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Remember ANF on Giving Tuesday, at year-end Guest Column: New tools elicit warning: Latest versions of Photoshop include use of artificial intelligence By Kevin Slimp
Arkansas Press Association
Publisher Weekly Vol.18 | No. 44 | Thursday, November 16, 2023 | Serving Press and State Since 1873
Risinger, Clay County Times-Democrat, still going strong to office manager in 2005.
What is the heart of a small-town weekly newspaper?
She incorporated page design to her repertoire in 2006 and added bookkeeping/payroll and the title of general manager in 2012 upon the retirement of co-publisher Nancy Kemp.
Those with knowledge of the industry will attest it is a staff member who, over a long period of time, masters all the related skills and “gets the paper out” 52 times year after year no matter the circumstance.
In short, she has done it all. “Overall, I guess I probably enjoy pagination more than anything else, but I also have always liked doing bookkeeping work, as well,” Risinger said.
If that is a valid definition, then Dianna Risinger has been the heart of weekly newspapering in Eastern Clay County for more than three decades.
Ron Kemp and wife Nancy were copublishers of the Rector and Piggott newspapers when Risinger first began her career. The publications were sold to Rust Communications in 1997, with the Kemps continuing as co-publishers.
It was Aug. 29, 1989, when she reported to work as a part-time delivery person at the Clay County Democrat in her hometown of Rector. She quickly established herself as an employee who was ready and willing to take on any task needed to help the staff produce a solid weekly publication.
The two newspapers were merged in 2011 into the current Clay County Times-Democrat, serving Eastern Clay County from its office location in Piggott. The TimesDemocrat was acquired in 2022 by CherryRoad Media, which also owns other Arkansas properties in Corning, Pocahontas, Salem and Marshall.
Dianna Risinger
“Every time someone needed help with something, I was willing to do it,” she said. “And I have pretty much done it all now over the years. By learning everything, I began to work my way up.”
“Without a doubt the most memorable event in my newspaper career was the ice storm of 2009,” Risinger said.
Within a year she was manning the front office at the newspaper and began handling advertising when the main salesperson quit. She enjoyed working with local businesses but admits traveling to some nearby communities for sales was not her all-time favorite assignment.
The January storm hit Clay County with a vengeance and knocked out electricity and other infrastructure throughout Rector and Piggott and the surrounding area.
Risinger expanded her duties into circulation and billing and eventually moved her working location in 1998 to the office of the Piggott Times, a sister publication in the town where she now lives. Continuing to grow in her skills and experience, she was promoted
The disaster occurred on a Tuesday, which was production day, and staffers worked in Rector City Hall and the Clay County Courthouse in Piggott to meet the weekly deadline. Both buildings had the See Risinger Page 3
Arkansas Publisher Weekly
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November 16, 2023