How a Mormon Church-Owned Site Defeated Craigslist in Utah
The unusual success of KSL Classifieds
The familiar lament goes like this: Newspapers once enjoyed monopolies on classified ads, the “rivers of gold” that subsidized their whole operation. Then came Craigslist—web-based, sometimes sketchy, but free!—and, well, that was that. The site expanded. Newspapers collapsed. Across the country, Craigslist became our default place to buy and sell used stuff online.
And yet, there is one place in America where that is not so.
In Salt Lake City, Craigslist is an afterthought. If you want to buy or sell a car or a cow or a hot tub in Salt Lake City or in one of the nearby towns in Utah, Wyoming, or Idaho, you go, which takes its name from local television and radio stations owned by an arm of the Mormon Church.
