October 2010508 #134: Party harder
508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Brendan Melican and Chris Warren.
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Church elections
As I mentioned earlier in the context of the Metal Mass, parish council elections in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is coming next month (November). I am surprised that (it seems to me) some members of political parties participate explicitly as candidate lists in these elections. For example, the Centre Party tendency has the “Church Amidst” (Kirkko keskelle arkea) list; National Coalition supporters have “Right On” (Oikealla asialla); and the Social Democrats organize the “Come All” (Tulkaa kaikki) list. Some even publish their manifestos: for example, the Greens (list name ”Green Pastures” Vihreät niityt, a pun at Psalm 23) in the Lutheran fashion post their Green parish election theses. This is almost unthinkable either in Britain or in North America.
T&G circulation down 9.3 percent; other papers down 5 percent
Figures released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations showed that overall weekday circulation at 635 newspapers declined 5 percent from circulation in the same six months last year. The decline last year was at more than twice that rate.
Elsewhere in Massachusetts, daily circulation at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette fell 9.3 percent from 73,207 last year to 66,397 this year.
This is not as bad as the declines at the Globe and other papers, but the T&G is still dropping fast. I’m looking around to see if there’s an explanation forthcoming–the paywall, for example.
Update: Joe presses me on the paywall issue, and on second thought the paywall probably helped their circulation numbers. At least, when they turned off their paywall a few years back, they lost like 6% of their circulation. So if they’re still using the same formula to calculate circulation, the paywall presumably helped total paid circulation. Dan Kennedy thinks it will. And supposedly the T&G’s unique visitors went up with the paywall!
That said, I don’t know anything about the subtleties of circulation calculation, and so I’m still waiting for the T&G’s explanation here.
508 #133: A sober look at bank reform
508 is a show about Worcester. This week, some fat cats talk about banking reform.
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508 #132: Relics
508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel includes Jen Burt, the Venerable Man Shing, and Brendan Melican.
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Metal Mass
I went to Metal Mass (Metallimessu) in my church this evening.
It was a plug for the upcoming church elections to encourage youth to participate. It attracted about 200 people – about half of which were younger than I. The hymns were straight out of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church’s hymnbook (Virsikirja): 205, 125, 77, 15, 226 (12th-century Latin hymn Jesu dulcis memoria, a monster of 16-stanzas: imagine it in metal! sadly only the first 8 were performed), 332b (here is a sample of this hymn in metal), 160, 517; and the reading from the week’s entry in the Church’s lectionary. 
But the heavy-metal style of music gave the appropriate sense of urgency to (for example) ”Jumalan Karitsa” (“Agnus Dei”) and the readings (Abram and the stars from Genesis 12; Mark’s account in chapter 2 of healing the paralyzed down the roof) were also poignant about God being our only hope when all else is lost. Totuus on, että hän meni ristille kun kaikki olivat toivoton: sitten tämä risti on meidän toivon tunnus. Overall a moving and striking experience.
I am looking forward to the next time Metal Mass will be in Stadi: the 5th anniversary service will be on 30 June 2010.
508 #131: Six months
508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Jeff Barnard and Brendan Melican.
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Street newspaper comes to Worcester
The first copies of Spare Change: Worcester Edition were dropped off this morning at the Network Center by David Jefferson, Executive Director out of the Cambridge office.
David Jefferson and Bob Flanagan, Worcester Manager
I was happily surprised to see that the Worcester Edition contains Worcester content! In this issue, Bob Flanagan, the Worcester Manager, introduces the paper, while Dave McMahon, Claire Schaeffer-Duffy, and Arnold Hamm share their perspectives on homelessness in the city.
Carlos Cruz is ready to sell some papers.
There are a few vendors lined up to sell Spare Change on the street. The cover price is $1; the vendor keeps 75 cents of this, and pays 25 cents for the paper. (Obviously, tips are OK, too.) If you know where and when a vendor has been operating, please share in the comments below.
508 #130: Earthy smell
508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panelist is Brendan Melican.
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