By LOGAN MOLEN
The Bakersfield Californian Managing Editor

The Bakersfield Californian recently introduced widespread changes to its features section to make its pages more relevant and valuable for time-starved readers.

Included in those changes are several new easy-read pages, as well as a strategic shift of our popular Saturday Home & Garden broadsheet to a Wednesday tab.

We've generally received good feedback from readers and focus groups since launching the changes in November, but have not conducted formal studies to determine readership impact.

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Section: Tasty!

What we did: The Friday Tasty! page is focused on entertaining – as opposed to simply food – and having fun in the kitchen. Tasty! features one or two short entree or dessert recipes, fun features on food, occasional stories on wine, cocktails and beer, and also has a brief column and a "Movie and Munchies" feature that pairs a new video release with an easy and related recipe (such as a boxed "Rocky" DVD edition and a recipe for Philly cheese steak sandwiches).

Why we did it: We wanted to spice up our food page, which had a traditional focus: Pairing up with the Wednesday food ads that are now nonexistent at many papers and providing recipes that only a mom in the '50s would appreciate or use. Now the page is more food-and-entertaining oriented. We also moved the page from Wednesday to Friday, hopefully reaching more people who are looking for something to do in the kitchen over the weekend, as well as what to do around town.

Contact Information: Features Editor Steve Mullen, (661) 395-7434,
smullen@bakersfield.com

Section: Home & Garden tab

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What we did: We started a new Wednesday Home & Garden tab to replace a traditional Saturday home and garden broadsheet section. The expanded coverage includes a double truck reserved for a local spread on subjects, such as how to plant a tree and other stories heavy on news you can use. Other features include an in-depth – but easy to read – two-page spread featuring timely and relevant nuts-and-bolts information such as "7 tips for the week," what gardeners should plant or do in that particular week or time of season, and expanded pets content, which we've found to be of high interest to readers. We originally called the section "Digs," a play off that word's usage in describing both a home and what you can do in your yard. We thought it was clever and would appeal to younger readers. A good number of readers young and old disagreed, saying the name was stupid and confusing (contributing to the chaos was our moving the section from Saturdays to Wednesdays). After about a month, we restored the more simple but effective "Home & Garden" name, and we all sleep easy at night as a result.

Why we did it: We wanted to beef up the value of our midweek papers and also better serve our readers, who consistently place gardening, yard work and working on their homes as top pastimes in surveys we have conducted. We also adopted the tab format after hearing that many readers preferred to have a "portable" section they could take out in the yard with them.

Contact Information: Features Editor Steve Mullen, (661) 395-7434,
smullen@bakersfield.com

Section: Now

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What we did: The Now page focuses on fashion and pop culture. Most of the stories are culled from the wire and edited to fit the format of short, quick bites on fun subjects. We run local fashion stories on the page, including a monthly My Style feature, which picks a stylish someone from the community and does a blow-by-blow account of why they dress the way they do, and where they buy their clothes and for how much. Our "Trend Watch" column includes fashion and pop culture insight from local student writers to complement shorts from the wire or other sources. A semi-weekly "TV Underground" blurb showcases an unusual TV show and tells readers when it's on. The page is largely consumer focused.

Why we did it: Despite high circulation, we learned our Saturday paper had lower than expected readership, in part because people are as busy as ever on that day. So we pursued a fun, easy-to-read page where stories rarely jump and the design is eye-catching to keep a high surprise and delight factor.

Contact Information: Features Editor Steve Mullen, (661) 395-7434,
smullen@bakersfield.com

You can reach Logan Molen at (661) 395-7225 or via e-mail at lmolen@bakersfield.com.

Check out the newspaper online at http://www.bakersfield.com.