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Free daily "t.o.night" to launch in September

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Free daily t.o.night to launch in September
by Melita Kuburas


A new daily publication targeting afternoon and evening rush hour commuters will launch in Toronto on Sept. 8. Known as t.o.night, the daily will have an initial print run of 100,000 copies and be distributed between 3:30 and 6:30 pm at public transit stations. A portion of the copies will be handed out by paper boys and girls, dressed in poorboy caps and white oxford shirts yelling "Extra! Extra!" in order to attract more attention to the headlines and the brand, explains John Cameron, managing director, t.o.night.

"Because the majority of our news is provided by the newswires, we don't have to have that staff that newspapers have. And so it allows us to be a much more lean operation and to be frank that's what you have to be these days," Cameron tells MiC, adding that he estimates the paper's staff to be under 20 people.

t.o.night will take content from Canadian Press and local blogs such as Blog T.O., says Cameron. It will have an editorial focus on news, entertainment and to-do lists, laid out on magazine paper (38-lb lightweight coated, 8 ½ by 10 ½). "Transit riders can hold it in one hand. They can hold the subway pole and read it at the same time," says Cameron. "For advertisers they love it too because their ads just pop."

"I think that it's a really good idea because people are not doing anything when they're on the subway for that 20 minutes," says Brenda Bookbinder, VP print director, PHD. "But those things sometimes can be a challenge," she says.

Bookbinder has concerns that it is a very local distribution that national clients may not want to take advantage of - yet. "Our advertising dollars are pretty tight now. With a lot of global clients the budgets have been cut back a little bit and so the planners have to be very careful about where they're spending their money. With this being a unproven venture, and certainly with the fact that it was already tried with the Toronto Star, albeit as an email that was sent to people, it just didn't take off in the way that the papers did in the morning," she tells MiC.

St. Joseph Print is an equity investor and also the printer of the publication, and the other major investor is Richard White, head of Blackburn Radio. (To clarify, Cameron explains St. Joseph media division is not involved in the paper, and it's a holding company of White's that is investing, not Blackburn Radio).

Cameron was inspired to launch a free evening daily after his travels to England and Australia, where similar publications exist. With an editorial deadline of 11 am, Cameron says they'll be able to capture all the key news missed by their free daily competitors like Metro and 24.

But Metro has experimented with an afternoon edition in Europe and the concept failed, says Bill McDonald, group publisher, Metro English Canada.
 
Finally a source to find out all the news of the afternoon! It sure sucked having to wait for the morning paper to find out the afternoon and evenings's goings on.

Hopefully they reinstate telegram service soon, too. It's been really difficult living in a world where there's no easy way to send friends a short, pithy message.
 
I remember the final days of the Star's afternoon edition. That's how I found out Lucille Ball died. (These days, handhelds aside, we have elevator and subway news feeds...)
 
Not henna-induced lead poisoning? I avoid anything natural, and stick to petrochemical industry products, for just that reason.
 
Great... more newsprint to litter up subway cars and buses. I think there should be some sort of cap on the number of copies of free transit newspapers in Toronto. Metro, 24, Epoch Times and this is probably way too much.

I think it's time to move towards a paperless form of transit dailies. I'm thinking of a concept where all TTC subway stations have free wi-fi signals that would allow commuters to download an electronic copy of a transit newspaper of their choice onto their laptop or mobile device, which they could read on their way to work.

Another paperless way for commuters to get the news would be to use the screens on the future "Rocket" subway cars, which the TTC claims would be used to display "safety messages", as news tickers or even to broadcast a close-captioned news channel.
 
Hopefully they reinstate telegram service soon, too. It's been really difficult living in a world where there's no easy way to send friends a short, pithy message.

I so agree. The thought of sending telegraph message via Morse code across the Atlantic makes want to cry out Gutta percha.

I'll just have to settle for another afternoon paper come September. I'm sure they'll be easy to find - littering the seats and floors of the subway.
 
I've just been on R-142s in New York which have updated route maps (showing not by specific routes, but programmed to show the next ten stations of the specific route, then the next stations updating, and the terminus. There's small video screens, but only show the route letter/number bullet and name, or the features of the brand new cars, or safety messages, all alternating. No ads.

I certainly do not want ads cluttering that video space on the new subway cars here - or media from the freebies. Let t.o.night die a natural death. Given that it's the product of Blog.TO, with wire news, I won't care.
 
Great... more newsprint to litter up subway cars and buses. I think there should be some sort of cap on the number of copies of free transit newspapers in Toronto. Metro, 24, Epoch Times and this is probably way too much.

I think it's time to move towards a paperless form of transit dailies. I'm thinking of a concept where all TTC subway stations have free wi-fi signals that would allow commuters to download an electronic copy of a transit newspaper of their choice onto their laptop or mobile device, which they could read on their way to work.

Another paperless way for commuters to get the news would be to use the screens on the future "Rocket" subway cars, which the TTC claims would be used to display "safety messages", as news tickers or even to broadcast a close-captioned news channel.

I actually like that there's newspaper "litter" on the subway. The stray newspapers are great finds in the evening if you're going long distances like I tend to do (somewhat regularly between Downsview to Union and Don Mills to Union). If anything, it's better that the papers are left behind on the seats because it allows for extra use.

Also, not everyone can afford (or wants to own) Iphones and blackberries so a move to wifi doesn't exactly satisfy everyone.
 
I don't think litter needs quotes. It's just litter when papers and other stuff are left on the seats or floors.
 

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