Lousy circulation numbers may help explain why The Oregonian's felt a need to move to "high-definition Sundays," the mid-September makeover much mocked by the paper's reporters. The O's Sunday circulation numbers for the six-month period ending Sept. 30 fell 2.5 percent, to 394,992 Sunday subscribers, a number below the 400,000-subscriber figure that triggers higher ad rates. Not that The Oregonian was alone in the decline: National numbers reported Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations showed only one of 17 large papers (The New York Times) gaining readers on Sundays.
