Digital badly misses year-end site relaunch goal

The Indianapolis Star is one of just nine sites relaunched.

In the latest blow to Gannett's make-or-break digital transformation, the company has only managed to install long-planned new website and app designs at nine of its 104 U.S. TV stations and newspapers -- a figure that falls far short of the most recent forecast, according to a review I completed today.

The new designs, which are meant to boost advertising revenue and readership, have been in the works since summer 2011, and were to be modeled after the look first adopted by USA Today more than a year ago. Among many changes, the USAT relaunch created a more tablet-like appearance that placed advertising more directly in front of readers.

As recently as July, Corporate said it expected the relaunch would be largely completed by year's end in the company's top 35 U.S. markets. Indeed, at one point, Corporate had said the rollout could be finished as early as January 2013.

But today, the first business day of the new year, the new look is in place at only two newspapers and seven stations, according to my review, which included 81 community dailies plus 23 stations. (I did not include any of the 20 stations from the just-closed takeover of Dallas TV company Belo.)

Since initially predicting installations in the top 35 markets, Corporate hasn't said anything publicly about possible changes to the timetable, so it's unclear why the new look has reached only nine sites so far.

Without any additional information from Corporate, it's also unclear whether the delay will have any immediate impact on revenue projections. The new design was to create more uniform advertising positions across Gannett, especially for prerolls that were to run before the many more videos now being produced by local sites in anticipation of the site redesigns.

The first to relaunch was WBIR in Knoxville, Tenn., in early September. The first newspaper to come on board was New York's Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, later that same month.

The unexplained delay comes amid a raft of other evidence that Gannett's digital growth is stumbling, according to regulatory documents, as competition across the Web and electronic networks only grows more intense.

Related: This spreadsheet shows the status of site and app relaunches at all 104 U.S. properties.

WTLV/WJXX | Eric Land named new station GM

Most recently, Land was CEO of Walkabout Air Aviation, a private air charter service in Tampa, Fla. But he had an earlier stint as GM of Gannett's WGRZ in Buffalo, N.Y., according to Corporate's announcement today.

Three TV stations win total five Murrow awards

WGRZ in Buffalo, N.Y., won the overall excellence award in the small market category of the national Edward R. Murrow awards, sponsored by the Radio Television Digital News Association.

The Buffalo station also won for video continuing coverage, and for video reporting: hard news.

KUSA in Denver won for video sports reporting, according to a statement from Corporate. And KARE in Minneapolis-St. Paul won for writing.

Broadcasting, Phoenix lead top employee awards

Corporate just announced that Mark Cornetta, president and general manager of KUSA/KTVD-TV in Denver, has been named Manager of the Year for 2010.

Finalists for that No. 1 honor in the annual employee awards program were Darren Bruce, Newsquest Magazine publisher; and John Misner, president and general manager of KPNX-TV, Phoenix, and John Zidich, president of the U.S. Community Publishing's West Group and president and publisher of The Arizona Republic.

In another top award, USA Today's iPad Launch Team won the Innovator of the Year award. USAT's win comes a day after a member of that team disclosed that he's leaving for a software developer job at Twitter.

The winners were honored at a ceremony today at Gannett headquarters in McLean, Va., along with the recipients of the previously announced Unsung Heros.

Earlier: Zidich "warning labels" now on stories.

Broadcast's WXIA, KARE, WGRZ win Murrow Awards

The three Gannett stations won a combined four 2010 Edward R. Murrow Awards in a national competition sponsored by the Radio Television Digital News Association, the trade group announced today. The prestigious awards honor outstanding achievements in electronic journalism, Corporate noted in a statement today. They're named for the famed U.S. journalist, who first came to prominence with a series of radio news broadcasts during World War II.

The winners:

• WXIA at Atlanta; large market/best continuing coverage (11Alive Staff), for "State of the Stimulus"
• KARE at Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.; large market/newscast (KARE 11 News at 10 p.m./KARE 11 News Team), for ""Blizzard Coverage" (12/23/09), and large market/video feature reporting (Boyd Huppert, Jonathan Malat), for "The Tyler Project"
• WGRZ at Buffalo, N.Y.; small market/video sports reporting (Bob Mancuso, Aaron Saykin), for "Baseball Hero"

Broadcasting in new deal to revamp 10 websites

Corporate has just announced a deal with DataSphere Technologies to launch "community-focused" websites that will be integrated within existing sites now run by Gannett TV stations in 10 U.S. markets, including Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

The new sites will feature "hyperlocal news content and include user-generated content about area happenings and events,'' according to Corporate's statement. "Local businesses will benefit from the opportunity to target their potential customers. In addition to powering the community websites, DataSphere will provide existing Gannett broadcasting websites with enhanced functionality, including market-leading site search, coupons, business directory and ad targeting."

Corporate's statement doe not detail the type of editorial and non-editorial content to be added, however, and it doesn't give a timetable for the changes. The statement also raises other questions: Will the new template for the U.S. newspaper sites -- code-named Project Odyssey, and expected to be launched soon -- also be applied to the broadcasting division's sites? If so, how does the DataSphere deal impact that new template?

In addition to Atlanta and D.C., the other markets are Tampa, Fla.,; Sacramento, Calif.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Little Rock, Ark.; Portland, Maine, and Macon, Ga.

TV | News Corp. said suitor for Conan O'Brien

Amid reports he may be shunted aside so Jay Leno can return to his late-night berth, Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien (left) is mulling options that could include accepting a purported offer from News Corp., The Wall Street Journal is now reporting.

Leno's future on the NBC network is of more than passing interest to Gannett stockholders; 11 of the media giant's 23 television stations are affiliated with NBC. Like many affiliates, GCI's stations have struggled with falling prime-time ratings since Leno was moved to an earlier time slot last summer.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

TV | How Jay Leno's future drives your fortunes

The unfolding drama over whether Jay Leno (left) is shifted back to his old late-night time slot is more than an issue for the NBC network and the broader television industry. The outcome is important to Gannett employees and stockholders. That's because nearly half of GCI's 23 television stations are NBC affiliates, more than any other single affiliation. They include giants KUSA in Denver and WXIA in Atlanta.

Gannett has been watching the impact of NBC's weak prime-time ratings on its 11 affiliates for some time. Adding to that is the uncertainty over the recent sale of a controlling interest of NBC to cable giant Comcast. Only last month, broadcasting division President Dave Lougee told Wall Street analysts: "While we are concerned about the network’s prime rating performance, that is not new. We have been concerned for some time."

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Finalists just announced for companywide awards

Corporate has disclosed the finalists for 2008 Innovator of the Year, Manager of the Year, Sales Executive of the Year, Corporate Staffer of the Year and the Leadership & Diversity Award. Interesting to note the three finalists for Manager of the Year:

• Margaret Buchanan, Interstate group vice president and president and publisher of The Cincinnati Enquirer
  
• Jim Toellner, president and general manager at WGRZ-TV at Buffalo, N.Y.
  
• Patricia Whitehouse, manager/human resources at KUSA/KTVD-TV at Denver
  

Winners in all categories will be announced April 2 at a reception at the Gannett-USA Today headquarters complex in McLean, Va.

So, what's the back-story, here? How many managers got nominated, and who chose these finalists?

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green rail, upper right.

Documents: GCI eliminating 275 finance jobs; Asheville, WUSA-TV among first 11 taking hit

The company will eliminate the accounting and other jobs as part of the previously disclosed creation of two national shared service centers in Springfield, Mo., and Indianapolis, according to internal documents I've just obtained.

The documents were provided by a Gannett Blog reader who requested anonymity. They describe in detail the timetable and scale of the plan to consolidate finance work at newspapers and TV stations in a bid to cut costs as Gannett wrestles with declining revenue and profits. Previously published reports gave only a broad outline of the project.

The plan calls for a combined 11 papers and TV stations to be used as pilot sites starting last month, the documents show, with completion of the entire project expected by March 2009. About 55 jobs will be created at each of the two new centers -- for a net job loss of 167 positions, the documents show. Gannett now employs about 46,000 in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

"The termination dates for employees losing their positions are determined by the implementation timetable,'' one of the documents shows. "As a site begins migrating their activities to the national shared service centers, employees begin losing their positions.''

The documents say the first 11 pilot sites are the papers at Asheville, N.C.; Greenville, S.C.; Springfield, Mo.; Mountain Home, Ark.; Jackson, Miss., and Hattiesburg, Miss. The TV stations are WGRZ in Buffalo, N.Y.; WUSA in Washington, D.C.; WTSP in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.; WBIR in Knoxville, Tenn., and KTHV in Little Rock.

In sharing the documents, my reader says: "This is top secret. You have to protect my identity! So many people are frustrated because Gannett is keeping this such a secret. People just want an idea of when this transition is going to happen at their units. These people are not stupid -- they know there's a schedule out there somewhere, so why not share it -- even if it's tentative. So, here it is. I'm not sure if Gannett is on schedule or not. Do with it as you feel is appropriate."

All readers: Can you provide confirmation -- and further details? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.

[Image: yesterday's Asheville Citizen-Times, Newseum]