This morning (Monday, Jan. 26) I knew the workday would start with a meeting of the publisher and all of his department heads -- me (the managing editor), the ad director, the controller, the classified ad manager, the pre-press supervisor (where the ads are created) and the circulation director (the department in charge of making sure the paper is thrown under your porch). I also knew that one of the execs from corporate HQ in Pennsylvania would be there, and there was no way of knowing what that meant.
But when I saw Mike O'Sullivan was also in the building, I knew this would be no ordinary meeting.
Sure enough, the corporate exec announced that our publisher, Frank McGivern, would be returning to his previous position as publisher of the Troy Record, and O'Sullivan would be leaving his job as publisher of the Record to return to his previous position as publisher in Saratoga.
In other words, in May 2007 the company swapped the Troy and Saratoga publishers, and today they swapped 'em back.
Don't try to figure it out. Suffice to say that each with be back running the papers in the towns in which they live. I think that's a good thing for the newspapers. For Mike, it's something of a homecoming, because he and his family wasted no time putting down roots in Wilton and Saratoga Springs.
Both publishers have their work cut out for them, given the economy, the national downtown in advertising, the reduction of newspaper readers and the huge debt hanging over the heads of newspaper companies, including this one. None of this is classified information.
The good news is that, as both publishers know, the small but dedicated and plucky staffs at both newspapers will continue to work hard to serve their communities. We're self-motivated in that way. We love the business and take pride in our work.