Salon.com Net Loss Down 43 Percent; Subscription Rev. Contributes 43 Percent of Revs.: Salon Media Group’s (Nasdaq: SALNC) fiscal first-quarter net loss narrowed by 43 percent from a year ago, with little change in revenues. Net losses stood at $1.66 million, narrower than the year-ago net loss of $2.92 million. Revenues were

$972,000, compared with $973,000 in the year-ago quarter.

Meanwhile, paid subscriptions now contribute 43 percent ($423,000 for the quarter) of Salon’s total revenues, up from 19 percent of the total revenues in the year-ago quarter. It added 12,700 new paid subscribers in the quarter, boosting the number of paid subscribers to its three subscription services to 47,700, of which 42,300 remain as current subscribers. Renewal rates currently are about 66 percent, which the company hopes to improve to 70 percent going forward.

“It’s a very efficient strategy as we expend few ‘out of pocket’ marketing dollars to promote our paid services directly to the Salon audience already coming to Salon.com,” said Michael O’Donnell, CEO of Salon Media.

On a separate note, it was sad to see that during the conference call announcing the results, not a single question was asked. Have people lost all their interest in Salon?