The Orange County Register’s OC Post, a daily seen as the possible future of newspapers amid declining readers, is being combined with the Register’s Irvine World News and no longer will circulate across the county.
OC Post, which debuted in August 2006, is set to combine with the Irvine World News next month, according to a story on the Register’s Web site.
The new OC Post/Irvine World News is set to publish three days a week starting on Feb. 12.
The paper is set to focus on Irvine, instead of the Post’s countywide approach. The Irvine name will lead the masthead with “OC Post” below it, according to the Register.
The move appears to be an unceremonious setback for the Post, which was touted as an easier-to-read alternative to traditional daily newspapers.
It has featured shorter stories, livelier graphics and a smaller page size.
The paper has gained readers but well below expectations. In November, the Register quit trying to charge for OC Post and made it free at newsstands.
Last year’s departure of longtime Register publisher Chris Anderson prompted speculation about the future of OC Post, which Anderson launched.
Anderson is said to have clashed with Scott Flanders, chief executive of the Register’s Irvine-based parent Freedom Communications Inc., over charging readers for OC Post.
Terry Horne, the former chief executive and publisher of the Phoenix area’s East Valley Tribune, Freedom’s third largest paper after the Register and Colorado’s The Gazette, replaced Anderson late last year.
Horne said the combination of OC Post and the Irvine World News would “deliver the best possible results” for readers and advertisers.
The new paper is set to be free with 30,000 copies published on Tuesdays and Saturdays and 60,000 on Thursdays.
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