Experiment in Giveaways

A visiting Easterner once quipped that "Los Angeles consists of 40 suburbs in search of a city." In the search, Greater Los Angeles supports the astonishing total of 258 newspapers--including five major dailies, 17 minor ones, 71 paid weeklies and 165 giveaways. The haphazard little community giveaways, which flourish in Los Angeles as nowhere else in the country, exist on the ads of local merchants, run only community news.

Looking them over, bustling little James Parton got an idea. Parton, onetime Harvard cross-country runner ('34) and wartime lieutenant colonel, had been a TIME staffer since 1935, was then Los Angeles bureau chief. He figured that combining the most successful giveaways would be one way to establish a profitable citywide newspaper with ready-made readership and advertising revenue.

To give his idea a trial, Parton quit TIME last year, organized the Los Angeles Independent Publishing Co., raised a stake from 55 investors,* and bought a chain of seven twice-a-week giveaways in the rich Santa Monica Bay area of Los Angeles. Then he hired some high-priced talent, including ex-Hearstling Merrill Lord as general manager and the Los Angeles News's Charles Judson as executive editor, to help turn his giveaways (circ. 42,000) into good newspapers.

Last week Parton thought his experiment had worked well enough to expand further. For less than $500,000, he bought the biggest U.S. giveaway--Los Angeles' twice-a-week Down Town Shopping News/- (circ. 500,000). The Shopping News was owned by 18 Los Angeles department stores (The Broadway, Bullock's, May Co., Barker Bros.). Parton promised to jump circulation to 600,000 and lower ad rates; as part of the deal, the stores signed long-time advertising contracts with Parton. His expected revenue this year: more than $4,000,000.

Editor & Publisher Parton planned to merge the Shopping News with his seven other papers, call the new paper the Los Angeles Independent. He also set out to hire 50 newsmen and 150 ad salesmen. They will put out 10 to 15 semiweekly "sub-editions," in effect, community giveaways, for the major communities of Los Angeles. All the papers will have some features (fashions, movies, music, cartoons, etc.) in common. Los Angeles newsmen guessed that 36-year-old Parton's eventual aim, if the Independent succeeded, would be a citywide daily.

*Among them: Moviemakers Mervyn LeRoy and David Loew; Planemaker Donald Douglas; Firestone's Leonard Firestone; TIME Inc.'s Editor in Chief Henry R. Luce. Acting as individuals, Luce and seven other TIME Inc. executives and directors bought a total of 14.6% of the stock.

/-As part of the Parton deal, the Down Town Shopping News Corp. sold its stock in Pacific Press. (Pacific Press, largest West Coast printing plant, prints the Shopping News, and the West Coast copies of TIME and LIFE.) TIME Inc. bought the preferred stock; the Clement Co., Buffalo printers, bought the common stock.

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