Saturday, May 03, 2008

Hot Off the Press: Kentucky Derby edition

The first Saturday in May is always a joyous occasion in Louisville, Ky.: It's the Derby! As a former reporter at The Courier-Journal, I considered attending the race this year. But the weather's always chancy -- as evidenced by yesterday's showers at the biggest other race this Derby Week: the Oaks.

Like all big community events, the Derby poses one of the C-J's biggest annual challenges in coming up with fresh angles. No surprise: This year, the paper is all about video, including at the celebrity-packed Barnstable Brown party -- an annual fundraiser organized by a former Doublemint Twins model.

(Confidential to the C-J: I struggled to find two pieces of Derby 101 information today on your site. What time is the race? And which network's the broadcaster? I realize everyone in Louisville knows the answers by heart. But the Derby is your big chance to draw a worldwide audience of less-informed readers to your site. In any case, post time is about 6 p.m. ET, and NBC will have the goods.)

[Images: top, this morning's Derby preview section, C-J; inset, the day's front page, Newseum]

4 comments:

  1. Want to bet that Allan's daughter, Jan, a horse rider and breeder herself, is not watching with interest the big Derby.

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  2. Stuggled to get the time and broadcaster of the Derby? What sort of reporter WERE you, anyway? :) Or maybe you were talking about finding it on the CJ website...in that case, good luck. Gannett papers are all about the "feature" stuff and to hell with the basics. Google Kentucky Derby, or perhaps look in your own Chronicle's sports section (assuming you are among the minority of SF folks who still subscribe...) FYI, race starts just after 6 pm on NBC.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I hope you're talking about the Web site -- and if that info's not readily findable, that's definitely a problem.

    As for the dead trees edition, there's a whole section previewing the race, and the regular page 1 has the post time of the Derby at the top, next to the Derby party promo.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The winner is Pyro
    For more details here:
    http://lasthotnews.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

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