St. George | Spectrum publisher Welch leaving

Donnie Welch is leaving The Spectrum after seven years to start a business in the area. Welch, 50, did not say when his resignation would be effective, according to the paper.

Editor Todd Seifert has been named interim publisher while the search is under way for a permanent replacement for the daily in St. George, Utah.

Formerly the advertising director for the Burlington Free Press in Vermont, Welch had worked in newspaper advertising for 25 years. On reaching age 50 several months ago, he decided to try something new. “It was just time,” he told the paper.

The Spectrum was one of three Gannett papers that initially piloted the paywalls that have now been launched across the U.S. newspaper division.

The paper's weekday circulation is 14,686, and Sunday is 18,021, according to the Sept. 30 ABC report.

Salisbury | Burlington's Kilian named top editor

Kilian

Michael Kilian starts March 4 as executive editor of The Daily Times in Salisbury, Md., which was snared in a mess last June involving a sensational prank telephone call to an influential local blogger. He replaces Greg Bassett, who left the paper last month.

Kilian has been associate editor at the Burlington Free Press in Vermont, the Times noted today in reporting his appointment.

Rochester | Frank Gannett's building to market

[Corporate's original headquarters was here in Rochester, N.Y.]

Company founder Frank E. Gannett built the structure in 1927-28 to house his corporate offices, printing presses and newsroom for the now-defunct Rochester Times-Union. After additions to the building, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle joined the paper there in 1959.

Gannett

The newspapers kept separate newsrooms until the staffs merged in 1992. Five years later, the paper opened a new production plant in nearby Greece. Corporate moved its headquarters to suburban Washington in 1986, later relocating it to McLean, Va., in 2001.

Today, the Democrat and Chronicle told readers that the property is now for sale, becoming the latest GCI property to look for new, more modern quarters nearby that will reflect a smaller staff size. In October, Alabama's Montgomery Advertiser and Vermont's Burlington Free Press made similar announcements.

Rochester's move is expected to be completed by the middle of next year, according to the paper.

To be sure, GCI isn't alone: Other newspaper publishers across the nation are freeing up excess property as markets recover from the real estate bust.

Ala., Vt. are latest to plan real estate sales

Newspapers in Vermont and Alabama have announced plans to downsize, as Gannett continues shrinking its physical plants to reflect smaller workforces. Details:

• The Montgomery Advertiser has hired a broker to sell its downtown building; the production plant isn't part of the deal, however.
• The Burlington Free Press plans to sell seven of 12 buildings it owns downtown, but plans to remain as a tenant. They total about 55,700 square feet, but the paper’s newsroom and business operations now require only about 10,000 square feet.

In June, CEO Gracia Martore told Wall Street analysts that GCI had more than $100 million in real estate on the market, including one property for more than $20 million. She didn't identify that property, however, but it may have been buildings housing The Des Moines Register.

In Cincy, Burlington and Shreveport, a tale of three Gannett newspapers -- with one suffering mightily

As Gannett remakes its U.S. newspapers to further emphasize digital over print, and jacks up subscription prices an average 25%, at least three dailies are really getting overhauled: In Cincinnati, Burlington, Vt., and Shreveport, La., the changes include adopting dramatically smaller tabloid formats.

The Cincinnati Enquirer is scheduled to make the move from broadsheet by the end of the year -- assuming its production partner, the Columbus Dispatch, completes a retrofit of its presses in time.

The Burlington Free Press flipped the switch in June -- with predictably mixed reaction from readers, according to a New York Times story posted online last night. The NYT doesn't quantify the response; instead it quotes critics and fans alike.

But based on recent events in Louisiana, and an internal operational review last spring by Corporate, it's clear The Times of Shreveport is in a world of hurt -- and the pain isn't limited to the change to a Berliner format two years ago.

A new publisher was installed in January. The advertising department got reorganized in the spring. A power outage in July briefly shut down operations, affecting the four other Louisiana dailies it serves. Those dailies delayed their move to the Des Moines page design hub until at least January. And the production chief left earlier this month.

Burlington | When bad ads happen to good people

At Vermont's Burlington Free Press, an unfortunate ad placement appears today above a feature about local movers and shakers. (Hint: they're labeled tools.)

Burlington | Free Press shifts to tabloid format

After a $2.4 million rebuild of its 45-year-old old press, Burlington Free Press Publisher Jim Fogler says the most frustrating thing is when his newspaper is criticized for not being local enough.

Fogler

"We are part of this community," he told Vermont Public Radio for a story published today. "We have 145 employees. We live, work and play here."

With the reconfigured press, the Vermont paper now has a new tabloid format -- or, as Fogler likes to call it, a compact smart edition -- with color on every page.

Burlington's Monday-Saturday circulation is 30,558; Sunday is 38,380, according to the March 31 ABC report.

Earlier: Fogler named Free Press publisher.

[Photo: New England Newspaper & Press Association]

Three Gannett newspapers are Pulitzer finalists

They are The Arizona Republic, USA Today and the Burlington Free Press in Vermont, according to this afternoon's announcement about journalism's highest honor.

The categories where GCI's papers were finalists:

Breaking news 
The Arizona Republic Staff in Phoenix, for its comprehensive coverage of the mass shooting that killed six and wounded 13, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, an exemplary use of journalistic tools, from Twitter to video to written reports and features, to tell an unfolding story. (Winner: Alabama's Tuscaloosa News staff.)

Explanatory reporting
Tom Frank of USA Today for his sharply focused exploration of inflated pensions for state and local employees, enhancing stories with graphic material to show how state legislators pump up retirement benefits in creative but unconscionable ways. (Winner: David Kocieniewski of The New York Times.)

Editorial writing 
Aki Soga and Michael Townsend, of the Burlington Free Press, for their campaign that resulted in the state’s first reform of open government laws in 35 years, reducing legal obstacles that helped shroud the work of government officials. (No award was given in this category.)

Burlington | Say farewell to another broadsheet; new ‘tall tab’ will feature magazine-style format

Vermont’s Burlington Free Press will switch to an all-color “tall” tabloid format this summer, becoming the latest Gannett paper to shave costs on pricey newsprint as the company continues hunting for ways to reduce overhead.

In a story yesterday -- exceptional for its balanced coverage -- the paper said work had already begun on rebuilding its press so it could print at a size of 11 inches wide and 15 inches high beginning in June.

Fogler

That’s smaller than current conventional broadsheets, which are typically about 12 inches by 22 inches.

Burlington’s switch follows plans by The Cincinnati Enquirer to adopt an even smaller size by the fourth quarter: 10 ½ inches by 14 2/3 inches.

Publisher Jim Fogler told the paper that both the new format and a new subscription model for print and digital would be launched at the same time. The number of stories that can be viewed online before requiring a subscription has yet to be determined, however.

Magazine-style stories
In a national “town hall” meeting for GCI employees broadcast yesterday, U.S. newspapers division President Bob Dickey said the subscription approach is taking place at all 80 locations. The number of free stories before a subscription is required will range from five to 15 stories per month, the Burlington paper quoted Dickey saying.

“BurlingtonFreePress.com will continue to break news and post regular updates,” the paper said, “while the print newspaper will take a deeper dive into investigative reporting and narrative stories, often with magazine-style in-depth pieces and large color photographs.”

Work on the newspaper’s 45-year-old five-unit Goss Metro-Offset press is expected to be done by the end of April.

Expert: caution ahead
GCI newspaper coverage of moves like this typically read like press releases, unfortunately.

Mindich

But Burlington’s story by Dan D’Ambrosio wisely included the following mildly opposing view, from David Mindich, professor and chairman of the media studies, journalism and digital arts department at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vt.:

“A well-designed tabloid can look great,” Mindich told the paper. “My concern with the tabloid format is that one of the things we go to newspapers for is a sense of hierarchy. So I hope that the Free Press preserves the editors’ prerogative to establish a hierarchy in terms of the importance of news.”

In a tabloid, he said, “often times, you have just the one story or two, you don’t have this intricate, sometimes beautiful balance of stories on the front page.”

By the numbers: circulation
Burlington’s Monday-Saturday: 31,095; Sunday, 40,708

Burlington | Don't miss: 'Quiet Vermont life elusive for newspaper heiress after sensational murder'

From Mike Donoghue's nicely-written story yesterday in Vermont's Burlington Free Press:

When Victoria Scripps-Carmody was 3 years old, the newspaper family heiress witnessed her father kill her mother with a claw hammer as she slept in their Bronxville, N.Y., mansion on New Year’s Eve 1993.

Her father drove his BMW to the Tappan Zee Bridge and took his own life by jumping off into the icy water of the Hudson River. The case generated enormous headlines in New York City, and inspired a made-for-TV movie. Then, in a bizarre copy-cat suicide years later, her older sister killed herself the very same way, right down to the make of her automobile. She left a note to Scripps-Carmody, bearing a haunting message.

Now, Scripps-Carmody, 21, of Burlington, is accused of having 193 bags of heroin tucked away in her 2006 BMW when it was pulled over in Brattleboro, Vt., on Aug. 10. She told a detective she had a six-bag-a-day heroin habit that she needed to feed.

How Scripps-Carmody went from orphaned heiress of an E.W. Scripps fortune to a young woman with a $120-a-day heroin addiction is a tale of good intentions gone bad, and the ripple effects of a long-ago family tragedy -- all set against the famously peaceful Vermont landscape.

Read Donoghue's full account here.

Related: The Free Press' weekday circulation is 32,089, and 40, 482 Sundays, according to ABC's lookup database.

Passion topics | At least two years in the making

"Judges said the new Sunday section is a bold, ambitious effort to target Burlington’s boomer audience with the passion topics of green living and environmental coverage from a Vermonter’s point of view."

-- August 2009 issue of News Watch, announcing first place Award of Excellence to the Burlington Free Press for its then-new Sunday section, Green Mountain. This is the earliest reference I've found (so far) to a new "passion topics" initiative that the U.S. newspaper division appears to be unveiling at a conference for editors in mid-August. This may be focused on boosting Sunday circulation.

Long-time Gannett executive Bottorf dies at 76

Richard M. Bottorf, who began his newspaper career at Gannett in Rochester, N.Y., worked for four years as vice president of operations at Corporate in Virginia. He served as circulation director at Rochester, before being appointed publisher of Vermont's Burlington Free Press. He retired in 1994 as publisher of Connecticut's Norwich Bulletin.

Bottorf died Wednesday at Thompson Hospital in Victor, N.Y., the Freep reported today. He was 76.

A sidebar
GCI sold the Bulletin, plus Illinois' Rockford Register Star; New York's Observer-Dispatch in Utica, and The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, West Va., to GateHouse Media in May 2007 for $410 million.

Kicking ethics aside, Gannett launches jobs series

[Circled part of screenshot highlights Indianapolis' jobs series]

So much for deferring to local editorial control, eh?

Marching in lockstep, Gannett newspapers today launched a Corporate-driven editorial series about jobs, one that reads too much like advertorial to boost employment advertising -- even as it's being presented as public-service journalism.

For example, the Indianapolis Star's homepage features four links under a "Top 10 jobs in Indiana'' headline. (See screenshot, above.) One of the links takes readers to CareerBuilder, the employment site majority-owned by Gannett. Bending journalism ethics, the Star-branded CareerBuilder page doesn't disclose that the two companies are owned by Gannett.

A second link takes readers to another Star-branded page that appears to be a ContentOne production. It includes some editorial matter produced by USA Today and the Star -- and yet more content produced by CareerBuilder. Once more, the CareerBuilder business tie isn't disclosed.

Elsewhere across GCI, here's how Publisher Amy Pack tip-toed around the project in a letter to readers of her two California dailies: "We’d like to help our readers by creating an environment for the employment ads right here in the main news section of the Times-Delta and Advance-Register."

[Updated at 6:21 p.m. ET: It appears Corporate supplied some of the language for Pack's note. When I Googled her phrasing, I turned up similar letters signed by other Gannett publishers in communities that include Burlington, Vt.; Mountain Home, Ark., and St. George, Utah.]

Now, it's your turn. How did your newspaper launch the series? 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.

Burlington | Employment has fallen 40% since '08

Not long after I started tracking layoffs across the company, Gannett deleted a key piece of information  from the Corporate webpages of each of the major U.S. worksites: total local employment. (Here's one of those pages.)

But every so often, a publisher or general manager spills the beans. And that was the case today at Vermont's Burlington Free Press, where Publisher Jim Fogler wrote a long, l-o-n-g letter to readers about the paper's growth prospects. (Oddly, it was published on the front page, in the above-the-fold position traditionally set aside for the main news story of the day.)

Fogler says the paper now employs "more than 160 hard-working employees -- including 40 in the newsroom (our information center). This is the largest journalistic force of any local news organization, by far. Our commitment to covering this community will not waver."

It's worth noting, of course, that any GCI paper's commitment to covering their community will not waver -- until the next staff reduction. For example, in August 2008, before the first of a wave of GCI-wide layoffs, the Free Press employed about 270 people. Indeed, only two months ago, the paper cut seven more jobs in the latest round of job reductions, one that eliminated an estimated 253 jobs at 63 U.S. dailies, according to Gannett Bloggers.

Note: Burlington's Monday-Saturday circulation is 32,450; Sunday is 42,679.

GCI has now shifted 17 newspaper CEOs this year

Hurst

This morning's promotion of Leslie Hurst to publisher of The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., is at least the 17th 14th13th turnover of a top Gannett newspaper executive this year.

This unusual turnover -- half of it, in the past month -- is among GCI's 81 U.S. community publishing newspapers, and the Tucson, Ariz., newspaper partnership. It follows recent Gannett Blog speculation that the division was due for a big reorganization. The list so far:

1. Today. Hurst is replacing retiring Larry Whitaker. Her successor at The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, La., hasn't been announced.
2. Yesterday. Gabe Aguiree named general manager of the Iowa City Press-Citizen, replacing Dan Brown, whose departure wasn't explained.
3. Dec. 10. Kim Wilson leaves Fort Collins Coloradoan; her departure isn't explained, and a replacement hasn't been announced.
4. Dec. 6. Scott Johnson to publisher of the St. Cloud Times in Minnesota. He replaces Bill Albrecht, who was earlier named president of the Media Network of Central Ohio.
5. Nov. 30. Charlie Nutt retires as publisher of The Daily Journal in Vineland, N.J. Advertising Director Joseph Calchi also assumes title of general manager.
6. Michael Beck to general manager of Wisconsin's Stevens Point Journal; he replaced Mark Baldwin, whose departure wasn't explained.
7. Nov. 18. Howard Griffin named publisher of The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., replacing retiring Curtis Riddle.
8. Nov. 15. Mike Jameson leaves as CEO Tucson Newspapers, the joint operating agency co-owned by Gannett and Lee Enterprises; it publishes Lee's Arizona Daily Star. Jameson's replacement hasn't been announced.
9. Oct. 20. Andrew Oppmann leaves as publisher of The Leaf-Chronicle for a university job; his permanent replacement hasn't been announced.
10. Oct. 12. Lee Webber officially retires as publisher of The Honolulu Advertiser after its sale to a cross-town rival.
11. Sept. 28. Linda Greiwe to publisher of the Springfield News-Leader in Missouri, replacing retiring Thomas Bookstaver.
12. Sept. 13. Mark Winkler to publisher of The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif., replacing Richard Ramhoff, whose departure was not explained.
13. Sep. 13. James Fogler to publisher of the Burlington Free Press, replacing Brad Robertson, who was promoted to president of the new GannettLocal.
14. May 25. Samuel Martin to publisher of the Montgomery Advertiser in Alabama. He replaces Cheryl Lindus.
15. May 25. Lindus to general manager of The Muncie Star in Indiana. She replaces Gene Williams, named executive editor of the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, N.J.
16. April 7. Paul Grzella to general manager of New Jersey's Courier News in Bridgewater and the Home News Tribune in East Brunswick; he replaced Skip Hidlay, who left to become publisher of the Wichita Eagle in Kansas. 
17. March 25. Mei-Mei Chan to publisher of The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., replacing Carol Hudler, who was promoted to publisher of The Tennessean at Nashville in November 2009.

Have I missed anyone? 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.

St. Cloud | Wisconsin ad exec named new publisher

Corporate just announced that the regional advertising director of Gannett Wisconsin Media in Green Bay, Scott Johnson, has been named publisher of the St. Cloud Times in Minnesota. Johnson succeeds Bill Albrecht, who earlier was named president of the Media Network of Central Ohio and president and publisher of The Advocate in Newark, Ohio.

Johnson's is the ninth appointment of a publisher this year alone among GCI's 81 U.S. community dailies. The news came today in a written statement that included a quote attributed to U.S. newspaper division President Bob Dickey. Fashioned and refashioned by publicists, quotes such as these risk sounding like commodities, rendering them less meaningful.

Quotidian quotations
Following are some of Dickey's quotes this year, with identifying names redacted. One of these is about Johnson. I've linked to the original statements.

"_____ is an innovator in finding solutions for customers and delivering the right audiences for advertisers across all platforms. _____ brings an impressive background in market development strategy and sales."

"_____ is an experienced advertising executive with a solid track record of building sales and competitive market share. _____ will be an important member of our team as Gannett continues to expand the ways we provide business clients with customized solutions and engage consumers."

"Through _____'s leadership, the _____ launched innovative products to increase readership and market share while also producing products and services that meet the needs of the community."

"_____ brings a diverse and fresh perspective that will help us continue to expand the many ways we meet the changing needs of our communities and customers, both consumers and advertisers."

" _____ has had a long, successful career with Gannett and brings important sales and marketing skills to this position. _____'s breadth of experience and leadership abilities will serve _____ and _____."

" _____ is bringing diverse experience and valued leadership to our _____ market and will build on the solid foundation _____ helped establish in this important market."

" _____ has intense drive, a collaborative spirit and a strong track record of providing innovative service to consumers and advertisers."

Got a favorite press release? 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.

With Burlington, estimated job cuts now hit 243; 62 of 81 U.S. community newspapers are counted

The Burlington Free Press has whacked seven jobs, including an unspecified number requiring layoffs, during the recent round of reductions, a Gannett Blog reader told me this morning. Jim Fogler, publisher since late August, told staffers at the Vermont daily about the cuts during a staff meeting last week.

"He was grim, but I appreciated hearing the news from him directly," the reader said, adding: "He did not rule out further cuts or furloughs.''

In leaving furloughs on the table, Fogler joins several other publishers who left open the possibility, adding to speculation furloughs could be imposed during the three months starting Jan. 1.

I've  added this new information to my running tally of estimated layoffs and pay cuts during the job reduction that began Nov. 3. These figures are based on information supplied by my readers. (Site-by-site numbers.) As of 10:23 a.m. ET today:

• Newspapers reporting: 62 of 81
• Estimated job cuts so far: 243 (excludes USA Today's 130)
• Estimated papers imposing pay cuts: 6

Note: GCI has about 25,000 U.S. newspaper workers, out of a total 35,000 employees worldwide. (Breakdown by major division.)

Earlier: Survey asks, how old were you when you got laid off?

Related: CEO Craig Dubow got paid $4.7 million in 2009 vs. $3.1 million in 2008. (Table shows annual pay for five top executives.)

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.

Burlington | What's in a name? It's no longer, 'the'

Columnist Shay Totten of Vermont weekly Seven Days noted the following in a recent "Pure Politics" column:

The Burlington Free Press has been renamed Burlington Free Press. The tweaked logo appeared in last Thursday’s paper with no accompanying explanation.

Gone, too, is the Freep’s front-page tagline, “A Local Custom, Serving Vermont for 184 Years.” The slogan has been outsourced, er, replaced, by the paper’s website address.

Related: Today's Freep front page, from the Newseum

Burlington | Rochester's Fogler now Free Press pub

Corporate said this afternoon that it has promoted James Fogler to president and publisher of Vermont's Burlington Free Press. Fogler has been the vice president of marketing and communications for New York's Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. He succeeds Brad Robertson, who was named president of Gannett Local in May.

Urgent: Gannett is launching new start-up focused on small, midsize firms; Robertson named its chief

Confirming months of speculation, Gannett disclosed this morning that it is establishing a new business unit that will offer marketing advice to small and midsize companies. The unit, GannettLocal, will be part of the U.S. newspaper division and will be led from offices in Phoenix by Brad Robertson, currently publisher of Gannett's Burlington, Vt., newspaper.

Robertson (left) disclosed his appointment as vice president of business development for the venture in a memo this morning to his staff at The Burlington Free Press, where he has been the top executive since November 2007.

"As many of you know," the memo says, "I have been splitting my time for several months between Burlington and Phoenix where this start-up is located. GannettLocal is a new business model focused on working with small and medium sized business to provide them a high-touch marketing consultation and a suite of multiplatform solutions (search engine marketing, e-mail, digital display, website, and geo-targeted print/flyers) delivered by a team of dedicated experts over the phone."

The note continues: "Over the next month or so, I will be transitioning over to this new role, trying to sell my house and a publisher search will be conducted." (Full memo text.)

GannettLocal is the latest effort by the nation's No. 1 newspaper publisher to ramp up advertising revenue. The Phoenix unit follows the recent emergence of Gannett's Client Solutions Group, an advertising production services team in Indianapolis and Des Moines geared toward key advertisers.

Robertson's note, and a story about his promotion in the Free Press, don't say who he will report to. Given the project's high profile, it seems likely that U.S. newspaper division President Bob Dickey will be watching it closely.

The new unit has been the subject of speculation for several months among readers here on Gannett Blog.

Related: Here's GannettLocal's Phoenix website. Plus: here's its Twitter feed, and its Facebook page. Also: Local reaction to Robertson's departure in alternative weekly 7 Days

[Photo: Free Press]