Where did the stampede of laid-off newspaper editors and reporters go? Look in the Patch. No, not Mrs. Wiggins' cabbage patch. The avalanche of local news web sites that has sprung up all over America, including the Beacon Journal's circulation area, under the national banner of Patch Inc.
AOL Inc. owns 837 Patch sites in more than 20 states and Washington, D.C.
I subscribe to Cuyahoga Falls Patch, since I lived there for 35 years before Paula and I sold our homes and bought a condo in Tallmadge. The editor is Dave Wilson, a victim of the 2006 Beacon massacre that trashed the careers of 40 editors and reporters. Ohio native Dave had been at the BJ for 18 years.
There the Ohio State graduate and former Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Sun News editor was, living in Cuyahoga Falls with a wife and two children and out on the streets, courtesy of Canadian David Black, who purchased the BJ from McClatchy, which bought it from Knight-Ridder and gave KRI CEO Tony Ridder $45 million as a going-away gift.
After the BJ, Dave, former deputy copy desk chief and deputy metro editor, and Cindy Robinson, a retail sales manager and local ad director from Mogadore, joined Ink Inc. in December 2009. It is a local high school sports web site focusing on Summit and Medina counties.
Dave also got involved with DelMio.com, an interactive publication for book fans.
Former Plain Dealer staffer Denise Ritter is listed as an editor for both the Cuyahoga Falls and Fairlawn-Bath Patch units. She also worked at the the San Jose Mercury News and the Miami Herald, once Knight-Ridder newspapers.
2005 Kent State graduate and North Canton resident Brandon Tidd is ad manager for Patch in Kent, Stow and North Canton and sells ads for the Cuyahoga Falls Patch.
Regional publisher Vince Ing, a Cuyahoga Falls resident who leads advertising sales initiatives for Patch.com, spent a decade as general sales manager at Clear Channel Radio in Akron/Canton.
Randy Oing has been a professional photographer for six years.
Kent State graduate Jenny Fickey, a Falls Patch contributor, also is a product of Cuyahoga Falls' Immaculate Heart of Mary and Woodridge Schools.
Contributor Maggi Martin, a lifelong Lake County resident, has been a reporter for two decades. Her work has appeared in the Plain Dealer.
Contributor/editor Alana Baranick wrote news obituaries for the PD from 1992-2008.
Contributor Sarah Hollander joined the PD staff in 2000.
Peter Chakerian's bylines have appeared in the BJ and PD.
Former BJ staffer Kymberli Hagelberg, editor of the Fairlawn-Bath Patch, has 16 years of reporting experience and her work has appeared on National Public Radio.
Kymberli's staff includes former BJ editorial board member Sarah Vradenburg, who has been a journalist in Northeast Ohio for more than 30 years. Her history of Metro Parks Serving Summit County book is due out any day for the park's 90th anniversary.
Most of the people I've mentioned are listed on both the Cuyahoga Falls and Fairlawn-Bath Patch staffs.
I often see news articles in the Cuyahoga Falls Patch before the information appears in the BJ, sometimes by as much as two days. Traditional newspapers, after macheting staffs ingloriously, just don't have enough people to cover the everyday events of every town in their circulation area.
That's where the Patch staffs come in, with both stories, photos and videos. Patch found a niche and prospered from it.
AOL Inc. is making so much money that it bought Huffington Post for $315 million. That's about double what Black Press paid for the BJ.
Click on the headline for read more about the Cuyahoga Falls Patch staff.
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