November 2015 | Vol. 12 Issue 11 ARKANSAS A MONTHLY PUBLICATION SUPPORTING APA-MEMBER ADVERTISING PROFESSIONALS ArkansasAd Press Services, Inc. is a subsidiary of NewsArkansas Press Association | 411 South Victory, Little Rock, AR 72201 | 501.374.1500 INSIDE: From The Field Feature Page 2- 2016 rate cards needed New ad director already enjoying job Marka Sonoga has only been advertising manager at the El Dorado News-Times for several weeks, but she is already enjoying her new job. “The people here are very nice and friendly. It’s pretty and warm here, and I like the downtown,” Sonoga said. Born in Okinawa, Japan, Sonoga spent most of her life in Youngstown, Ohio, where she graduated from high school. Her father, who had been in the Page 5 - ‘APA Air Force died when Sonoga was only 19, which Perfect Performance’ meant she needed to work while attending college. newspapers remaining She attended night school at Youngstown State University for two years, then graduated from Penn State. During those years, she worked full time at a hospital and for an ambulance company. “Early on I thought I wanted to go into the medical field, but by the time I graduated from college I was married and decided to go another direction rather than going to med school,” she said. “So I started selling advertising for WYTV in CALENDAR Youngstown in 1999.” Marka Sonoga (seated), advertising manager at the El Dorado News-Times, discusses an ad with Peggy Cagle, NOVEMBER 26-27 continued on page 3 outside sales rep. Thanksgiving Holiday APA Office Closed Texarkana Gazette celebrates 140 years DECEMBER 25 Christmas Holiday Early last month the Texarkana APA Office Closed Gazette celebrated 140 years No Mail of service in partnership with its readers, advertisers and the JANUARY 1 community with an eight-page New Year’s Day special section. The publication APA Office Closed covered the history of the No Mail newspaper (see accompanying article) and ran several articles and MARCH 10-11 columns by current and former APA Advertising employees. Newspaper leaders at Conference the Texarkana Gazette as far back Winthrop Rockefeller as the 1930s were innovators in Institute, Petit Jean communications advancement. Mountain John Fooks reminisced about his employment at the newspaper Photo credit: Joshua Boucher, El Dorado News-Times. Working for you... since being hired in 1980. Former the transition from hot lead to the digital age in OCTOBER employee Johnny Green wrote about the changes newspaper production. Gross Advertising Sales in technology over the years. James Presley The Texarkana Gazette has only missed $ recalled the Phantom Killer hysteria of 1946, producing one issue in the past 14 decades. Reporters 379,417.35 and former publisher Buddy King discussed continued on page 2 November 2015 AdNews | 1 140 years continued from page 1 Greg Bischof and Lori Dunn wrote about their recollections of the massive ice storm In the that hit the area on Christmas Day 2000. News Due to the loss of electricity, the newspaper De Queen Bee Publisher Clark Smith recently announced the publication of a new did not print on Dec. 27 of that year. Spanish-language newspaper for De Queen and the surrounding area. Titled The De Christy Busby said the newspaper staff Queen Bee in Espanol, the newspaper will feature articles in the Spanish language with a focus on the local Latino community. acted quickly on Sept. 11, 2001, to find local “This is something we’ve been working on for several months, and we are excited angles to the horrific acts of the day. The to introduce it to our Spanish-speaking community,” Smith said. “We hope this staff created an eight-page, ad-free midday newspaper will not only provide readers with important, accurate information in Sevier edition. They knew their readers didn’t County, but also help bridge the area’s English- and Spanish-speaking communities.” want to wait to read about the happenings — of that day that changed and galvanized this Sync, the free central Arkansas weekly created in 2007 by the Arkansas Democrat- country. Gazette, ceased publication after its Oct. 28 issue, according to Lynn Hamilton, president and general manager of the Democrat-Gazette. Editor Les Minor reminded readers Sync was created with the intent of reaching a young of two bad mistakes the newspaper made: adult audience. But market research indicates that for one was running a correction that was also adults under 40, the Democrat-Gazette reaches 10 times incorrect. The second was running the more such readers than Sync or any other publication in wrong date (Nov. 23, 1961) in the masthead the Little Rock market. on Nov. 23, 1963, which carried first-day “This fact helped us decided that our resources coverage of the assassination of President could be better devoted to our core daily newspaper publication,” Hamilton said. John F. Kennedy. Sync Weekly The closure of Sync follows a national trend. Another humorous story told of a “Free newspaper weeklies recently have ceased publication in Philadelphia, Dillard’s ad that contained an embarrassing Baltimore, Knoxville, Providence (R.I.) and San Francisco, among other cities,” he said. typo. Plus the newspaper ran an excerpt Only one Sync employee was laid off. Three others were offered other positions at from Texarkana native H. Ross Perot’s the company. One employee took another job. book “My Life & Principles For Success” — concerning his delivering the Texarkana Gannett Co. reached an agreement to acquire newspaper company Journal Media Group for $208 million last month, giving the media giant control of publications in Gazette by bike and on horseback in various more than 100 local markets in the U.S., company officials announced. parts of town. Journal Media publications dot the Midwest and South and include the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Commercial Appeal of Memphis and the Knoxville News Sentinel. The merger adds 15 daily and 18 weekly papers to Gannett’s portfolio. Gannett’s flagship publication is USA Today, and it has used that publication’s staff 2016 Rate to produce national content for its local operations. Cards Needed Gannett this past summer became a company that runs newspapers exclusively, having moved all of its television companies into a separate company, Tegna Inc. Arkansas Press Services, Inc. — (APS) is requesting 2016 advertising Frank E. Lockwood has been named the Washington, D.C., rate cards from all members of the correspondent for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Arkansas Press Association so rates He replaces Sarah D. Wire, who took a position with the can be entered into the accounting Washington bureau of the Los Angeles Times. David Bailey, managing editor of the Democrat-Gazette, lauded program. Lockwood’s qualifications to report on Washington for Arkansas Ashley Wimberley, director of readers. marketing, said some members “Frank is a gifted journalist who has years of experience have already provided their rates covering government and politics in Arkansas and in Washington,” Frank E. for next year, but it’s important to Bailey said. Lockwood have everyone’s information when Lockwood, 48, has worked for the Democrat-Gazette since planning for 2016. 2006, when he was hired as religion editor. In 2009, he also assumed supervision of the newspaper’s Washington bureau reporter. “We are beginning to develop Lockwood’s role at the newspaper changed again in November 2012, when he some statewide 2016 ad campaigns became supervisor of the newspaper’s state Capitol bureau and its three reporters. for clients and need to know rates His tenure as religion editor ended at that time. – especially if they are going to Lockwood, a native of Hermiston, Ore., has a bachelor’s degree in history from change – in order to provide accurate Harvard University and a law degree from the University of Idaho. estimates,” Wimberley said. Lockwood also was a Knight Wallace Journalism Fellow at the University of Ad managers are urged to Michigan. “After editing for nine years, it’s exciting to be reporting and writing full-time again,” send a copy of their 2016 rate Lockwood said. “I became a journalist more than 20 years ago because I loved telling cards (regardless of whether or stories, and there’ll be plenty of Arkansas angles to cover in the nation’s capital. It’s a not any rates have changed) to great time to be covering Washington. And with two former Arkansas residents running Rebecca McGraw, at rebecca@ for president, the race for the White House will be especially interesting.” arkansaspress.org, or fax them to 501-374-7509. 2 | November 2015 AdNews From the field continued from page 1 After three years in broadcast TV she moved to print advertising representatives (currently looking to fill one of those jobs), two sales at the Youngstown Vindicator where she worked for 14 years. inside sales reps and one sales coordinator. In 2013 Sonoga and her husband, Mike, moved to LaGrange, She said there is a lot of opportunity in El Dorado. Ga., to live in a warmer climate. She took a job as regional media “Right now we’re working on a holiday magazine plus a medical director for the LaGrange Daily News and the Thomaston Times. guide, which hasn’t been done here before. I have several other Sonoga said she started looking for a new job recently because ideas for next year, which will include focusing on online,” she said. the company she was working for was a large “The El Dorado newspaper has fared corporation and was going through major “As a salesperson we need to better than many local papers. People will cutbacks and changes. know our product so we can always want to read the news about their “I saw the El Dorado News-Times job work with our customers to community,” Sonoga said.