At one point in media history, TV listings were an important part of every daily newspaper and a fixture on living room coffee tables.
Some of the big papers, including the Star Tribune and the Des Moines Register, once even published listings for multiple markets, competing with TV Guide. Many weekly newspapers also published TV listings, especially in areas where stations from multiple cities could be received.
Nowadays, newspapers have cut back or dropped their listings as people move to on-screen and online listings. Many newspapers no longer publish a daily print edition.
Here’s a sampling of how some Upper Midwest newspapers are now handling TV listings. Note that this list is only about print newspapers; a newspaper cannot put out daily print listings if it no longer puts out a daily print edition.
Daily and weekly print listings
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Daily print listings, no weekly listings
The Gazette (Cedar Rapids)
Lincoln Journal Star
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Weekly print listings
Papers publish weekly listings, but either do not print daily or do not publish listings daily
Alexandria Echo Press
Bemidji Pioneer
Bismarck Tribune
Dickinson Press
Duluth News Tribune
The Forum (Fargo)
Grand Forks Herald
Jamestown Sun
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Mitchell Republic
North Platte Telegraph
Quad City Times
Rainy Lake Gazette (International Falls)
Sioux City Journal
Storm Lake Times Pilot
Superior Telegram
West Central Tribune (Willmar)
Worthington Globe
One-day listings in twice-weekly print editions
Rochester Post Bulletin
No print listings
Aberdeen American News
Ames Tribune
Appleton Post-Crescent
Des Moines Register
Green Bay Press Gazette
Kearney Hub
La Crosse Tribune
Mason City Globe Gazette
Omaha World Herald
Oshkosh Northwestern
Rapid City Journal
St. Cloud Times
Sioux Falls Argus Leader
Stevens Point Journal
Watertown Public Opinion
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
Wausau Daily Herald
Wisconsin State Journal (Madison)
(Ironically, this list is based on a review of print editions that can be seen in E-Edition format either as free previews, or through my various news subscriptions. FYI for news nerds, Forum and Gannett offer access to all of the company E-Editions through one subscription.)
If you’re familiar with newspaper ownership, you’ve likely noticed the pattern above: Most Gannett newspapers no longer have TV listings, though the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel does still publish its weekly “TV Cue.” But most Forum Communications papers put out weekly TV listings. The Lee Enterprises papers are split, with some offering a weekly section but others printing no listings.
Many of the papers which no longer publish listings promote subscriptions to TV Weekly.
With dozens of broadcast channels now on the air in every market, it’s interesting to see which subchannels are listed. The choice seems to be random. Some newspapers added listings for the first few subchannels that came on the air but don’t include the more recent additions.
It’s always important to remember that channels included in the listings may be wrong. The Brainerd Dispatch continues to run listings labelled KCCO even though the station returned its license five years ago (the listings are actually for WCCO, which remains on the air). And the Pioneer Press’ daily listings continue to show This TV on channel 45.2, while its weekly listings show Antenna TV on channel 45.4 but with the This TV schedule, even though neither channel number is still current.