''Am730'', is free daily Cantonese newspaper published in Hong Kong, the third with the prior two being ''

Headline Daily ''Headline Daily'' () was launched on 12 July 2005, by Sing Tao Newspaper Group Limited and became the second free Chinese-language newspaper published officially in Hong Kong ('' Metro Daily'' being the first). The paper is only distributed o ...

'' and ''

Metropolis Daily ''Metro Daily'' () was the Hong Kong edition of Metro, which publishes free newspapers around the world with 25 editions in 16 countries in 14 languages. It was the first free newspaper in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong version was first launched o ...

''. Shih Wing-ching, chairman of '' Centaline Holdings'', a property agency, is the founder of the newspaper. He introduced the new paper due to the unprecedented success of ''Metropolis Daily'', a pioneer in this market. ''Metropolis Daily'' was founded in 2002, and was so successful that it broke even in only fourteen months. Realising the profitability of the market, Shih established ''am730'' in late July 2005.

Overview

Owned and operated by AM730 Media Limited, ''am730'' launched its first publication on 30 July 2005. It had been scheduled to be launched in September, but it was rescheduled to 30 July to keep up with one of its competitors, ''Headline Daily'', which was launched on 12 July 2005, and for convenient coincidence that the date of 30 July (730) corresponded with the name of the newspaper. Two hundred thousand copies of ''am730'' were issued at its first publication and its current circulation volume is around three hundred thousand copies daily. The name of the newspaper is intended to suggest a fresh approach towards the methodology of naming newspapers. It does not incorporate the term "daily" because this word reflects the conventional way of naming a

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to event ...

journal. The name literally states the newspaper's aim to distribute the publication during rush hour, which is approximately 7:30 am. According to Shih, the newspaper is tailored to young people. 7:30 am is about when the

sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

rises; it signals vitality, just like the young people who are at the start of a long journey through life. It is a new vision aimed to change the old quality of Hong Kong newspapers. In its first week, ''am730'' sold one hundred thousand copies. Eventually, it aims to increase circulation to three hundred thousand copies, which is similar to the other two free newspapers (''Metropolis Daily'': 300,000; ''Headline Daily'': 400,000). In January 2014, Shih revealed that many mainland companies were cancelling advertising with the paper, for its perceived anti-Beijing editorial stance.Cancelled adverts threaten paper
SCMP, 17 Jan 2014

Language and style

The journal tends to adopt

internet slang Internet slang (also called Internet shorthand, cyber-slang, netspeak, digispeak or chatspeak) is a non-standard or unofficial form of language used by people on the Internet to communicate to one another. An example of Internet slang is "LOL" m ...

and other expressions which are widely used on the Internet and popular among youth. The newspaper official says it is advisable to use internet slang and does not think that colloquial expressions in newspaper articles will affect young people's language proficiency. What is more crucial is using popular language to convey messages. ''am730'' intends to offer a fresh sensation in news to its readers; it aims to widen the horizon of its readers, both internationally and culturally, and to promote an optimistic outlook on life and hopes for the future. While being consistent with market regulations, ''am730'' is a real newspaper which offers more attention to journalistic principles. Unlike numerous other newspapers, ''am730'' is against the idea of indecent news as the selling point. It wants to provide a newspaper with accurate, simple news reports targeted to youth who have just begun their careers. The fresh, youthful style of ''am730'' is designed to encourage more young people to read newspapers. Shih hopes that through this free newspaper, young people in Hong Kong will cultivate a greater interest in the news and in the future of Hong Kong. ''Headline Daily'', a newspaper which belongs to ''Sing Tao'', is the primary competition for ''am730''. Shih admits that ''Headline Daily'' has more resources than the privately investigated ''am730'' because of its attachment to ''Sing Tao Daily'', but that dependence on Sing Tao would harm the independence of its organisation.

Content

The paper includes local, China, international, financial, entertainment and sports news. Additionally, Shih Wing Ching writes a column called "C Viewpoint" in which he gives his daily commentary on local or international news. "730 Angle" is also a commentary column, but for people from all walks of life. "Snapshot Hong Kong" is a column which cold-contacts youngsters on the street to ask their opinions. Hence, the major target of ''am730'' is the young working class and it defines itself as a

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Yo ...

publication in the newspaper market. The detailed layout of the newspaper is as follows: *Front page The lead story of the day occupies almost the entire page of the paper, filled in with colourful illustrations. The other stories vary from local top stories to China and international news. Similar to a traditional newspaper, on the left corner is a column which briefly highlights the news of secondary importance that is available inside the paper. The highlights vary, including local, China, international, entertainment and sport news. At the bottom of the column is a display of the

Mark Six Mark Six () is a lottery game organised by the Hong Kong Jockey Club. History The first iteration of Mark Six, known as in Chinese (), was launched on 5 September 1975, in an effort to battle the then-popular tse fa () illegal lottery draws. ...

results. *Local Typically, around three to four pages are allocated to the local news section. More important news such as politics and policies are reported in greater length than city news such as accidents and events. To maximise space usage, even the banner at the top of the page is used to cover brief news accounts. Shih's personal column, "C Viewpoint," can also be found in this section. There is also a column for

weather forecast Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19th cent ...

s for local, China and international locations. The banner of this section is sky-blue in colour. *China News from China and related to China's interests takes up about one to two pages of the paper. The banner colour of this section is khaki. *International The international section covers major news around the world. The banner colour of this section is dark blue. *Features When this section appears, it is placed in the middle of the paper and covers two pages, but it is not always printed. At times, the middle pages are occupied by a full-page advertisement. Feature stories, when available, offer in-depth reports and analysis. *Finance This is a short, concise one-page section on financial and business news, both locally and on the international arena. The banner colour of this section is dark green. *Sports The Sports section covers both the local and the international sports scene. On average it provides a scoreboard summary of final scores and, on occasion, a brief schedule of live sports coverage on television. The banner colour of this section is light green. *I.T. The I.T. section is dedicated to news of

technological Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

advancement and electronic products, including

mobile phones A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while ...

computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These prog ...

, television and much more. Not to be missed is news of the Internet and recommended websites. The banner colour of this section is light green. *Notes The Notes section usually offers articles of interesting, sometimes absurd events happening around the world. The banner colour of this section is purple. *OL (Office Lady) and Health This section is dedicated to young working women, similar to those offered in popular women's magazines. Besides tips and advice on women's health and beauty, there is also a section dedicated to relationship advice for women readers with personal problems. The banner colour of this section is pink. *Entertainment This section offers entertainment news regarding celebrities, music and movies. There are usually two pages dedicated to this section. One page focuses on local Hong Kong celebrities, while the other covers international celebrities. There are occasional extras in this section such as movie reviews and basic introductions of a

foreign language A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a given country, and that native speakers from that country must usually acquire through conscious learning - be this through language lessons at school ...

. The banner colour of this section is mustard yellow. *Readers "730 Angle" offers letters and readers' opinions on various issues. There is also a small section on events and book reviews. On the right hand corner is a "snapshot" section dedicated to teen fashion and trends, including the mobile phones they use. *Leisure This section that relates tips and overviews of

leisure Leisure has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, work, job hunting, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as eating and sleeping. Lei ...

activities. Generally this section contains comics, western horoscopes,

tarot The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots ...

predictions of the future, and cooking tips and recipes. *Television This section provides a selected schedule of programmes offered on both local and cable television. At the bottom section, there is a review of some recommended programs. Last but not least are the credits of the editorial team as well as a list of contacts for the newspaper. *Back page The back page of the paper is typically occupied by a full-page advertisement. Generally, the news accounts presented are brief and limited, due at least in part to space limitations. As ''am730'' is a free newspaper, the operating cost largely depends on the advertisement revenue. A full-page advertisement appears on every other page, mainly placed between the local news section and the finance section. Smaller advertisements are scattered throughout the newspaper.

Editorial team

Currently, the editorial team consists of 50 people. Key staff are : *President: Alan Lo *Vice-President: Danny Fung and Ricky Lo *Sales and Marketing Director: Ray Lee *Associate Managing Editor: Dominic Leung *Marketing Manager: Agnes Chen *Chief Reporter: Kenneth Dai *General Chief Reporter: Ray Tsang *Photography Director: Edmond Wong *

Arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

Director: Spring Kwok

Operations

The initial launch of the newspaper cost up to HK$100 million. It was Shih's private investment. At the first stage,

working capital Working capital (WC) is a financial metric which represents operating liquidity available to a business, organisation, or other entity, including governmental entities. Along with fixed assets such as plant and equipment, working capital is consi ...

was just HK$50 million; another HK$50 million will be invested if the operation proves successful. Shih Wing-ching expects that revenue and expenditures will be balanced after a year of publication. As a free newspaper, the major operational revenue is gained from

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

advertisements. After the first month of publication, the revenue gained from commercial advertisements was HK$100 million while ''am730'' still needed to bear HK$100 million to HK$200 million in losses every day. The advertising rates in ''am730'' are estimated to be HK$24,000 – HK$30,000, 30% to 40% lower than ''Metropolis Dailys rates of HK$32,000 to HK$40,000. This is a strategic action to attract more advertisements. From July 2013, under a six-year contract, the paper is printed by the

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

Group.SCMP signs six-year printing deal with free paper am730
SCMP, 13 July 2013

Distribution points

''am730'' is distributed from Mondays to Fridays (except public holidays) at around 287 locations. Distribution locations include railway stations along the

East Rail line The East Rail line () is one of ten lines of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system in Hong Kong. It used to be one of the three lines of the Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR) network. It was known as the KCR British Section () from 1910 to 199 ...

and

West Rail line The West Rail line () was a rapid transit line that formed part of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system in Hong Kong until 27 June 2021. Coloured magenta on the MTR map, the line ran from Tuen Mun to Hung Hom, with a total length of ...

, the entrances of Mass Transit Railway (MTR) stations, private residential areas, and many points in the Central business district (or CBD). Due to limited

human resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms includ ...

and the specific target group of ''am730'', early distribution points were not as efficient. Its main focus is now in the commercial districts of Hong Kong such as

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

Wan Chai Wan Chai is situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to the south. The area n ...

and

Tsim Sha Tsui Tsim Sha Tsui, often abbreviated as TST, is an urban area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed from the Hung Hom Bay now east of Tsi ...

Other services

Online papers

''am730'' is also accessible online. Besides viewing the most recent issue, readers can also view archived issues of ''am730'' online. The

e-paper Electronic paper, also sometimes electronic ink, e-ink or electrophoretic display, are display devices that mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike conventional flat panel displays that emit light, an electronic paper display ...

is formatted in such a way that it resembles the actual printed paper.

References

''New free newspaper sets sights on young in battle with Metro''
– ''AsiaMedia'', ''

'', Kristine Kwok. Retrieved 28 June 2005.
''HONG KONG: Free dailies take a bite of broadsheets' ad pie''
– ''AsiaMedia'', ''

'', Frederick Yeung. Retrieved 23 September 2005
''Another free paper in Hong Kong''
– SEBC.
''Environmental problem caused by free newspaper''
– "Gather free newspaper practice of residents and its relations to environmental issues" (). A survey conducted by Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
''Synovate Media Atlas Pilot Exercise: Hong Kong''
– ''Synovate Research''

External links

''am730'' official website (Chinese)Distribution locations of ''am730'' (Chinese)
{{Authority control Chinese-language newspapers published in Hong Kong Free daily newspapers Newspapers established in 2005 2005 establishments in Hong Kong