In February 1980, Allen Neuharth met with "project NN', task force members to
discuss his vision for producing and marketing a unique nationally distributed daily
newspaper. satellite technology had recently solved the problem of limited geographical distribution, so Neuharth was ready to take advantage of two trends in the reading public: (1) an increasingly short attention span among a generation nurtured
on television, and (2) a growing hunger for more information. Neuharth believed that
readers faced a time crunch in a world where so much information is available, but there is so little time to absorb it. His vision for USA Today positioned the paper as an information source that would provide more news
about more subjects in less time.
Research suggested that uSA Today should target achievement-oriented men in professional and managerial positions who were heavy newspaper readers and frequent travelers-. Where The New'Yorh Times targeted the nadon,s intellectual etite, thinkers and policy makers, and The wall Street Journal targeted business leaders, usAToday was ro be targered at Middle America-young, werl-educated. Americans who
vsere on the move and cared about current. events.
By early 1982, a team of news, advertising, and production personnel from the
staffs of Gannerr's daily newspapers developed, edited, pubrished and tested several
diflferent prototypes. Gannett sent three differenr 40-page prototype versions of uSA
Today to almost 5,000 professional people. Along with each prototype, they sent
readers a response card that asked what they liked best and least about the proposed
paper, and whether they would buy it. Although the content of each prototype was similar, the layout and graphics presentations differed. For example, one prototype
included a section called "Agenda" that included comics and a calendar,of meetings to
be held by various professional organizations. According to marketplace feedback,
readers liked the prototypes. The Gannett Board of Directors unanimously approved
the paper's launch. on April 20,1982 Gannett announced that the first copies of usa
Today would be available in the washington and Baltimore area.