There's plenty of room for speculation because the closest we have to an official explanation is a four-paragraph story published in the Sun. It says:
"Richard A. Ramhoff is no longer president and publisher of Desert Sun Media Group, company officials announced Friday.
Ramhoff, the top executive at The Desert Sun and mydesert.com since July 2008, is taking a new assignment within Gannett Co., the parent company of the Palm Springs media group.
Desert Sun Executive Editor Rick Green is serving as interim publisher.
A successor has not been named, but is expected soon, company officials said."
West Group struggles?
The Sun is part of Gannett's West Group, a portfolio of community dailies whose financial performance has been unsatisfactory to Corporate, one of my readers says. Revenue is down at several of the papers, my reader says, and rumors are flying that some directors have been asked to offer contingency cuts that could take effect sometime in the last quarter of this year.
West Group President Laura Hollingsworth, who also is publisher of The Des Moines Register, personally delivered news of Ramhoff's reassignment to staff yesterday, three of my readers say. According to one of those readers, Hollingsworth told staff, "there is money sitting on the table" -- a reference to untapped advertising dollars the Sun hasn't been aggressive enough in chasing.
Gannett's four California papers were hit especially hard in the real estate bust. The Sun's circulation is about 46,000 Monday through Friday, and 52,000 on Sundays.
So long, lame duck
Ramhoff's departure comes less than a week before Thursday's scheduled visit by Corporate poohbahs, including Gannett CEO Craig Dubow and U.S. newspaper division President Bob Dickey. One imagines Hollingsworth didn't want to waste their time with a lame-duck publisher.
Was he promoted?
Highly unlikely. The Sun's story did not include the "Ramhoff's-a-terrific-guy" quote customarily attributed to Dickey when an executive is on the rise. Indeed, one of my better-connected readers says flat-out: "They came in and said, 'go home and don't come back.' It is not believed they are moving him to Corporate. This has brewing for some time."
Got more clues? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.
[Image: today's paper, Newseum]
Rich is one of the nicest guys, and a good publisher too. Hate to see him go. He has done so many good things here.
ReplyDeleteHollingsworth saying there is money on the table just further demonstrates her complete lack of knowledge about anything. She's the same one who recently said the economy was bouncing back and we need to take advantage of it. Just another high-paid clueless **** who has not firm idea about reality.
ReplyDeleteActually, this sounds like it might have been personal. Ramhoff was west coast group VP UNDER Hollingsworth. Wasn't Hollingsworth UNDER Ramhoff in Lansing?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunate. Rich Ramhoff is an extremely skilled and passionate journalist - with a big J. He works extremely hard and believes in the future of the industry. Newspaper publishers are easy targets for a macro-environment that is about as difficult as it comes.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely not saying this is necessarily the case here, but we had a publisher moved with much the same wording after an issue came up with him drinking too much. He quietly disappeared from the company a few months later.
ReplyDeleteAsk IT if you want to know the truth.
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ReplyDeleteThat happened at our newspaper, too. Only it was the EE and not the publisher who was made to disappear without explanation. The EE was gone less than a week after directing coverage of a big local story that later won a Best of Gannett award.
ReplyDeleteRamhoff was great in Lansing. Where do all the nice guys go in this world?
ReplyDeleteRemember, Rich recentley demoted Michelle Kran's bff Dominique. Dickey was also a huge fan of Dominique, this is no surprise.....done mess with Bob's girls
ReplyDeletealso, great timing, just before the 3 day weekend, hoping it would go mostly unnoticed
ReplyDeleteSo much BS speculation. It is all business. Look at the history before the bottom fell out in CA and you'll see that PS was a place that always improved year over year, made tons of money, especially when BD was publisher there. RR shows up just as the bottom falls out and he goes from great, award winning publisher in the midwest to crap publisher in the west. If he turns up somewhere else in Gannett, it means he is being given the benefit of the doubt regarding the economy; if he doesn't, it means the powers that be (BD, et al) think it is RR's fault.
ReplyDeleteThis was about a failure of leadership, a lack of engagement and an inability to hold his Advertising staff accountable when it mattered. He didn't demote the Ad Director. Laura Hollingsworth did, and that is something he should have done long ago. Really, really nice guy, but someone who was in over his head and didn't understand the market or his staff, let alone his other newspapers. He will land on his feet (probably back in the Midwest) and PS will get someone who understands the sales needs better than he did. The adventure is just beginning at Bob Dickey's old paper, I bet.
ReplyDeleteThis "reassignment" should come as no surprise to anyone at TDS. I have no idea what 9/04/2010 10:40am means by "He has done so many good things here." I'm scratching my head trying to figure that statement out. I completely agree with the last statement - failure of leadership was certainly the main factor but also listening to and relying on staff within TDS that, frankly, have no idea what they're doing.
ReplyDeleteHaving been a former TDS person now living in Phoenix, The Desert Sun is 10x the paper the Republic is. Maybe BD should pay attention to the really big fish.
ReplyDeleteregardless of what back stories may be circling, here are a few facts- rr was brought to ps in part to lead the digital revenue charge. when the time came to cut some fat off the pig, he chose to eliminate several key positions that supported the basic infrastructure needed to support such a challenge. These included lead programmer, designers and true online sales. that's like expecting a horse without legs to win the race... but he is a nice guy
ReplyDeleteI'm just curious about all the information coming from "readers." How do DS readers know what's going on in publishing board rooms?
ReplyDelete1:11 theres a secret hatch down in the basement that catches all the rumblings above
ReplyDeleteRamhoff was hired last week as Marketing Director at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs. So, his "reassignment" must have been to a cardboard box.
ReplyDelete