Howard Wood, supervised BJ press installation

Howard David Wood passed away June 16, 2012 at the age of 91½, having been a resident at Rockynol Assisted Living Community for 5½ years.

He was born in 1921 and lived in Goodyear Heights until his family moved to Texas and then to Arizona because his father was a Goodyear test driver. He returned to Ohio and graduated from Green H.S. in 1940 and resided in Copley from 1953-2006.

Howard worked for The Diebold Co. as an inspector of half track armor plate until he entered the Navy in 1942. He was trained as an electrician and served aboard the USS Montpelier (CL-57) light cruiser for three years in the Pacific.

He apprenticed as an electrician and worked for Loomis Electric for 36 years and was a lifelong member of Local 306. Howard was the foreman who supervised the installation of the new HOE printing presses, at the Akron Beacon Journal, in 1953. He was assigned, by Loomis, to be the production equipment electrician at the Beacon, 1963, and retired in 1983.

His interests were gardening, building, repairing, remodeling his home, and entertaining his seven grandchildren.

Howard was preceded in death by wife, Pauline F. Upchurch in 2005 (whom he married in 1947); his brothers, Faye and Fredrick; sister, Betty Kemph; and son-in-law, Christian Wilmoth. Survivors are son, Thomas Wood (Linda), and daughters, Linda Beckwith, Barbara Wilmoth'; grandfather to Todd Wood (Andrea), Lauren Wood Franklin (Gerald), Christopher, Charles, Curtis Beckwith, Mathew Wilmoth (Tabitha), Kay Wilmoth Nemes (Florin), and four great-grandchildren.

Private interment has taken place at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery, Rittman. Please visit the Guest Book to share a memory or to send a condolence.

Bash at O'Connor estate

Bill O’Connor threw a birthday party for his wife at their Bath Township estate and more than a dozen BJ types showed up, along with a ton of his wife’s friends.

BJ folks, current and past, best I can remember, who attended were:

Bob & Becky Dyer, Dave & Beth Hertz, Jim Carney & Katie Byard, Nancy Peacock, Jane Snow, John Olesky & Paula Tucker, Steve Huffman and, of course, Bill O’Connor.

Sorry, no photos.

Who owns the news media?

Warren Buffet’s purchase of 63 newspapers from Media General Company and news Corp’s consideration of splitting the company in two, culminate a period of intense change in U.S. newspaper ownership, with new companies—including hedge funds and private equity firms—taking over.

In 2011, a total of 71 daily newspapers were sold as part of 11 different transactions, the busiest year for sales since 2007, according to the investment banking firm of Dirks, Van Essen & Murray.

The 2012 Who Owns the News Media database, compiled by Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, details these and other news industry ownership changes in 2011 and the first half of 2012. In addition, PEJ provides a summary of major changes.

The newspapers were not the only media sector to undergo major changes. The last 18 months also saw local television sales reach new heights, the merging of Newsweek and the Daily Beast, Comcast’s acquisition of NBC Universal, the Huffington Posts’ movement into web TV and further reach among U.S. broadcast companies into the Hispanic market. 

The 2012 interactive database contains financial statistics on 123 different companies that own U.S. news media outlets, their other investment properties and how they rank compared to other companies that own properties in that sector. The database offers figures on more than 4,000 radio and TV stations, newspapers and news websites.

BJ photographers' picnic at Ott Gangl's home

Beacon Journal photogaphers met for a picnic Sinday at the home of Ott  and Ann Gangl.

In the front row (from left) are Lew Stamp, Bill Hunter, Denny Gordon, Tom Marvin, Sue Kirkman Zake and Phil Masturzo.  

In the second row (seated) are Ron Kuner, Kay Marvin, wife of Tom, Ott Gangl and Bruce Zake, husband of Sue.

Standing are Bonnie Gordon, Denny's wife, Ann Gangl, Ott's wife, Bill Samaras and Paul Tople.

 

Cleveland Press Club awards listed

Former BJ staffer Stuart Warner was among those receiving Cleveland Press Club awards. He won awards for best freelance writer and best essay writing. 
Best In Ohio: Column Writing
First - Bob Dyer, Akron Beacon Journal
Second - John Gladden, Medina County Gazette

Best in Ohio: Headline Writing
First - Andrew Sterling, Columbus Dispatch
Second - Kevin Aprile, The Chronicle Telegram

Best In Ohio: Reviews/Criticism
First - Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer
Second - Chris DeVille, Columbus Alive

Best In Ohio: Essay Writing
First - Stuart Warner, The Write Coach
Second - George Bilgere, Cleveland Magazine

Best In Ohio: Editorials
First - Michael Douglas, Akron Beacon Journal
Second - Andy Young, The Chronicle-Telegram

Best in Ohio: Photographer
First - Will Shilling, Capital Style
Second - Chris Parker, Chris Parker portfolio, This Week Newspapers

Best in Ohio: Freelance Writer
First - Stuart Warner, The Write Coach
Second - Jennifer Keirn

Best in Ohio: Staff Reporter
First - Jim Siegel, The Columbus Dispatch
Second - Phil Trexler, Akron Beacon Journal

Best in Ohio: Cartooning
First - Jim Larrick, This Week Newspapers
Second - Joe Hoffecker, Cincinnati Business Courier

Best in Ohio: Illustration - All Publications
First - Ted Crow, The Plain Dealer
Second - Michaela Schuett, Columbus Alive

Best in Ohio: Infographics
First - William Neff, The Plain Dealer

Best Magazine in Ohio
First - Staff, Cincinnati Magazine
Second - Staff, Columbus Parent

Best Website in Ohio
First - Colleen Seitz, Mike Waterhouse, Jen Steer, Tina Kaufmann, newsnet5.com, WEWS-TV 5
Second - Staff, News-Herald.com, The News-Herald

Best Trade Publication in Ohio
First - Chuck Bowen, Brian Horn, Carolyn LaWell, GIE Media, Lawn & Landscape
Second - Staff, The College Store Magazine

Best Business Publication in Ohio
First - Staff, Cincinnati Business Courier
Second - Staff, Crain’s Cleveland Business

Best Television Newscast in Ohio in a Major Market: (Cleveland, Columbus or Cincinnati)
First - Kathy Chambers, Primetime Ohio, Ohio News Network

Best Radio Newscast in Ohio in a Major Market: (Cleveland, Columbus or Cincinnati)
First - WKSU Morning Edition, Amanda Rabinowitz, Jeff St. Clair, WKSU

Best Non-Daily Newspaper in Ohio: Community Newspaper
First - Lin Rice, Jeff Donahue, Amy Lyle, ThisWeek Marysville, This Week Newspapers
Second - Staff, Cleveland Jewish News

Best Non-Daily Newspaper in Ohio: Alternatives
First - Staff, The Other Paper
Second - Staff, Columbus Alive

Best Daily Newspaper in Ohio: 100,000 or less circulation
First - Staff, The News-Herald
Second - Staff, The Morning Journal

Best Daily Newspaper in Ohio: Over 100,000 circulation
First - Staff, The Plain Dealer
Second - Staff, The Columbus Dispatch

ABOUT THE PRESS CLUB OF CLEVELAND
Celebrating the 125th anniversary of its founding, The Press Club of Cleveland is an organization for journalists, communications professionals, aspiring communications professionals and anyone who works with them. It is the premier organization on which media and communications professionals rely for information, education, inspiration and celebration. The Club serves it members by providing social and educational opportunities, promoting excellence in journalism, and honoring and maintaining the rich history of journalism in Greater Cleveland. Visit us on the web at: www.pressclubcleveland.com.

BJ wins top Cleveland Press Club awards

The Beacon Journal won several first-place and best-in-the-state awards in the Cleveland Press Club’s annual journalism competition.

The newspaper won four first-place awards for its coverage of the fatal shootings in Copley Township last August.

Reporters Jim Carney, Kathy Antoniotti and Betty Lin-Fisher won first place for first-day breaking-news coverage, Carnage in Copley. For the same event, the staff won three other first-place awards: one for breaking news, consecutive days on the same topic, the second for breaking news, ongoing coverage on a continuing story, and the third for single-day package.

Columnist Bob Dyer was named best columnist in the state. It is the fifth year in a row that Dyer has won best in the state in an Ohio competition. 

Editorial page editor Michael Douglas was named best in Ohio for his signed editorials. 

Photographer Ed Suba Jr. swept the category of daily newspaper sports action photography with a first for Basketball dance and second for Collision.

Phil Masturzo won first place for studio photography for his food illustration, Balanced Diet.

Features writers Lisa Abraham and Mary Beth Beckenridge swept the features column writing categories. Abraham placed first for her food column, Readers Busting My Chops, and Breckenridge, second for her humorous experience studying insects, Columnist Goes Buggy. Breckenridge also won second place for technology writing for her column detailing the transition from incandescent to fluorescent bulbs.

Copy editor Elissa Murray won first for headline writing with Wrap up holidays by trimming trash.

See full story

All about aging of a retired news editor

Contributed by By TOM MOORE from a friend:

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, and my loving family for less grey hair or a flatter belly.  As I've aged, I've becomekinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my  patio.  I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with ageing.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the   computer until 4  a.m. and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60's    70's, and if I, at the same time,   wish to weep over a lost love   .. ... I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.  They, too, will get old.


I  know I am sometimes forgetful.   But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken.  How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car?   But broken  hearts are  what give us strength and understanding and  compassion.   A heart  never broken
is pristine and sterile and  will  never know the joy of  being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning grey, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face.

So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.
 

As  you get older, it is easier to be positive.  You care less about what other people think.  I don't question myself  anymore..   I've even earned the right to be wrong.

  So,  to  answer your question, I like being old.  It has set me free.   I like the person I have become..  I am not going to live forever,  but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what  could  have been,  or worrying about what will be.  And I shall  eat dessert every single day  (if I feel like it).

MAY  OUR FRIENDSHIP NEVER COME APART, 

ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S  STRAIGHT  FROM THE  HEART!

In memory of John S. Knight

John S. Knight died 31 years ago on June 16, 1981

600 layoffs in a single day--not a record

By Jeff Sonderman
Does Tuesday’s massive layoff of 600 in a single day at four Advance Publications newspapers in New Orleans and Alabama earn a place in newspaper-layoff history?

Sadly, no.

News organizations have announced other job reductions of even larger or similar size in recent years. Here’s a reminder of some of the biggest:

    Feb. 9, 2012: Gannett offers buyouts for up to 665 newspaper workers.
    Nov. 21, 2011: Booth Newspapers announced 543 layoffs (though they were eligible to re-apply for about 200 new jobs with MLive Media Group).
    June 21, 2011: Gannett lays off about 700 workers from its newspapers division.
    Feb. 23, 2010: ABC News lays off 300 to 400.
    Oct. 30, 2009: Time Inc. planned to cut about 540 jobs, after 600 the year before.
    March 9, 2009: McClatchy announces 1,600 coming layoffs, 15 percent of the workforce.
    Jan. 30, 2009: A.H. Belo announces 500 cuts at the Dallas Morning News, Providence Journal and Riverside Press-Enterprise, after 413 buyouts months earlier.
    Dec. 4, 2008: Gannett wraps up cuts totaling a reported 2,184 across many papers.
    Nov. 7, 2008: EW Scripps cuts 400 jobs.
    Aug. 14, 2008: Gannett memo announces 1,000 job cuts affecting 600 people.
    June 2008: In one bloody week, about 900 newspaper workers lost jobs.

Even these painful layoffs look puny in comparison to some of the all-time biggest corporate layoffs:

    IBM dropped 60,000 workers in July 1993, just six months after Sears/K-Mart had let go of 50,000.
    More recently, during or following the 2008 recession, there were cuts of 50,000 at Citigroup, 47,000 at GM, 30,000 at Bank of America and 24,600 at Hewlett-Packard.

[Source: Poynter]

Gene McClellan's daughter at BJ lunch

Tracy McClellan, daughter of the late printer Gene McClellan, joined retired printer Carl Nelson and newsroom retiree John Olesky at today’s monthly BJ Retirees lunch at Papa Joe’s Restaurant at Akron/Peninsula Road and Portage Trail.

Tracy is living in Gene’s Mogadore home while she settles the details of her dad’s estate. Husband Ken is patiently awaiting her return to their Albuquerque, New Mexico home, although Ken plans to fly to Akron in July for a reunion with Tracy.

Gene died March 19. 

Tracy is trying to dispose of Gene’s cars, truck and motorcycle and settle other estate matters. And there’s a lot of transferring of stuff to various family members.

Tracy met her husband, Ken, when she left Ohio for better job opportunities in California. That was more than a decade ago.

Tracy’s sister, Erin, also lives in California. Gene’s son, Dean, lives in Japan. 

Gene’s three children and two grandchildren were at the April lunch for BJ retirees at Papa Joe’s.

Gene and wife Christine divorced in the 1950s, but the family maintains contact with each other. Gene had a long-time companion who died in 2005. 

BJ retirees meet at 1 p.m. the second Wednesday of every month at Papa Joe’s on Akron/Peninsula Road at Portage Trail Extension. Anyone with a BJ connection, part or present, is welcome.

~ John Olesky

Orange County Register sold

The Orange County Register has been sold to 2100 Trust LLC. The newspaper had been owned by Freedom Communications, which announced the sale of its newspapers in Texas and in the Midwest last month and of its newspapers in North Carolina and in Florida on June 1. 

(Note: Former BJ staffer John Dunphy workede for OC Register before he was laid off in February. He was named editor of Southland Golf Magazine in May.)

Kushner’s getting the Register, plus Freedom’s remaining six dailies: The Gazette of Colorado Springs, Colo.; The Sun of Yuma, Ariz.; The Desert Dispatch of Barstow, Calif.; The Porterville (Calif.) Recorder; the Victorville, Calif., Daily Press; and the Marysville, Calif., Appeal-Democrat.

 

Kushner had previously attempted to buy The Boston Globe and MaineToday Media. Kushner’s negotiations with the Portland Newspaper Guild reportedly went so badly they helped scotch the entire deal.

Freedom announced the sale of its broadcast division late last year. In November 2010, Poynter’s Rick Edmonds tried to divine the company’s strategy as it emerged from bankruptcy: “Might the strategy be to sell some of the properties, keep others and reposition the company by investing the proceeds in digital ventures?”

[Source: Poynter]

See  Orange County Register articles

Janis Froelich's new book 'Team Shop'

Reinvention in a baseball stadium is the lively theme of "Team Shop," the latest non-fiction book by lifelong journalist
Janis D.Froelich. This is a dishy inside look at the Tampa Bay Rays 2011 baseball season. Shopping Under the Influence (SUI),
sexy stuff and other baseball shenanigans - it's all there. In her team store job, Froelich finds personal achievement plus a tangy, unexpected friendship as she navigates a new line of work. When she experiences a personal hurdle, she discovers powers in her new normal of working the home stands.

     "Team Shop" is priced at $9.95. For more information on "Team Shop," visit janisfroelich.com. Small Adventures Book Shop (727-347-8732) is located at 3107 Beach Blvd. S., Gulfport, FL 33707.  Check out gulfportflorida.us/gulfport-art-walk as well.

     Proceeds from"Team Shop" benefit the Morton Plant Mease Foundation, helping to provide 1,000 mammograms and clinical breast exams to uninsured and underinsured women in Pinellas County last year.
 
Janis D. Froelich

Tierra Verde, Florida
Cell (727)458-7177
 Fax (727) 323-0850
 janisfroelich.com

Newspaper circulation is up -- sort of

Newspaper circulation finally went up from a year ago, according to Audit Bureau of Circulations figures for the last six months.

It was only 7/10ths of 1 percent though and includes both print and digital. The New York Times has more digital than print readers. 

The smidgen increase is for daily circulation. Sunday circulation is up 5 percent at the 532 newspapers reporting.

Digital circulation accounts for 14.2 percent of newspapers’ total circulation mix, up from 8.66 percent in March 2011. It took a long time, but newspaper management finally realized that it had to join the digital news world to survive.

See Poynter article

Newspaper Guild seeks insurance info

The following is posted at the request of the Newspaper Guild. We have added  information in parentheses.  Addresses of those listed can be found in our USPS address list.

I wondered if you could help with us with contacting some families regarding their Fortis Life Insurance policies ($2,000).  Local 1 took over paying premiums sometime in the past.  I found a file of names and certificate numbers; but no contact information.  Recently it was discovered we are still paying premiums for deceased members as far back as 2007.  To further complicate matters, Assurant Insurance bought Fortis Insurance and changed the way things are handled.  Assurant told us no benefits were distributed for the following; however we cannot initiate claims, the families must.

Cleveland (Bookie) Phillips passed away August 5, 2009
Frank Pullo passed away December 7, 2007
Robert Thomas passed away March 11, 2008

Is it possible you could post something on your web-site to let people know to contact us?  They can call the Guild office at 216/661-6144 or e-mail tnglocal1@sbcglobal.net .  Ask for Rollie or Marge and we will tell them what they need to do.

Included is a list of retirees still holding policies; if you know of anyone else who passed away, we would appreciate if could you let us know.  Thank you.  Marge Valli

Harold Bailey
Richard Bailey
Carol Camp
Ardent Cullison
Ottmar Gangl
Harry Liggett
Richard McLinden
Thomas Moore
John Olesky
Raymond Redmond (April 3, 2008)
Daniel Roese
Theodore Walls
John C Whithead (Not on USPS list)
Graig Wilson   (Died April 3, 2007)


Rollie Dreussi
Executive Secretary
Northeast Ohio Newspaper Guild-CWA, Local 1
216-661-6144 or 1-800-621-6202

Klosterman named NY Times Magazine ethicist

Former BJ staffer Chuck Klosterman has been named ethicist of the New York Times Magazine.

Klosterman is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs; Eating the Dinosaur; and The Visible Man. His debut book, Fargo Rock City, was the winner of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award. He has written for GQ, Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Spin, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Believer, A.V. Club, and ESPN, and he now writes about sports and pop culture for Grantland.com.

Here is what Chuck has to say about his new gig: “This seems like the most interesting job possible. It examines actual problems and asks straightforward questions about how people should or should not live. It directly engages with the world of ideas, and it seems simultaneously objective and subjective. I realize some will argue that I am not qualified for this position, but it would be just as easy to argue that no one is qualified for this position. I only know that I want to do it.”

Buffet says community papers have good future

Warren Buffet in a letter published by the  Gwinnet (GA) Daily Post says Community nespapers have a good future.  Thanks to Dick McBane who noticed it in his newspaper and alerted us.

Read the letter

A note from Dick McBane

    All is well with us here in Lilburn, Ga., assuming that we disregard the usual aches and pains of growing older. My wife and I will be hosting our oldest son and his family this afternoon for the "holiday." To my mind, Memorial Day is still May 30, but I'm mostly stuck somewhere back in the 20th century anyway. It hardly seems possible that our oldest grandson will be off to college in the fall. Our local paper, The Gwinnett Daily Post, has now gone to five-day publication -- Wednesday through Sunday. It's a good paper that understands its strength has to be local coverage and it sticks to it. Of course, Gwinnett County is a big hunk of geography and has about a 700,000 population, including the largest public school district in Georgia, so the Post has plenty to cover.

Times-Picayune goes to 3 days a week

Times-Picayune publisher Ashton Phelps Jr. has confirmed that the newspaper will cease daily publication, moving to three days a week in the fall: Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. He also confirmed staff cuts, though he didn’t say how large they will be. The New York Times’ David Carr reported Wednesday night that the paper likely would cease daily publication and that the two managing editors would leave.

 

This would make New Orleans the largest U.S. city without a daily newspaper. The Times-Picayune, with a circulation of about 155,000 on Sundays and 134,000 weekdays, would be the largest paper in the U.S. to shift to non-daily publication. Its circulation in March 2005, before Hurricane Katrina flooded the city and shrank the city’s population: about 285,000 on Sundays and 257,000 weekdays.

In 2009 Advance Publications, which owns The Times-Picayune, shifted to twice-weekly printing for The Ann Arbor News and started to focus more on its website. It expanded that approach to other newspapers in Michigan last year.

“I think this is a big blow,” said Poynter business analyst Rick Edmonds. “Yes, it’s happened in a few places, but Saginaw and New Orleans are not the same thing. You’re talking about a major-league city.”

David Knox, John Higgins leaving BJ

Posted on the BJ newroom bulletin board:

It is with mixed emotions that I share the news that John Higgins will be leaving us in August.

The good news is that John is the recipient of a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT. The bad news is that John is, well, leaving us.

This fellowship is a high honor that only a few experience. John is interested in how the brain of a young child changes as he or she begins and goes through the process of learning. He will be able to explore this subject in detail during his fellowship at MIT.

John will be missed in our newsroom. His name has appeared 2,547 times in the Beacon Journal since he joined the old night rewrite desk on June 24, 1997. Through his Beacon career John has:

• Covered crime and courts.
• Written about Stark County.
• Had the pleasure of being the Akron City Hall reporter.
• Carefully told the tragic story of a University of Akron student who took his own life.
• Shared the uplifting story of a youth basketball program that helped build character.
• Gotten to know a lot about how school budgets work in the state of Ohio and Akron.
• Reported on the impact of charter schools on public education.

John and Mary Ann have family in Washington State. At the conclusion of his fellowship, John hopes to move back there.

David Knox - our baseball bat-wielding, motorcycle-riding, datatbase expert Census numbers guy - has announced that he will be leaving the Beacon Journal on June 15. David, who also has been known to share an opinion every now and then over his 20-year career at the Beacon Journal, will become the new editor of the Medina Gazette.

While I wish David luck in his new job, his presence in the newsroom will be missed. Numbers make sense to him and David helps us all make sense of the numbers. 

 David has been involved in a number of significant stories, including the current America Today project and our in-depth look at the middle class in 2008. He participated in the Question of Color series. He also handles the U.S. Census numbers and our online election data.

David has been our computer-assisted reporting man\ger since 1999. He also has been a reporter in the Medina and Stark bureaus, a bureau chief and a substitute metro editor. He was able to land a spot in the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism at Ohio State University (not a bad gig).