A tale of two publishers

John McMillion, the Beacon Journal publisher who switched the newspaper from afternooon to morning delivery, resigned at the age of 59 and was replaced by Chris Harte. Harte, now a consultant for Avista Capital Partners, a private equity firm which purchased the Minneapolis Star Tribune, is chairman of the Star Tribune. Publisher of that newspaper is Par Ridder, son of Tony Ridder.

Stories on the two publishers were published in the December 1989 issue of Sidebar with information from stories originally written by Bob Fernandez and Anread Louie. Here are the stories:

McMillion announces retirement
John McMillion. the Beacon Journal publisher who switched Akron's only daily newspaper from afternoon to morning delivery and presided over its winning a Pulitzer Prize, has announced that he will retire Jan. l.

McMillion, who has been publisher since April 1986, used accrued vacation time and has left the area. He is building a house in Albuquerque, N.M. where he will live with his wife, Melanie and stepdaughter. At 59, McMillion said he has accomplished his major goals in Akron. Those were to stop the "erosion in operating profit" at the Beacon Journal and to make a successful transition to morning publication.

Both moves were not without controversy. The morning delivery outraged some readers, and McMillion tried to trim operating costs through hard negotiating with the Beacon Journal's eight unions. "We knew that if we were going to grow long-term, we had to be a morning newspaper," McMillion said.

Harte named new publisher
Christopher Harte, 41, was named publisher of the Akron Beacon Journal.

A Texas native, Harte is a graduate of Stanford University, and received his master's degree in business administration from the University of Texas.

He comes from a Texas newspaper family, which heads Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc. of San Antonio.

He worked as a reporter for the Associated Press; management consultant for McKinsey and Co., and as research and promotion director and retail sales manager for the Austin (Texas) AmericanStatesman.

In 1979, he built a group of rural weekly newspapers in Texas and helped start two regional magazines and other communication companies.

Harte joined Knight-Ridder at the Miami Herald in 1983, where he worked in the circulation, production and newsroom departments. He also served as Publisher Dick Capen's assistant.

He continued his career in Miami by serving for a year at corporate headquarters, working for the late Bill Ott and current Knight-Ridder President Tony Ridder.

In 1986 he became president and publisher of the State College Centre Daily Times, also a Knight-Ridder paper, a position he held until this appointment.

He and his wife, Kay have a 21-month-old son, William.