Times Record Cuts 13, Closes Oklahoma Bureau

Gene Kincy, publisher of the Southwest Times Record of Fort Smith, laid off 13 employees in March and closed the newspaper’s six-person news bureau in Poteau, Okla., which had been in operation for the past three years. The move leaves the newspaper with about 200 employees.

“Business has really slowed down since 9-11,” Kincy said. “We’ve had to cut back like everybody else has.”

The Times Record still covers eastern Oklahoma, but news from that area is included in the daily paper now. Previously, Oklahoma news was printed in an 8-12 page section that was inserted into the Times Record for its readers in that state.

The Times Record had a decline of 7.9 percent in daily circulation when the Sept. 30 figures were released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Those are unaudited figures furnished to ABC by the newspaper.

The average daily circulation for the six months ended Sept. 30 dropped from 42,201 in 2001 to 38,888 last September. The Times Record’s Sunday circulation dropped by 1 percent during the same time period. ABC’s March 31 stats won’t be out for another month or so.

During the same six-month period, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette had an increase of four percent in daily circulation to 31,987 (for Washington and Benton counties combined), and The Morning News of Springdale had a decrease of eight-tenths of a percent to 36,013.

The Times Record and The Morning News are both owned by Stephens Media Group of Little Rock.