Simons family's World empire in Lawrence, Ks.: Is concentration worth it?

National Public Radio's David Folkenflik produced a lengthy audio piece on the Dolph Simons family's World Co. media enterprise in Lawrence, Kan., which owns the 20,000-circulation daily newspaper and the cable company (Sunflower Media) that serves 80% of the homes in the college town (50% of the town's homes have broadband Internet service from Sunflower). It is delivering podcast news and music to cell phones and its Lawrence.COM website wins piles of awards, many since the arrival of 33-year-old Rob Curley, who was elevated to editor of both the newspaper and website. Examined in the print/audio/multimedia two-part series -- which aired April 13 and 14 and is available on the NPR website -- is the question of whether media concentration in a small city is good, or bad. At one level, because the Simons family has owned the company for generations, it has lower profit requirements than newspaper chains. It has 44 newspaper newsroom workers vs. an industry norm of 20 for a paper that size. So it spends a lot more money than most newspapers its size. A University of Kansas religious-studies professor, Tim Miller, is quoted in the NPR piece. He questions the impact of this concentration on business coverage in Lawrence. Folkenflik talked to one restaurant owner who seemed OK with it. And the Simons family says it competes with the campus daily, and chain-owned dailies in Kansas City and Topeka, both of which circulate in Lawrence. World Co. doesn't own a broadcast TV station -- although it runs a cable news and entertainment channel.