july 2015 colorado editor
DESCRIPTION
Monthly publication of the Colorado Press AssociationTRANSCRIPT
colorado Vincent Laboy takes charge in Montrose
PAGE 3
Official publication of the Colorado Press Association / coloradopressassociation.com / Vol. LXXXVI, No. 7 July 2015
editor
SEE PAGES 4&5 For more
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Help your website
New tear sheet programThe CPA is attempting to switch over to a new tear sheet program.
The new program should save paper’s money since they will not have to send copies of the paper to the CPA office, it should help increase the turnaround time for when ads are placed by SYNC2 Media and payment received for news-papers, as well as creating a free digital archiving service for member papers.
For more details, go to http://www.colo-radopressassociation.com/news-events/news/news-detail/id:133
May day, May day: New convention location, date setThe 2016 annual convention will be at a new location with a new date.
The 2016 convention will be at the Denver West Sheraton in Lakewood, and is scheduled for May 12-14. The 2017 convention is tentatively sched-uled to be at the Denver West location May 4-6.
See next month’s Editor for more details.
What’s your say on what CPA membership should look like?The Press Association’s membership committee is hosting a workshop to discuss proposals on membership criteria and dues structure. The meeting is set for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 13 at the Chancery Building in Denver, 1120 Lincoln St. Suite 1307 (same building as CPA, but a different office).
This is an opputunity for members to see what the committee has worked on so far, and to provide feedback.
If interested in attending, email [email protected] or call 720-274-7171.
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A simple guide for improving your site, expanding your online audience
A group of senior capstone students at the Mis-souri School of Journalism have created a guide to help newspapers — particularly those with small newsrooms — expand their online audiences.
The guide covers tools, tips and strategies for im-proving website design, pres-ence on social media and an understanding of analytics.
Although the students worked
closely with members of the Hoosier State Press Association to determine their needs, the guide would be useful for any newsroom.
By following the how-to guides, reading up on best practices and learning the importance of an online presence, any publisher will be able share content and grow a digital audience in simple ways.
Analysis Missouri School of
Journalism
NEWS YOU CAN USE
2 colorado editor July 2015
Herald Democrat editor earns SPJ First Amendment Award
Marcia Martinek, editor of the Herald Democrat in Lead-ville since July 2002, recently received the First Amendment Award from the Society of Profes-sional Journalists (SPJ) of Colorado Pro Chapter.
She was rec-ognized for “her pursuit of audiotapes of an illegal secret meeting held by the Lake County Board of County Commissioners in February 2013,” reported Mountain Mail editor and publisher Merle Baranczyk in a recent edition.
The Herald and Arkansas Valley Publish-ing Co., the newspaper’s parent company, filed suit in October 2013 for access to the tapes. In presenting the award, Ashley Kissinger, of Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz LLP, the law firm representing the Herald in the suit against the county, said Martinek “was tenacious in her pursuit of the tapes.”
According to the Mail article, Kissinger said the board had learned that the county building inspector was selling prescription drugs from his county office and subsequently held meetings over two days, telling the employee he would be fired if he did not resign.
“The board did have the right to discuss it privately under the open meetings law,” Kiss-inger said, “but that law requires that the public be notified that the discussion is taking place,” which did not happen. The board did not release that information, but then held the meeting behind a locked door.
“Afterwards, the board dragged its feet before telling the public that it had held this meeting, publishing minutes of it only after Martinek and the Herald Democrat team received a tip and began asking questions,” said Kissinger.
“Marcia gave the board many chances to do the right thing, but after they and their counsel ducked and weaved around the law in letter after letter, she made the difficult decision to sue, a decision not lightly made by the editor of a weekly newspaper in a small community,” she added.
After a half-day trial in District Court in Leadville, the judge ruled in favor of Martinek and the newspaper, awarding $64,000 in at-torney’s fees and costs.
The board appealed the decision, sending the matter to the Colorado Court of Appeals.
Martinek is a graduate of Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Mich., and did graduate work at Ohio State University. She began her jour-nalism career as a reporter for the Littleton Independent in the Denver metro area.
Her career spans 33 years and various jobs in the industry.
She was nominated for the First Amendment Award by Ed Otte, former executive director of the Colorado Press Association, and current president of SPJ Colorado.
Rossi succeeds Paton at Digital First Media
Longtime newspaper executive Steven B. Rossi has been named chief executive of Digital First Media (DFM), the parent company of The Denver Post. The president (since July 2014) and chief operating officer of New York-based DFM succeeded John Paton, who retired June 30. Rossi was COO of Denver-based Me-diaNews Group, which merged into DFM. He was also executive vice president of DFM, and president and chief executive of the company’s California Newspapers Partnership.
Gillentine back as editor at Colorado Springs Business Journal
Colorado Springs Business Journal (CSBJ) recently brought back Amy Gillentine as their new editor.
Ralph Routon remains as execu-tive editor, a post he took over in June 2012, and will write columns and editorials, as well as participate in planning for the newspaper.
He will also work with CSBJ’s sister paper, the Colorado Springs Independent, with “ongo-ing changes in editorial leadership,” noted a CSBJ article. Marija B. Vader also continues in her job as CSBJ associate editor.
Gillentine previously worked for eight years for CSBJ, leaving in 2013 “to pursue a different
kind of challenge.”A native of Mississippi and a journalism
graduate of Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis), Gillentine previously was a reporter and associate editor for CSBJ. She covered health care, aerospace and defense, earning a number of state and regional honors. In October 2013, she left CSBJ to take a posi-tion as a research publicist at the Air Force Academy for Apogee Engineering LLC, a defense contractor.
She has two teenage daughters, one of whom just graduated from Air Academy High School.
“I appreciate the faith and commitment of the Colorado Publishing House leadership, and am excited to be a part of the next chapter at the Business Journal,” said Gillentine. “Together we will build on the CSBJ’s 26 years of service to the business community.”
CPA announces new Journalism/Media scholarship recipients
The Colorado Press Association (CPA) has announced its Journalism/Media scholarship recipients for high school and college students for the 2015-2016 academic year.
CPA is a trade association “dedicated to the preservation, progression, and modernization of the state’s news media.”
The scholarship program “seeks to encourage and assist college journalism/media students who have demonstrated commitment to the field.”
Up to six scholarship awards are given through a competitive selection process. This time, six college students received $2,500 scholarships, while three high school students received $1,500 scholarships. Recipients, their respective home cities and colleges/universities are:
College recipients: Metropolitan State Uni-versity of Denver – Jhocelyn Avendano, Thorn-ton; Justin Fye, Denver; Jose Salas, Thornton; Colorado State University – Marissa Isgreen, Fort Collins; Colorado Mesa University – Matt Scofield, Grand Junction; University of Colo-rado Boulder – Jordyn Siemens, Boulder.
High School recipients: Anna Blanco, Louis-ville; Gretchen Cope, Highlands Ranch; Haasini Ravisankar, Boulder.
The Colorado Editor wants to hear from you. We’re on the lookout for news about your staff, publications and businesses for our all-new columns and features in the Colorado Editor – your monthly membership newspaper from Colorado Press Association.
What’s new in Colorado news?
Colorado Newspapers
In the News
Send us your “breaking news” on:• New Hires• Promotions• People Moving On• Anniversaries• Retirements• Contest or Staff Awards & Honors
• New Building or Equipment Projects or Updates• Meetings, Seminars and Training• Community Projects• College-Related News and Events• Industry news that affects you• And any other personal news your staff members might want to share
Send your news items of 150 words or fewer (photo also welcome) to Cheryl Ghrist – [email protected] – using subject line “Colorado Editor News.”
Stay up to date at coloradopressassociation.com
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Vol. LXXXVI, Issue 7 July 2015
Colorado Editor is the official publication of the Colorado Press
Association and is published monthly at 1120 Lincoln St., Suite 912
Denver, CO 80203p: 303-571-5117f: 303-571-1803
coloradopressassociation.com
Subscription rate:$10 per year, $1 single copy
StaffJerry Raehal
Chief Executive [email protected]
Board of DirectorsOFFICERS
ChairTerri House
The Pagosa Springs [email protected]
PresidentKeith Cerny
Alamosa Valley [email protected]
Vice PresidentBart Smith
TreasurerMatt Lubich
The Johnstown [email protected]
SecretaryLarry Ryckman
The Denver [email protected]
DIRECTORS
Mike WigginsGrand Junction Daily [email protected]
Beecher ThreattOuray County [email protected]
Lisa SchlichtmanSteamboat Pilot & Today
Jason Woodside Aurora Media Group
Bob Hudson The Pueblo Chieftain
Matt Sandberg The Summit Daily [email protected]
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MARCIA MARTINEK
AMY GILLENTINE
STEVEN B. ROSSI
colorado editor 3July 2015
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10 questions with
By Cheryl GhristContributing Editor
This issue, “10 Questions” checked in with Vincent Laboy, publisher of the Mon-trose Daily Press.
He took over the job in October 2014 with the departure of Francis Wick, now publisher of several newspapers owned and operated by Wick Communications in Arizona.
After joining Lee Enterprises in 2005 as an advertising director, Laboy most recently was a group publisher for the company’s Fremont Tribune and Plattsmouth Journal near Omaha, Neb. He has two college-age children, both at the University of Nebras-ka; one in Lincoln and one in Kearney.
Here’s his take on the newspaper in-dustry, the Western Slope and community service, among other topics:
Q: In 1988, you transferred from Iowa State University to the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where you earned your bachelor of science in business ad-ministration, concentrating in marketing. Were you involved in college newspapers or basically interested in business and marketing?
A: From my sophomore year forward, I had a love for marketing. Although I wasn’t involved with my college newspaper, I ran around with some of those folks and shared certain classes with them.
My path took me into retail manage-ment, which really helped me develop my management style and business administra-tion skills. Those two aspects allowed me, years later, to bring a different perspective to the newspaper business.
It’s a perspective and attitude that has helped me succeed.
Q: In addition to work with other big-name retailers, an early job you had was as store manager of a Best Buy in Wichita, Kan., managing $25 million in annual sales. Did you enjoy the challenges of retail? And how did you make the change to the newspaper industry?
A: I really enjoyed retail management, however, retail was really hard on the family life. My children were young at the time and I felt it was time to make a change.
Fortunately I had a friend who was in the advertising business in Wichita, and he set up an informal meeting with the Wichita Eagle and a local TV station.
During this process, my family and I decided to move back to Omaha. The ad-vertising director from the Wichita Eagle was impressed with me enough to help me get my foot into the door at the Omaha World-Herald.
Q: You were also a Marine. How has that experience influenced or enhanced your career?
A: No doubt the Marines influenced my career. There was a lot of focus on leader-ship and I moved up quickly in the Corps. I also got to see different parts of the United States and had some great experiences. Of course the style of leadership was a little more direct in nature. It took me a while to “calm down” once I got out and was a manager in the civilian world. I still have and demonstrate a lot of discipline and structure learned from those days in the Marines. Semper Fi.
Q: What is your assessment so far of the newspaper industry on the Western Slope?
A: Other than the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Western Slope is filled with smaller, community newspapers. That’s a good thing in a lot of ways, one of which includes the loyalty of our readers. There are also a lot of challenges with small independent papers who get to do what
they want, but may not have the support, knowledge or financial backing of a larger company when needed. We provide print-ing for several of our neighboring papers and we see that as a vital part of our mis-sion on the Western Slope.
Q: What innovations or changes have you brought to your new role at the Mon-trose Daily Press?
A: We completed our redesign of our printed product just a few months ago. It was more than just a style and font change. We took a hard look at what we were doing well, where we failed and listened to what our readers had to say.
It was a function and process change as well as a design and appearance change.
We are now in the middle of looking at our website design and functionality. We are also working on improving our employ-ment offerings by adding digital solutions available through some national partner-ships.
Q: You’ve done a lot of volunteer work. In Fremont you were on the board of the chamber of commerce and MainStreet Fremont (development group for the his-toric downtown area), as well as president
and coach of a volleyball club for seven years, and director of youth ministries for a church for more than four years. When did you start on the rewarding path of community service, and what are you tak-ing on in your new community?
A: When I reached Montrose, I told all organizations that I would take six months before I started getting involved with volunteer work. That gave me time to better learn the community and its needs. That time has just come up and I am now a Rotarian and I am working with Black Canyon Volleyball to begin coaching again. I’m looking at some other civic boards and groups, but haven’t decided yet.
Q: We usually ask about your top three mentors, but I’m guessing one would be your father, Julio, about whom you wrote a very moving first column for Montrose. How did he shape the men that you and your brother Mario are today?
A: Like most fathers, my Dad had good and bad qualities, but overall he taught me a lot about loving your children and being a man. He taught me that it’s not about doing what you want, but doing what you should.
Vincent Laboy
See 10 QUESTIONS, Page 7
Retail, Marines, family:Catching up with the new Montrose Daily Press publisher
Courtesy photo
From left: daughter Maria, son Stephan, Vincent and wife Ramona Laboy, outside the Amtrak train station in Grand Junction.
4 colorado editor July 2015
Your newspaper’s Web presence can have more important features than just aesthetic design.
A visually appealing website can draw in new visitors, make the ones you already have stick around longer and generally increase your publica-tion’s profile, the way a skillfully de-signed print publication can.
Follow basic design principles The Rule of Thirds, proper crop-
ping and the balance of positive and negative space apply just as much on the Internet at they do in a darkroom. Consult with photo staff if need be — they’ll be able to offer plenty of great advice.
Open up the page
Too much empty space is something
to be avoided, but a nice balance of white (or gray, or black) space helps readers distinguish articles, photos and section headings.
Use color! A pop of bright orange or deep
green on a chart or graphic can add life to your site and attract the reader’s eye. On the Elkhart Truth’s home page, the tab linking to Flavor 574, the fla-vor’s food and cooking-centered publi-cation, is a lively lime green, a contrast to the stately black and white on the rest of the page.
Follow a hierarchyVary the sizes of photos. There needs
to be a clearly dominant photo on the page. The next largest photo should be less than half the size of the domi-nant photo.
Space out the adsTry not to overwhelm the reader with
multiple ads in one small space on the homepage.
Don’t be afraid to play around ... ... with the size of the visuals on your
homepage. If you think an article is more newsworthy than others, make sure to use visuals to emphasize its importance.
Finally make sure your website de-sign is consistent. A consistent graphic plan makes the website less confusing to the reader and helps brand the site for readers.
Keep content as concise as possible
Your readers are bombarded with an increasing amount of information every day. As the amount of information consumed increases, the reader’s attention span decreases. Readers today have learned to consume information in a non-linear fashion, searching for key terms and skipping around instead of reading from top to bottom.
Be as literal as possibleThe tab called “news” should
honestly lead the reader to the paper’s news section; the same for the section labeled “sports.” In-novative branding can be useful in some cases, but not here.
Be logical and intuitive When building a site, think
from a reader’s perspective. Where
would they expect a tab to lead? Make sure everything makes logical sense in its placement and follows a defined, easy-to-follow structure.
Make sure a reader knows what is and isn’t clickable
Choose an attribute to make a button signify “CLICK ME” — bolder text, underlines, a strong color. Readers should not be confused about where to direct their mouse.
Make sure things work (no broken links)
Continuously test, troubleshoot and look for any bug, no matter how sneaky. Have a defined chain of command for fixes and modi-fications, one that ensures proper review and oversight but is also quick and efficient.
Why you should care about your online success
Help your websiteJoff the pageUMP
The 24-hour-news-cycle, the online-first mentality, the ever-changing so-
cial media landscape — it is no secret that the Internet has changed newspapers
and journalism. While an online news format shares many of the same guid-ing principles as the print newsroom, it comes with its own set of best practices and guidelines.
This project is the senior capstone project of 16 University of Missouri School of Journalism students.
Although the Internet landscape is vast, we settled on three major areas for discussion on this website: design, social media and analytics.
By following the how-to guides, reading up on best practices and learning the importance of an online presence, your publication can share content and grow its digital audience in simple ways.
Analysis Missouri School of
Journalism
Website design tips6
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Use confusing or tired titles for labels
“THE CROWD GOES WILD”? No, a simple “Sports” would probably work bet-ter. “OUT ON THE TOWN”? Instead, “Life-style” or “Culture” is clearer and inspires the same sentiments.
Bombard the reader with options
If a website is for a newspaper, its primary purpose should be en-couraging and enabling a reader to access news. Being bombarded by op-tions to comment, share or watch pop-up videos will turn a “reader” into a “viewer,” and one with a short attention span, at that.
Some website dos And don’ts
For more tips Go to http://www.rjionline.org/news/interactive-guide-helps-newspapers-boost-online-readership#sthash.cf0vYkfE.dpuf
colorado editor 5July 2015
Producing good journalism is not likely to be enough in the digital age of reporting. To grow an audience, it’s all about engaging readers.
So, where are readers? More and more are migrating to mobile.
Mobile traffi c has shot through the roof over the last couple of years. Indeed, 39 of the most 50 popular news sites now have more mobile than desktop visitors (although desktop visitors spend more time than mo-bile visitors on a site), according to the Pew Research Center.
So where do you start?If you have a mobile website, you might want to
think about building a responsive or adaptive website. A news website today should be to convert to a
low-resolution smartphone, a medium resolution tablet and a high resolution laptop. If your website isn’t visu-ally appealing to readers when they are checking their phone at work or lounging with their tablet at night — you’re likely to lose readers
By creating a responsive or adaptive design, you only have to build one version of your website that will work well on everything from smartphone screens to desktops.
If funding is limited, we off er a set of best practices to create a mobile site or simplify your site design for mobile.
Choosing an online mobile formatWhat are responsive and adaptive web designs?
While similar in goal (to automatically reduce a web site to the size of the user’s screen) the approaches are diff erent. Both allow websites to be viewed in various screen sizes — for mobile devices, desktops and tablets — ultimately providing visitors with a better experi-ence.
Both rely on the way the material is coded and de-livered to the server and the browser. With responsive design, the page is sent to a browser, which changes the dimensions. With adaptive design, the server loads the version of a page that works best on each device.
Imagine that your content (i.e. stories, videos, photos) is water. With a responsive design, the “water” will always fi t the container you pour it into. No matter the layout, the width of the elements is resized proportion-ally in relation to the changing window size, according to the Wordpress News Core.
Adaptive design, however, has a series of static and defi ned layouts that fi t a specifi c set of screen resolu-tions. Th ey can’t fl uidly change to fi t any screen resolu-tion or device size, like its counterpart can.
Which is better?Th ere are pros/cons either way you go, but ultimately,
the decision should be based upon the resources you have and the future you envision for your mobile site.
It should also depend on the publisher’s intent -- to make the existing website look reasonably good on a smartphone (responsive) or to build a mobile experience from the get-go (adaptive). Here is a breakdown.
Comparing adaptive and responsive options1. Responsive is more diffi cult to set up
Responsive design is the more diffi cult choice to pull off since it requires extra attention to the site’s CSS and organization to make sure it functions well at any possible size. It’s easier to make a few specifi c layouts for your website instead of making one layout that can work in any screen size. While this means that while each adaptive layout needs a bit of fl exibility to work on several screen sizes, it is easier than making one layout that works for all of them.
2. Adaptive is less fl exibleOne drawback of adaptive design is that the fi nal
results don’t always display well on a variety of screen sizes. While responsive site designs are guaranteed to work well on any screen size, including new ones, adap-tive designs only work on as many screens as the layouts are capable of. So if a new device with a new screen size is released, you may fi nd out that none of your adaptive layouts fi t well. Responsive sites are fl exible enough to keep working on their own, but adaptive sites will likely need some occasional maintenance.
3. Responsive sites load fasterAdaptive websites need to load all the possible
layouts they have in their arsenal, while responsive websites only need to load just the one that works for every possibility. Loading extra layouts takes extra time and resources, so know that adaptive sites will be a bit slower than their responsive counterparts. Th at also depends on the size of the site —a responsive site with 100 pages will be slower than, say, an adaptive site with 10 pages.
4. So, adaptive or responsive design?Tallying up the score, responsive web design is almost
always the safer option to choose. It always functions well regardless of new changes in
screen sizes, it has better loading times, and is usually well worth the extra eff ort in putting it together. It is a better investment for securing all potential mo-bile customers. For newer, smaller websites, adaptive design may be a better option to conserve resources. An adaptive site is easier to make, and the smaller size and audience would keep slower load times or less fl exibility from being an issue.
Keep everything simple Prioritize simplicity in text and photos on social media platforms. You want Facebook photos to be easily identifi able and recognizable, for instance. They should draw a reader’s attention, but not irritate or distract. Make sure they fi t into the dimensions of each medium. Don’t be boring Choose a fun and interesting cover Facebook photo, but make sure it doesn’t distract the reader or draw attention away from the rest of the content. The same goes for the background on a Twitter site. But give it a classy look Choose neutral, appealing color schemes for social media pages. Think gray and black, rather than red and blue. Or brown and dark green, rather than pink and purple. Don’t change the profi le photo-graphs too often. Readers should be able to form a quick association with a thumbnail photo and publi-cation content, but if you’re chang-ing the photo every two weeks, that association will be lost. Choose something simple and appealing, then stick with it. Space it out A varied, well-spaced slate of con-tent, balanced with both pictures and text, will draw the eye and encourage further reading while promoting varied story formats and reader interaction.
And fi nally, LINK BACK TO THE SITE REGULARLY
Get social
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Get socialGet socialGet mobile 5 tips for social media
6 colorado editor July 2015
column-sales advice Local, local, local is key factor in CCM sale
By Cheryl GhristContributing Editor
“Local” was the name of the game
with the sale of three Colorado Com-munity Media (CCM) newspapers in the Colorado Springs region.
On June 26, CCM owners Jerry and Ann Healey passed along three of their many properties – the Pikes Peak Courier, Tri-Lakes Tribune and Teller County Extra – to Cary and Bill Vogrin of Colorado Springs, who teamed with Susie Burghart and Rich Tosches to make the buy a reality.
The two couples, who both have “deep roots” in the community, formed Pikes Peak Newspapers Inc. to purchase the newspapers from the Highlands Ranch-based CCM. All four new owners are well-known in the area, with the Vogrins and Tosches having worked 20-plus years for local newspapers.
Said Jerry Healey: “We’re pleased to sell to a local family with a strong news-room background who are committed to community journalism. The newspapers will benefit greatly from having Bill…who understands local issues, as editor and president.”
He added that the sale would allow CCM to sharpen its focus on its 15 suburban Denver publications.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but articles were posted on the newspa-pers’ websites June 27, filling in details. The lead paragraph got the message across: “Your local newspaper … got a whole lot more local when it was pur-chased Friday by longtime residents of the Pikes Peak region.”
Bill Vogrin will assume the helm as editor while also writing a weekly column.
“Cary and I love small towns. And we believe meaningful journalism can be done at any size newspaper,” he told the Editor.
Experienced and caring staff is im-portant to the new owners. Longtime publisher Rob Carrigan will stay on with the newspapers.
“The very best newspapers are the ones that readers, customers, sources and the community itself take great pride of ownership and trust in,” said Carrigan. “Bill and Cary, Rich and Susie under-stand that. I am proud to be associated
with owners who demonstrate such high ideals and understanding of our impor-tant local, local, local mission. I plan to do my level best to seek that trust and partnership with the community.” Car-rigan will continue to write his “Restless Native” column, but will shift more of his focus to expanding services to subscribers and advertisers.
“Our goal,” said Bill Vogrin, “is to build on the strong foundation Rob Carrigan has in place…and make it even better. We want (our newspapers) to tell folks things they didn’t know about…introduce them to their neighbors and be a place to turn to for help when they have problems.”
The Vogrins have long admired the area. “We have accompanied Rob and his wife, Niki Miscovich, on frequent visits,” said Bill. “With them we have enjoyed concerts and festivals, discovered great restaurants and pubs and made friends.” Cary grew up in rural Wisconsin, Bill noted, “and we love the character, charm and friendly people unique to small towns. We know there are great stories to tell here, and we’re excited to practice community journalism at its purest level.”
Cary went on to become an award-
winning editor at the Contra Costa Times daily newspaper in the San Francisco Bay Area. After moving to Colorado in 1994, she worked at the Rocky Mountain News and then the Colorado Springs Gazette. In 2007, she left The Gazette to start a Papa Mur-phy’s Take ‘N’ Bake pizza franchise. A Kansas native who graduated from the University of Kansas, Bill wrote for The Associated Press for more than 13 years in Missouri, Kansas and Illinois. Moving to Colorado in 1994, he held various writing and editing jobs at The Gazette, including city editor. In 2002, he began his Side Streets neighborhood column for that publication, tackling local issues and writing about local people.
Tosches began his newspaper career with United Press International. He moved to Colorado in 1993 after writing sports and humor columns for the Los Angeles Times, becoming a reader-favorite columnist at The Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post. Burghart is a 40-year resident of the region, a Colorado College graduate, a philanthropist and a member of her alma mater’s Board of Trustees.
Courtesy photo
Former Pikes Peak Courier & Tri-Lakes Tribune owners Jerry and Ann Healey congratulate new owners Cary and Bill Vogrin.
I was talking to Nick, a long-time ad manager, about the nature of selling.
“I agree with the theory that there are two types, transactional and relational,” he said. “As consumers, we have become increasingly transactional. We go to the store, pick out a product, take it to the register, pay for it and take it home – even if the clerk at the register
doesn’t bother to say ‘hello.’ Or we shop online, find something of interest, com-pare prices, click ‘buy’ and wait for delivery.”
Nick explained that organizations that rely on sales – including newspapers – measure success in terms of transactions. How many ads are in the latest edition? How much revenue will those ads produce?
“It’s tempting to see all sales as transactional,” Nick said, “but that would be a huge mistake. The challenge is to be relational in a trans-actional world. That’s why customer loyalty, which is long term, is more valuable
than customer satisfaction, which is sometimes based on single buying experiences.
“It starts with rapport,” Nick said. “I encourage our sales team to find common ground and build from there. Along the way, clients learn that our folks have some marketing savvy. That gives us credibility and makes selling a lot easier.”
To expand on Nick’s observations:1. Individual transactions don’t necessarily lead to
good relationships. When sales people treat their advertising product as
a commodity, they encourage prospects and customers to see them as anonymous people at the cash register. There’s no connection. That often leads to churn – advertisers who jump ship if their ads don’t work right away.
2. Good relationships can lead to more transactions. A smart sales person looks beyond the immediate grati-fication of today’s sale. He or she works to build rapport and turn that transactional advertiser into a marketing partner.
3. Leadership is relational. In many organizations, a sales person who consistently has good numbers is likely to be promoted to sales management. If his or her com-pany has a transactional sales culture, the new manager will be poorly prepared for a management position. The duties of leading a team are relational, not transactional.
4. Individual ad sales are transactional. Think of a vending machine. Insert money into the coin slot and get an ad. It’s difficult to go any further than that, when sales people present themselves – and are seen as – order takers who sell one ad at a time.
5. Ad campaigns are relational. Properly executed, an ad campaign requires consistent contact between sales person and client. From planning to execution to peri-odic tweaks, there are plenty of opportunities to build strong relationships.
6. Don’t forget your clients’ relationships with con-sumers. On a broader scale, strong ad campaigns create relationships between advertisers and their audiences. Think of the number of times you have been drawn to certain stores or brand names because you felt connect-ed to them. That emotional attachment is a major factor in brand identity.
And that kind of campaign success can lead to – sur-prise! – more advertising dollars for your newspaper.
John Foust has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals. Many ad depart-ments are using his training videos to save time and get quick results from in-house training. E-mail for informa-tion: [email protected]
Transactional vs. Relational Sales
The Mountain Mail owners Merle and Mary Baranczyk in Salida recently cel-ebrated their newspaper’s 135th anniversary.
In an article for the Mail, Arlene Shovald detailed some of the history of the news-paper: “The forerunner of The Mountain Mail was a little publication that began in the town of Cleora, about 4 miles east of Salida.
When the Denver & Rio Grande estab-lished its railroad center in South Arkansas (later named Salida) in 1880, the town of Cleora disappeared, and the newspaper moved to the new town site.”
The first issue of The Mountain Mail came out June 5, 1880. By February 1885, the name had been changed to The Salida Mail and cut back from being a daily to
twice a week. Other schedule changes followed, but the current five-days-a-week daily has been the norm for many years. More name changes also occurred, but publisher George Oyler changed the name back to The Mountain Mail in 1956, announced in a special 75th anniversary edition.
The Baranczyks bought the newspaper in 1978. Merle had been editing a weekly for the Colorado Springs Times group, but the Times went out of business in June 1974. Looking for work, one of his resumes wound up on the desk of Ken Johnson, owner of The Mail, who hired Merle as his new editor and publisher.
In 1977, Merle dropped wire service and went to an all-local format, also changing
from broadsheet to tabloid form. Other en-hancements followed, including an online version.
Merle believes the Internet has had less impact on community newspapers than on “big city” newspapers.
He noted that “it’s not that new technolo-gy doesn’t impact community newspapers, but it has less impact than in metro areas,” adding that social media gives citizens a voice and presence in the media, “but read-ers want news they can trust from known sources, news that is filtered through the traditional editing process, news that is fair, accurate, objective, timely and complete.
And readers in communities like Salida hold publishers, editors and reporters ac-countable if standards are not met.”
Mountain Mail marks 135 years in the biz
colorado editor 7July 2015
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The National Newspaper Association’s 129th Annual Convention & Trade Show, Oct. 1-3, 2015, will be at the Embassy Suites Hotel in St. Charles, MO, just eight miles from the St. Louis Airport (STL).
The room rate is $139 plus tax per night, and the hotel is located adjacent to the St. Charles Convention Center, where all the meetings will take place.
www.HistoricStCharles.com
Check out the three-day program at http://nnaweb.org/convention
For my brother and me, he was very involved in our sports and he demanded the best from us every time we competed. He was really not about the results, but about the eff ort put forth.
Q: What do you enjoy doing in your spare time? Have you and your family explored much of the mountain areas yet, and all the recreational opportunities they off er? I believe you’re already a water skier.
A: In my spare time, if I stay inside, I really enjoy a good movie with a strong, suspenseful story-line. I love volleyball, racquetball and golf. I did learn to water ski a couple years ago, but sold our boat before moving to Montrose. Instead my family and I took snow-skiing lessons last winter. I’m not great, but I can navigate a blue run. My daughter is in Mon-trose for the summer and we are taking up hiking and exploring the surrounding mountains.
Q:Neat desk or not, and what would we see there?
A: Neat desk. I’ll spend time after normal hours or on the weekends just cleaning and fi ling away paperwork. Th e only consistent things on my desk are a daily devotional, my cup of water and my notepad with my list of goals to accomplish today.
Q: Do you have a current personal or professional goal?
A: I’d like to be a regional publisher again. I feel that provid-ing leadership, mentorship and coaching to other leaders is where I’m destined to go next.
VINCENT LABOY
10 QUESTIONS
Continued from page 3
Betty J. De FeoDenver Post employee for 44 years
Betty J. De Feo, an employee of the Denver Post for many decades, died June 2, 2015, at age 90. She was born in North Denver and spent her entire life there. She graduated from North High School in 1943. De Feo retired from Th e Denver Post after 44 years with the company. Beginning in the 1940s, she also played fi rst base in women's softball leagues, some of which won amateur national tournaments.
She is survived by her longtime companion and friend, Mary J. Dinkel, of Denver; her sister, Madolyn J. Nelson, of Lakewood; one niece and three nephews and their families.
Melvyn L. IngramLongtime Rocky Mountain News employee
Longtime Rocky Mountain News employee Melvyn L. Ingram, of Arvada, died July 3, 2015, at age 76. A Denver native and 1956 graduate of North High School, Ingram went on to serve in the Army in Europe. When he returned home, he went to work for the Rocky Mountain News until his retirement in 2000.
Ingram was a Denver Broncos fan, a lifelong active member of North Highland Presbyterian Church, and an avid golfer. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Lenora; son Tim and daughter Laura; grandson Nicholas Ingram; and brothers Larry, Donald and Stephen.
BERRY DE FEO
obituaries
MELVYN INGRAM
Everyone needs an EditorSubscribe today; call 303-571-5117
8 colorado editor July 2015
Local Media Innova.on Conference – Media 3.0 – Reduced rates for CPA members
This conference (September 30 -‐ October 1) is all about transforma;on. • One-‐on-‐one mee;ngs with media buyers represen;ng 17 major retailers (mee;ngs scheduled on first-‐come, first-‐serve basis)
• Transforma;on case studies from The Victoria Advocate, Scripps (broadcast), McClatchy Company and Cox Media • A separate track is dedicated to sales and sales management issues • Keynotes from Mashable, Yelp and Yahoo
CPA members can a>end for LMA member prices. For more informa.on, visit localmedia.org/innova.on
Sponsored by
TWO GREAT OPPORTUNITIES FOR CPA MEMBERS THIS FALL
Local Media Technology Expo – FREE to local media execu.ves
This will take place on September 28-‐30 and will feature up to 50 of the most progressive R&D partners in the industry. The expo will feature programming on the floor from various revenue stages as well as tours, demos and one-‐on-‐one mee;ng ;mes. For more informa;on, visit: localmedia.org/technology
Local Media Innova.on Conference – Media 3.0 – Reduced rates for CPA members
This conference (September 30 -‐ October 1) is all about transforma;on. • One-‐on-‐one mee;ngs with media buyers represen;ng 17 major retailers (mee;ngs scheduled on first-‐come, first-‐serve basis)
• Transforma;on case studies from The Victoria Advocate, Scripps (broadcast), McClatchy Company and Cox Media • A separate track is dedicated to sales and sales management issues • Keynotes from Mashable, Yelp and Yahoo
CPA members can a>end for LMA member prices. For more informa.on, visit localmedia.org/innova.on
Sponsored by
TWO GREAT OPPORTUNITIES FOR CPA MEMBERS THIS FALL
Local Media Technology Expo – FREE to local media execu.ves
This will take place on September 28-‐30 and will feature up to 50 of the most progressive R&D partners in the industry. The expo will feature programming on the floor from various revenue stages as well as tours, demos and one-‐on-‐one mee;ng ;mes. For more informa;on, visit: localmedia.org/technology
New intern at Rocky Ford Daily Gazette
Alexandra “Ali” Rivera has been added to the staff of the Rocky Ford Daily Gazette as an intern this summer. The 22-year-old is a student at Adams State University in Alamosa.
The Corpus Christi, Texas, native grew up in Colora-do Springs in a family with seven brothers. She attended Coronado High School in Colorado Springs, where she discovered a talent for writing and reporting. Upon graduation, Rivera was accepted into the mass commu-nications program at Adams State, where she continues her work toward a journalism degree.
Denver Post trims Monday edition
The Denver Post has made a “size” change, with the previously three-section Monday edition joining Tuesday as a two-section newspaper on those lighter circulation and revenue days.
Editor Greg Moore said: “These ‘quick read’ newspa-pers will require much tighter editing of stories and vir-tual elimination of jumps. We imagine fewer jumps off Page One and Sports with maximum lengths of about 20-25 inches on stories. The space savings are signifi -cant but these changes also allow us to realign people and processes.” The changes come just after The Post announced a round of job cuts and buyouts in efforts to cut $1.5 million from the newspaper’s newsroom bud-get. When buyouts are complete, The Post editorial staff will host a series of public meetings with staff to discuss future changes. Those will include a new Audience team that Moore noted “will sit (fi guratively) between Digital and the content departments,” and an expanded social media team to “dig into our analytics in real time.” In addition, there will be a “reconstituted Breaking News team” with more focus on generating content for The Post’s mobile audience.
briefsGRAPHIC ARTIST/PAGE DESIGNER NEEDED
The Pueblo ChieftainPosition Available: Graphic Artist/
Page DesignerClassifi cation: Full-time/Non-
exemptPosition Summary: Colorado’s
oldest family-owned daily newspa-per has an opening for a full-time Graphics Artist/Page Designer in its newsroom. Applicant must be famil-iar with InDesign and experienced in paginating pages.
Required experience: Pagina-tion/Graphic Design: 3 years
To apply; submit your resume and work samples to Steve Hen-son, Managing Editor at; [email protected]
The Pueblo Chieftain provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and ap-plicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics.
WEB PRESS OPERATOR NEEDED IN WYOMING
The Sheridan Press has an open-ing for a web press operator. The Sheridan Press is a six-day daily (afternoons and Saturday morning)
newspaper with a commercial print operation that is dedicated to cus-tomer service and good printing.
The equipment:• 10-unit Goss Community web
press with SSC folder and q-fold.• I ECRM Mako News CTP ma-
chine with parts kit.• 68 Polymer plate processor with
prebake, using Southern Litho ECO plates and ECO chemistry.
• RIPMate software to ECRM CT server.
• Black ink tote pumps; color kits are hand dipped.
• Eight station Mueller-Martini inserting machine; 2 fork lifts.
The benefi ts:The Sheridan Press offers the
following benefi ts:• competitive pay.• profi t sharing plan after a quali-
fying one-year vestment.• group health and dental insur-
ance with The Press paying the greater portion of the premiums.
• paid vacation.• life insurance, long-term disabil-
ity and short-term disability paid by the company.
• Flex spending plan.• The Press publishes 307 issues
a year with no weekend printing shifts.
The area:Sheridan County, Wyoming offers
the best outdoor recreational oppor-tunities in Wyoming. The Bighorn Mountains are minutes from town as is the Tongue River Canyon, Lake DeSmet and all of the opportunities for fi shing, hunting, hiking, back-packing, snow machining and ski-ing in the Bighorn National Forest.
Sheridan is thriving. It has a lively downtown and plenty of cultural ac-tivities, museums and unique ame-nities in a city of 18,000. Sheridan College offers diverse, outstanding curriculum for personal develop-ment. It is a good place to grow personally and professionally. There is no state income tax in Wyoming.
Sheridan is also close to the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore, Yel-lowstone and Teton National Parks and Devil’s Tower.
Send your letter, application and resume to:
Becky Martini, Human [email protected] Sheridan Press144 E. GrinnellSheridan, WY 82801www.thesheridanpress.com
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