienced similar drops, the Press-Enterprise reports. Weekday circulation at the San Bernardino Sun and the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin dropped 9.4 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively. The Sun now sells an average of 47,015 papers a day during the week and the Bulletin averages 48,014. The Sun lost 6.4 percent of its Sunday circulation and the Bulletin lost 2.9 percent.

The Belo-owned Riverside Press-Enterprise experienced the biggest decline in the Inland Empire, with circulation falling 24.3 percent on weekdays for an average of 113,182 copies sold. Sunday circulation was down 23.3 percent. Contributing to the losses were several rounds of staff cuts in the last year and the paper's decision to end delivery services in parts of San Bernardino County.

Out east, weekday circulation at the Desert Sun in Palm Springs decreased 11.6 percent to 36,207 papers. The Gannett-owned paper cut staff last year and instituted furloughs this year.

The Orange County Register's weekday circulation slipped 10.1 percent to 212,293; the Register's parent company, Freedom Communications, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month.

The San Diego Union-Tribune, which suffered major staff cuts shortly after it was bought by Beverly Hills-based Platinum Equity, dropped 10% to 242,705.

Nationally, newspapers lost an average of 10.6 percent of their circulation, according to ABC.

*I have yet to come across circulation numbers for the Whittier Daily News and San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

*Updated: Finally saw a list of all the papers. The San Gabriel Valley Tribune saw its weekday circulation fall to 33,387 papers a day from 37,594, an 11 percent drop. The Whittier Daily News fell 13,076 from 14,563, a decline of 10 percent.

A small sliver of silver lining: The Pasadena Star-News saw a 1 percent increase in Sunday circulation and the Whittier Daily News saw a 2 percent increase.

Cuts underway at Gannett newspapers

The expected layoffs at the nation's largest newspaper chain are now underway. Gannett Blog is keeping a running tally of the layoffs - USA Today and the Detroit Free Press are exempted. Between 1,000 and 2,000 people are expected to lose their jobs. As of now, the total is 1,041.

Massive layoffs coming to Gannett

As reported on the Gannett Blog last week, Gannett Company plans to institute massive layoffs at its newspapers, and now comes word that an official announcement will drop in the next few days.

The Wall Street Journal reports that between 1,000 and 2,000 people will lose their jobs. The company's flagship paper, USA Today, will be spared.

Gannett has created a pile of pink slips in recent years. Between 2007 and 2008, the company eliminated 10,000 jobs.

From the New York Times:

Gannett, the publisher of USA Today and 84 other U.S. papers, saw newspaper advertising revenue fall 34.1 percent in the first quarter, compared with the period a year earlier. Analysts say second-quarter numbers will be similarly weak. The company has taken some drastic steps to lower expenses, including cutting home delivery of The Detroit Free Press from daily to three days a week, and stopping print publication of The Tucson Citizen.

(h/t Romenesko)

Monday links

A California GOP official wants to censure any Republican legislator who agrees to balance the budget through tax increases.

Alan Mutter explains why newspapers can't quit print yet (even the online juggernaut Politico relies on a printed paper to bolster revenue). Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, agrees about print, and has more to say about newspapers here.

The managing editor of the Desert Sun of Palm Springs winds up shirtless along the highway.

Less is more colorful at the San Francisco Chronicle.

Blood in the desert*

The Desert Sun of Palm Springs is part of the massive Gannett chain of newspapers. As such, the paper expected to play its part in the mandatory Gannett-wide workforce reduction plan. Looks like the paper will lose 16 employees to fulfill its quota.

From the Desert Sun:

The Desert Sun today notified 16 full- and part-time employees that their positions had been eliminated as part of cost reductions previously announced by parent company, Gannett Co. Inc.

-snip-

The eliminated positions came from across the organization, and were not limited to any one department.

Gannett's goal is to cut 10 percent of its staff, or about 3,000 employees.

*UPDATED: I'm told the Desert Sun lost four from the newsroom - two from the graphics department lost their jobs and two unfilled positions appear to have been eliminated. Also, the total number of layoffs is 15, according to the publisher's memo.

Here's the memo from Publisher Rich Ramhoff:

To all employees:

By now, I’m sure you’re all aware that we have begun the layoffs previously announced by our corporate office. All affected employees will be informed by the end of today. We are saying goodbye to 15 full- and part-time employees. The positions came from across the organization, and were not limited to any one department.

The folks who are leaving us have been good employees. We thank them for their service and we wish them well. This position elimination has nothing to do with performance, and they can apply for appropriate job openings if they become available.

As I’ve said in the past, I’m confident that our local economy will recover, and we will thrive along with our neighbors once this recession is over. We still have the strongest team in the Valley covering news and serving our advertising customers.

I thank all of you for your patience and commitment throughout these tough times.

As always, if you have any questions, please ask your department director or give me a call or email.

- Rich Ramhoff

Chop, chop*

In what is the fourth round of job cuts this year, the Orange County Register announced today it will cut another 110 people, about 30 of them from the newsroom.

It's possible cuts will be announced later today at the Gannett-owned Desert Sun.

*UPDATE: The LA Weekly gets into the act.

**UPDATE II: No cuts announced at the Desert Sun, yet, but publishers at Gannett are supposed to file plans in early November for how they'll trim their employee rolls by 10 percent.