Down-Home success: Nimble community newspapers ride out publishing industry woes. (Up Front).

There are no big-name reporters writing for the Eastside Sun, Commerce Comet or the other 10 free weekly newspapers that Eastern Group Publications Inc. publishes in various eastern L.A. County neighborhoods. Instead, it's strictly bread-and-butter community news: meetings, event listings and photos of local kids and city officials.

But at a time when Tribune Co., The Washington Post Co. and other national stalwarts are suffering, City of Commerce-based EGP last year saw an 8 percent increase in advertising revenues. Plus, says Dolores Sanchez, publisher and editor in chief, the company has been profitable for at least a decade.

"Last year was excellent," said Jonathan Sanchez, associate publisher and chief operating officer of EGP, in which the Sanchez family is majority owner. "A lot it has to do with the outlook that you take."

With ad rates as low as $10 or $15 per column inch, far less than the several hundred dollars that major metropolitan dailies charge, community newspapers are a cheap alternative for advertisers. For small, local retailers, they often are the only affordable choice.

"In many ways, these newspapers will probably survive and, in some cases, flourish longer than some of the much larger newspapers," said USC journalism professor Bryce Nelson. "They operate on a very lean budget, don't devote a lot of money to editorial product, and they're better able to withstand economic downturns."

Dolores Sanchez attributed much of the success of EGP's papers, which have a combined circulation of 103,000, to the dual-language content that reaches English- and Spanish-speakers. This gives the papers a better chance to reach the Latino population than papers like the Times and La Opinion.

"When you need to really target your audience, and when you need to look at every advertising dollar that you have, you're going to try to use those vehicles that are more affordable," Sanchez said.

Targeted reach is what attracts the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to EGP papers. With services concentrated in specific geographic areas, the MTA recognizes that small newspapers are an efficient way to get the word out about public transit services to the people most likely to use them.

"Our message is targeted at a small, specific audience," said Elizabeth McGowan, an MTA spokeswoman. "The community newspapers, that's really their strength."

Wearing multiple hats

As for operational expenses, much of the editorial content comes from neighborhood volunteers or low-paid freelancers. Employees are expected to perform a range of tasks. Reporters write stories, take photographs and help with production. They sometimes even handle clerical duties. And all of EGP's 13 employees are bilingual. "Everybody does everything," Dolores Sanchez said.

Such multi-tasking is essential to a community newspaper's survival, said Pluria Marshall Jr., publisher for L.A.'s Wave Community Newspapers Inc. and Independent Newspaper Group Inc.

Since taking over the Wave papers in 2000, he has focused on "cross-training" his employees and has pared the staff down to 50 from about 80.

Marshall's Equal Access Media Inc. is the Wave's majority investor and sole owner of the Independent papers. Ad revenues for the Wave's seven newspapers, which target African-Americans and Latinos in South and East L.A., were about $7 million last year, a 7 percent increase over the previous year, Marshall said.

While the Sept. 11 attacks hurt the papers, healthy ad sales in the first six months of 2001 accounted for the improved year-over-year performance.

Being a small operation helped the Wave and Independent papers react quickly to the market downturn and lessen the effects of the advertising decline, Marshall said. "We, as small papers, can do things the big boys can't," he said. "It takes a lot more to turn an aircraft carrier than to turn a PT boat."

Community papers are not immune to recession, and some have been unable to keep ad revenues up.

Arcadia's Core Media Group Inc., which puts out four weekly newspapers in the San Gabriel Valley, has seen its revenues fall about 30 percent since September, said Publisher and Chief Executive Von Raees. To keep the papers economically viable, he said, Core Media is keeping costs and staffing levels to a minimum. "The overall long-term health of the company looks better than ever," Raees said.