N.Y. Post Eyes Other Coast

N.Y. to L.A.: Buy This.

That’s the message the New York Post plans to pitch to Angelenos if it follows through on initial plans to start circulating the colorful tabloid controlled by Aussie media czar Rupert Murdoch.

The Post already sells a small number of papers in Los Angeles, but they arrive here a day late. “We are getting the sense there is some demand from people who want it the same day, and we want to see if we can satisfy that,” said Col Allan, the paper’s editor. He said he didn’t know precisely how many papers are sold in Southern California.

The Post, a favorite of New York subway riders, is noted for its brash style, celebrity gossip page, conservative editorials and clever headlines such as “Sex & the Kiddie,” which topped a three-byline article in Tuesday’s edition about TV’s “Sex and the City” star Sarah Jessica Parker giving birth to her first child.

“This would be a very low-level foray into the market. People would get what we sell in New York. We would not change the content,” Allan said.

The Post, which has an average daily circulation of 588,000, already has a similar deal in Florida, where it sells about 10,000 same-day copies to vacationing New Yorkers and Big Apple transplants, Allan said.

“I was looking for a copy of the New York Times in Miami recently, and all I could find was the Post,” said Loren Ghiglione, dean of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

But it’s unclear if there are enough passionate expatriates in Southern California to get that type of presence in sprawling Los Angeles, Ghiglione said.

“I don’t see where the money will come from,” he said. “It won’t be from advertising and it won’t be from circulation.”

Before the Post can begin same-day sales in Southern California, it must contract with a local printing plant and set up distribution.

“This might be part of a Rupert Murdoch ego trip to get his editorial voice to the West Coast,” Ghiglione said.