Schurz COMMUNICATOR January 2015 KY3’s Reynolds retires after 47 years ~ Story on page 14 What’s on the inside Eric McIntosh, The inevitable finally happened in this issue of the Communicator. controller for the Newspapers with the same name created confusion as both grabbed headlines for outstand- Hoosier Times in ing achievements. Indiana, has been The Bloomington, IN Herald-Times (with a dash) was named the Indiana Newspaper of the named Publishing Year by the Hoosier State Press Association. Group controller for And the Herald Times (without a dash) from Gaylord, MI was Schurz named the Michigan Press Association Newspaper of the Year. Communications. He The two Herald Times’ are frequent visitors to the winners is a CPA and a circle. For Bloomington this was the fourth time to be named graduate of Indiana Indiana Newspaper of the Year, competing against newspapers University. He joined MCINTOSH of all sizes. It won previously in 1975, 1984 and 2007. The the Bloomington Herald-Times in 2000 as assistant con- Michigan contest is a competition against newspapers in the troller. Story page 4. same circulation category. The award goes to the newspaper Brian McDonough, president and with the most wins in the Association’s Better Newspaper general manager at Contest. The Herald Times won 17 awards to take the award in KY3, Inc. in the Weekly Class C category. Springfield, MO, has The Newspaper of the Year was one of 18 awards won by the been named recipi- Bloomington Herald-Times. ent of the Kansas The Bloomington achievement wasn’t the only outstanding Association of effort by SCI newspapers in the Hoosier State Press Association Broadcasters Mike contest. Oatman award for The South Bend Tribune’s Robert Franklin had the best general news photo on the Indiana broadcast sales contest. This was one of 13 awards won by the Tribune, including best web site. The excellence. Story Martinsville Reporter-Times and the page 4. MCDONOUGH Mooresville/Decatur Times win 18 awards. Communicator SCI broadcast properties also did well in Brian Culp, man- on the Web competition the final quarter. KTUU-TV in Each issue of the Schurz Communicator aging editor of the Anchorage, AK won six Oldies in the Alaska Martinsville and is being made available electronically Mooresville newspa- Broadcast Association contest and WSBT in on the SCI website. Back issues can pers in Indiana, has Mishawaka, IN won two Spectrum awards in also be found on the site. been fighting the the Indiana Broadcast Association contest. A limited number of printed copies are good fight for open A featured story in the January being produced. Between 10 and 30 government in Communicator is on pages 6 and 7 and focuses copies of each issue are being sent by Indiana waging two on the Bloomington, IN Herald-Times and the UPS to the individual properties. public access fights Aberdeen, SD American News that were sin- in the past year, win- CULP gled out by USA Today for testing a special six- to 10-page newspaper supplement designed ning one and losing to examine a way to shift resources, manage expenses and move into the future. Stories on one. Story on page 15. the reactions of the two markets to the experiment are examined on page 7. Sunflower Page 5 is devoted to the coverage by KWCH 12 in Wichita, KS of the Kansas City Royals Broadcasting in run for major league baseball’s world championship. The Eyewitness Sports team trekked to Wichita, KA has Los Angeles, Baltimore, San Francisco and Kansas City to cover every pitch in the Royals named Jenn Bates wild ride. as the new anchor The digital section on pages 8 and 9 begins with a focus on Schurz Communications’ of Eyewitness switch to Microsoft Office 365 as a cloud-based platform and its implications. Also included News in the are stories on KY3 in Springfield, MO winning two national E-Commerce awards, on the Morning on KWCH 12. Bates has been Aberdeen American News’ “tablet town” program continuing to grow and Herald-Mail an award winning Media in Hagerstown, MD providing live election results coverage on its cable news channel. member of the On page 11 is a reprint of an article that appeared in the WSBT Transmitter of 2014 mark- BATES Eyewitness sports ing the 75th anniversary of the introduction of television broadcasting in the United States, team, which she joined in 2008. Story which started at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. on page 18. --Bill Schrader, Editor David Stone, a veteran newsman, has been named edi- tor of the Winchester, KY Sun. Stone first On the cover joined the Sun staff in Ned Reynolds, sportscaster at KY3-TV in Springfield, MO, retired in December to 1996 as a design edi- bring to an end an award-filled 47 year career. Friends, family and co-workers showed tor and served as edi- their appreciation for Reynolds’ dedication at a retirement ceremony when the sports tor of the online Sun office at KY3 was renamed the “Ned Reynolds Sports Center”. Other gifts included two and as assistant man- $2,500 scholarships awarded in Reynolds honor and a Topps replica baseball card. aging editor. Story Reynolds is a member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, the Springfield Area Sports on page 19. Hall of Fame and recipient of the prestigious “Silver Circle” award presented by the STONE National Academy of Arts and Sciences. Story on page 14. 2 Winter 2015 Schurz Communicator Sharing thoughts on the media industry By TODD F, SCHURZ President/CEO Schurz Communications Inc. Sometimes employees at our various operations ask me what I am thinking about in terms of the media industry, and I would like to use this month’s column to answer that question. The photo with this column is of four notes that are pinned above my desk as a constant reminder and gentle prod. All of these questions or thoughts I heard or read somewhere (so there is no pride of author- ship). Here is what they mean to me as we start off 2015. Better and stronger: A few years ago, one of my brothers challenged us to come up with the big, audacious goal for our gen- eration of owners. After significant discus- sion among three generations, we decided TODD SCHURZ that we wanted “to pass along a better and stronger family and business to the next generation of owners than the one we received”. As I think about our company, my goal is to grow and further diversify the company so that it is better and stronger. Now, while the goal sounds simple, it will require significant time and effort to figure out what that Some of these notes will be replaced with other thoughts and ques- means and how to do it. tions at some point during the year; Silver buckshot: While the single silver bullet worked for the I realize with some regret that there is not a customer-focused one Lone Ranger, there are no silver bullets for us. In other words, there up right now (which is a major oversight on my part). is no single or simple solution to the challenges we face. In years While there are times that I do not sleep particularly well (the past, if we had a new department store or automobile dealer open in budget season comes to mind), most nights I sleep quite well. For the market, we were pretty much guaranteed to have a good year. when those questions come up in the middle of the night, there are Instead, we need to be looking for silver buckshot – lots and lots of two thoughts that ease my anxieties. buckshot. We will continue to conduct many experiments and learn First, I remind myself of the progress we have made over the from each other as we create and discover the business model that years and are making today. We have adapted, survived and thrived will sustain community journalism in the digital era. for over 140 years. Swing easy: An industry colleague and friend told me how much And second, I remember and am thankful for the great people who he has learned about business from playing golf. “Swing easy” was work for our company and who make it happen every day. his advice for me and for everyone. The note is a reminder that I That thought reminds me of one of last year’s notes: “We succeed, often produce the best results by relaxing and playing to my I fail”. Success is always a team sport, and it is great to be a part of strengths. Stress can help us be more pro- this team. quickly we all got together.” ductive (eustress) at times; we all have known how a deadline can bring great focus and creativity. However, we all know that stress can also cause considerable harm when SCI Core Values there is too much (distress). So, it is vital for We constantly strive to improve to meet the needs and wants of readers, listeners, view- me to know where that optimal point is and ers, users, and advertisers. We believe that talented and dedicated employees have made to make certain that I do not go past it. the company successful in the past and are the hope of the future. We are committed to What keeps me up at night? This one providing an environment that gives our employees the opportunity to achieve their took me some time to sort out, and I encour- potential. age you to think about your answer.