Tampa Bay Times: St. Petersburg Times Name Change To Take Effect

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Florida's largest newspaper, the St. Petersburg Times, is changing its name to the Tampa Bay Times.

The newspaper announced the change in November and it will take effect Sunday. The newspaper says the new name reflects its growth across the Tampa Bay region.

The St. Petersburg-based Poynter Institute for Media Studies is still the paper's owner.

The downtown Tampa arena where the Tampa Bay Lightning play hockey also gets a new name. Starting Sunday, the St. Pete Times Forum will be known as the Tampa Bay Times Forum.

The arena will be the site for the 2012 Republican National Convention.

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Online: http://www.tampabay.com/newname

Comments

[jerryatthebeach]

01:33 PM on 01/03/2012

TBO.com has it all tied up. I don't even think about looking anywhere else for bay area internet news...

[SCboy]

05:36 AM on 01/02/2012

Looks to me to be a cynical attempt to capitalize on the success of the Tampa Bay football team.

[GraphicMatt]

10:36 AM on 01/03/2012

Huh?

[GSR]

02:46 AM on 01/02/2012

I hope they don't change anything else about the paper.

[sixchair]

08:59 PM on 01/01/2012

Makes sense

[shangrolah]

07:56 PM on 01/01/2012

This is like General Motors changing their name to Nissan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/16/AR2006041601027_pf.html

[donafelipa]

09:22 PM on 01/01/2012

Exactly. Sad.

[Npn Npn]

07:45 PM on 01/01/2012

The St. Petersburg Times has done first rate investigative reporting on the abuses that occur within Scientology, especially at the Clearwater headquarters but throughout the nasty cult.

Thank you and please, keep up the great work under the new name.

[shangrolah]

07:57 PM on 01/01/2012

One of the great papers in the country-- both in public service, investigative reporting, and local news. Strange they feel the need to change their name.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/16/AR2006041601027_pf.html

[MightyMeno]

10:22 AM on 01/02/2012

Even though I live near Ocala, I insist on buying this paper every Sunday, if only for their excellent feature articles. And, as you said, their investigative pieces are stellar, as well.

[fredgladys]

04:30 PM on 01/01/2012

The name change probably reflects the fact that a number of people might think that the name reflects the dreaded 'commie' tendencies.

[REDSTATEREFUGEE]

11:25 AM on 01/02/2012

Well.....maybe....but, if you recall, St. Petersburg was the original czarist name for that important Russian city, but it was renamed Leningrad by the Soviets, and then rechristened St. Petersburg again with the fall of the USSR.....

[GraphicMatt]

10:37 AM on 01/03/2012

No, the name change reflects the fact that the paper is more widely distributed that just within St. Petersburg......sort of like what the article said.

[Xious Ziousk]

04:30 PM on 01/01/2012

Changing name. What world is St. Petersburg Times / Tampa Bay Times living in. With tablets and smartphones and an age when people hardly ever purchase a newspaper for news anymore why bother to change name. What they should have done is gone electronic and save themselves from annihilation in the future.

[abbadabba]

12:47 PM on 01/01/2012

Best story I read there was an expose of Tampa's Tea Party 912 Project Camp where 8 to 12 year olds were indoctrinated in Christian principles like, "I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable." Bad grammar lesson, too.

Teaching children government is a church you can join or quit and take your tithes with you. What judases. Thanks, Marlene Sokol! Thanks St. Petersburg Times!!

[chris hatala]

04:29 PM on 01/01/2012

Anything to do with Florida is corrupt.

[shangrolah]

07:58 PM on 01/01/2012

The paper exposed corruption, was a force for good.

[wforvendetta]

11:40 AM on 01/01/2012

The Trib just had another round of layoffs. The Times is going in for the kill.

[TeraWatt60]

09:43 AM on 01/01/2012

The St Pete Times has always been the best paper in Florida by a long shot...I lived in the Tampa Bay area for 45 years so I know what I'm talking about...the Tampa Tribune ,on the other hand, is also a good paper...the Trib however is only "good" for wrapping fish or lining bird cages

[SueEll]

07:12 PM on 01/01/2012

I love the St Pete Times and I hate to see them change the name ...

[TeraWatt60]

07:50 PM on 01/01/2012

I do to...when I was a kid there was a paper called The Tampa Times and it was taken over by the Trib...hence the Sunday name on the masthead

[skybar]

08:39 AM on 01/01/2012

When I lived in Fla. in the early '80s, the St. Pete Times was one of the best newspapers in the nation. It seemed weird that it was based in St. Petersburg, which was basically a retirement community at the time.
I haven't read it in years. Wonder if they're still as good.

[nana41]

12:15 PM on 01/01/2012

Its not !!!

[jerzygurl]

08:42 PM on 12/31/2011

A desperate newspaper trying to remain relevant. They can't even give that paper away in the Tampa Bay Area. They hire a bunch of people to hawk the paper from every corner in west central Florida without paying them a living wage. No benefits, no payment into social security or disability just a measly few bucks an hour. Liberalism isn't pretty when it's exposed.

[ErnestineBass]

12:10 PM on 01/01/2012

You're a Pravda Tribune reader, do doubt.

[taliesin2323]

07:31 PM on 01/01/2012

uhhh Minimum Wage? No social security payments? No disability payments? that doesn't sound like LIBERAL media - that sounds like a Republican Extremist Ultra Right Philosophy Media...sounds like Fox News on steroids.

[dixdarlin]

03:42 PM on 12/31/2011

You still have the Radical Right wing Tampa Tribune to contend!
The St. Petersburg Times is 2nd best paper in the nation!
2nd to the New York Times!

[jerzygurl]

09:10 PM on 12/31/2011

They can't even give the paper away in Florida. It's only use is to sell all the unsold copies to puppy stores for the bottom of the cages.

[Russell Masingale]

07:55 AM on 01/01/2012

what does someone from jersey know about Florida?

[drdogood123]

09:14 AM on 01/01/2012

You obviously do not know what you're talking about. The St Pete Times is undoubtedly one of the best newspapers in the nation. Check the Audit Bureau of Circulation site and see where the newspaper ranks in the nation. The only newspaper that comes close to it in terms of circulation in the entire state of Florida is the Miami Herald. I live in Tampa and i haven't read the Tampa Tribune in 17years.

[danceswithtrees]

11:45 AM on 01/01/2012

Thanks for the context. By saying it is 2nd only to the NY Times (which is dying and just fired their editor because their stock is down over 60% this year) I now know just how bad this paper is and why they are attempting to re brand themselves. People are on to the lying left wing rags and are voting with their dollars not to buy these loser papers. Instead we turn to the internet to get all sides of the issues.

[taliesin2323]

07:39 PM on 01/01/2012

I was following you until "lying left wing rags" and then I remembered: conservative Fox News Viewers and Conservative Radio Listeners and conservative blogger readers are the most misinformed group in the United States. Even people who do not read news papers or listen to the radio or have the internet or watch television are more informed than those who listen to conservative talk radio or watch conservative Fox News. May you go in peace and read liberal newspapers and watch liberal TV and you may be saved yet. Fox News and Conservative Media - Unfair and Unbalanced.

[madcityy]

03:08 PM on 12/31/2011

IT WONT MATTER.....................