Washington Post 2006 Annual Report Download - page 10

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Our two biggest stations, in Houston and Detroit, strug-
gled in the face of NBC’s results. In Houston, we made our
own problems in 2005; Larry Blackerby, who led the turn-
around in Jacksonville, came in to reorganize the station
and to get the ground back under our feet. With that done,
2007 could be an important year here. WDIV, under Steve
Wasserman, continues to be the proud news leader in
Detroit, but the city received a lot of bad news in 2006 and
the market was soft.
Of course, 2007 results will lack the $36 million in polit-
ical and Olympics advertising we booked in 2006.
The future for Kaplan and Cable ONE looks bright.
Post–Newsweek Stations continues to outperform its indus-
try and to bring in a healthy stream of profits. What’s the
future of the business I know best — The Washington Post
and its web partner, Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive?
Iam much less certain.
The first six months of 2006 were deceptive; The Post and
WPNI led the industry in revenue and income growth. The
second half was troubling. A sharp drop in real estate
advertising was the inevitable result of an unsustainably hot
market. Help-wanted linage fell, too, in almost every big
newspaper across the country. Combined newspaper and
online advertising revenues were down 6.8% in the third
quarter and 3.3% in the fourth.
Mark Whitaker, editor-in-chief, new
ventures, WPNI, and Slate editor
Jacob Weisberg
Post–Newsweek Stations
continues to outperform its
industry and to bring in a healthy
stream of profits.