scheduled for delivery Wednesdsay, April 16. As we compiled the directory,

we found job counts were down, except for the pharmaceutical industry,

which reports 19,211 workers in Central New Jersey, an increase of

four percent over last year. So it is not surprising that our directory

lists six employment agencies and 16 executive search firms that focus

on pharmaceutical, medical, or scientific positions. We asked three

people who head these boutique firms for career advice that can apply

to any industry (see page 48).

Top Of Page
To The Editor:

What’s `Route 1′

Really All About?

I am prompted to write because of Richard K. Rein’s

editorial talking about the Trentonian, Times, Packet and Topics —

much less the up-and-coming West Windsor-Plainsboro News (U.S. 1,

March 19). While I think you had apt descriptions for some, I was

surprised you chose to be critical about your brethren.

I would add that the Packet is less interesting to Princetonians since

they decided to treat West Windsor and Montgomery with equal attention.

Who ARE those people, anyway? The fact that my wife and I will be

moving to Rocky Hill and Stonebridge hopefully in December makes me

a bit more curious about Montgomery.

Still, your comments prompt me to make a few comments about Route

1. I have never quite understood what market you are serving. There

is little sports or financial or hard news — done I am sure with

a purpose. Still, I flip through it quite rapidly trying to understand.

I KNOW you have subscribers, freebies, and advertisers so you must

be on to something that hasn’t hit me yet.

As for your calendar of entertainment and events, I guess I’m just

not that curious about "what to do on Thursday." I may be

curious about what lectures or concerts or what else are coming up

this week or next but I don’t think most people make plans for Thursday

or Saturday. They seek out events of interest first, I would suspect,

then fit it into their schedules.

And so at best I take a quick glance at the way you list them by days

in hopes I might see something to interest me. But I can’t be bothered

by going over each item by days. It may be a space problem to do it

by category but it makes more sense to me. Likely you have done some

research to support your format.

I’d be curious what your demographics are and any other good thoughts

about what seems to be an obvious success notwithstanding my general

lack of interest.

Herbert W. Hobler

Passport Communications

Princeton

answers. As for our day-by-day listings of upcoming events, as opposed

to category-by-category listings, we get more positive reactions to

our day-by-day format than to any other regular feature in the paper.

Go figure.

As for the lack of hard news and sports, the explanation can be found

in the demographics. Most of our readers are the office denizens of

the greater Princeton business communities and they arrive here from

dozens of different residential communities and school districts.

We concentrate on the things that bring our people together —

business news and the rich social and cultural life that exists (for

some more than others) after work and on weekends.

And Hobler’s letter is especially appreciated for two other reasons.

First it reminds me of yet another nickname for U.S. 1 newspaper,

in addition to the "U.S. Fun" that I mentioned in the column.

Nineteen years ago, when the idea for this paper first popped to mind,

"Route 1" was one of the first names suggested. But my focus

group (friends and people I ran into on the street) were hopelessly

divided on how to pronounce the name — "rout" or "root."

I envisioned that 19 years later I would still be dithering over the

pronunciation. As it turns out, I still am, since lots of people still

refer to U.S. 1 as "Route 1" — pronounced "root"

more often than "rout."

Hobler’s letter also raises the question of why one newspaper writer

should be critical about his "brethren." The fact of the matter

is that you rarely see one newspaper reviewing another or anyone in

the media publicly criticizing anyone else. That’s because of a delicious

little irony that we might pursue at another time: We in the media

can review plays and the arts, we can second guess coaches and quarterbacks

on Monday mornings, and we can call public officials to task for their

failure to anticipate a snow storm. We can all dish it out in huge

portions, but some of us can’t take it.

We received word of one inaccuracy in our March 19 overview of the

journalism scene: We described the Town Topics as a free circulation

weekly. In fact, we have been told, "fully half" of the paper’s

circulation is paid, not free. That may not be hard news exactly,

but — to paraphrase a headline from the Frolics — it is news

to us.

Corrections or additions?

— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.