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Circulation exec leaves Hoy

BY JAMES T. MADORE | STAFF WRITER

August 20, 2004

The Spanish-language newspaper Hoy removed its top circulation executive yesterday as part of an ongoing effort to recover from a circulation scandal involving inflated numbers going back to 2001.

Richard Czark, senior vice president for circulation, "left the company effective immediately," according to a spokeswoman for parent Tribune Co., which also owns Newsday.

Czark did not immediately return a telephone message left at his home last night. Hoy interim publisher Digby Solomon Diez was unavailable for comment, according to Tribune.

In a letter to employees, Solomon said he and interim chief operating officer Timothy Kennedy "felt it important to make changes in the leadership of our circulation structure so that we can proceed with Hoy's recovery. As a result, Richie Czark has left the company effective immediately."

Solomon also said that circulation officials from other Tribune papers are reviewing Hoy's records to determine its true sales figures in metropolitan New York. In June, Tribune said Hoy's weekday circulation of 92,604 would be reduced by about 15,000 copies and its Sunday numbers would be cut by about 4,000 from 33,198.

Czark, 52, who spent much of his career at Newsday, is the second Hoy executive to leave in the wake of circulation misstatements. Louis Sito, his former boss, announced his early retirement last month as Hoy's publisher.