What is IT? — The SCV Talk Archive

Today's Signal (March 21) features an odd advertisement on page three. Written in big, black bold letters, the ad says "IT RETURNS APRIL 1ST." What could it be?

First of all, there's no clue in the ad itself whether this was purchased by an advertiser or if it is the Signal's ad. The ad takes up 1/4 of Page 3 - some valuable ad real estate - and is very noticeable. The second thing that jumps out at me is the date: April 1. All bets are off for anything you read on April 1, since that is April Fool's Day. It seems like an odd day to announce something. Finally, whatever "it" is, it is returning, meaning it's something we're familiar with that's been away for a certain period of time. My guess is the Signal is re-introducing its famous (infamous?) Tell it To the Signal section and website, affectionately referred to as TITTS by SCV partisans who used (abused?) the feature until it was shut down in 2001. TITTS allowed Signal readers to phone in (and later post online) brief editorial comments on news stories. It wasn't as formal as a Letter to the Editor, but it was always a popular feature in the paper. I wasn't in town when it was shut down, but a number of TITTS users continued to post comments in other forums, notably MSN message boards. TITTS comments were sometimes biting, sarcastic, mean spirited and ugly. It was like the worst tendencies of the blog world in print. "Whoa" you say. "They shut down TITTS for good several years ago, why do you think they are building it again?" Well consider that we've seen a few changes at the spunky paper since Tim Whyte left in February. There was that nasty editor's note that called KHTS a "wanna-be media outlet," and the paper apparently isn't hiring a replacement General Manager, leaving Leon Worden as senior editor and Budman as publisher. Worden isn't shy about controversy and debate; a 1996 editorial by the late Richard Rioux called Worden "tough" and said that he "rolled with the punches." There's more though. In the last 12 months, The-Signal.com has been radically upgraded. The site now features streaming video from the AP, streaming video from SCVTV, more stories and content, and links to just about every online SCV resource imaginable. They've also put flash games on the site. In other words, The Signal wants you to visit their website, stay, and imprint ads on your eyes. What better way to accomplish that than by bringing back TITTS in a new and improved (and hopefully moderated) online forum/discussion site? Everyone else is doing it- KHTS has their new "Hometown Forum" blog site, Dave Bossert's blog remains popular, the Daily News has ValleyNews.com, MySantaClarita.com is said to be rebuilding their site etc...The newspaper's future is online. And announcing this on April 1 fits in with the Signal's spunky attitude. It's something Scott Newhall would have done. Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe a new real estate company is coming to town or this is some lame ad from Santa Clarita's auto dealers. I guess we'll find out! What do you think?

Comments (1)

BlacksheepMarch 21 at 9:10 AM PT
TITTS was unfortunately abducted by the High School kids expressing their dieing support for that piece O' crap who crashed his car on Soledad and killed the Reynolds kids and Rodney. They also didn't like us bagging on the Hart Facilities Foundation for failure to disclose (to this day) their finances. Big bag of money and Hart High is falling apart. Class act. The arguments with Steinbeck were a fond memory.