Arkansas Publisher Weekly: July 6, 2023

By John Foust

The Graphic’s Williams to receive Golden 50 Service Award

Wanda Williams is the ideal community newspaper employee – one who essentially knows how to accomplish every task and, furthermore, is always willing to meet the challenge.

She has been doing just that at the Johnson County Graphic in Clarksville since 1960.

That remarkable career of more than six decades of newspaper service has earned her the Golden 50 Service Award, to be presented July 21 during the Honors Banquet at the Arkansas Press Association convention in Little Rock.

In looking back over her incredibly long career, Williams cited a four-year period

that was filled with important events. She graduated from nearby Lamar High School in 1959, was married in 1960 and started to work at The Graphic a year later. Two years after that her daughter was born. Now here is where it really gets interesting – her daughter, Sharla Norris, began work at The Graphic at age 15 while in high school (after classes) and has continued there ever since. She now has completed 45 years at the newspaper and will soon be eligible for the same award. Both have spent their entire working careers at The Graphic

“My daughter grew up here at the newspaper,” Williams said. “And I guess you

Register for the 2023 APA Convention; vibrant program planned

The 2023 APA Convention, planned for July 20-22 in Little Rock, will provide plenty of opportunities to visit and network with colleagues and friends from news organizations from across the state. Visit https://www.arkansaspress.org/ convention/ for registration information. An editable PDF registration form can also be found on page 4 of this week’s Arkansas Publisher Weekly

The convention kicks off with a Thursday evening cocktail hour open house at the APA Headquarters followed by dinner at Cotham’s in the City, featuring live music by the duo Brooke & Mike.

Friday programming will start with a breakfast social, followed by the annual

trade show, three educational sessions, a luncheon keynote speech by Winthrop Rockefeller Institute Executive Director/ CEO Janet Harris and an afternoon panel discussion on maximizing operational efficiencies.

Friday evening brings the Honors Banquet along with the Past Presidents’ Gavel Passing, the installation of Eliza Hussman Gaines as APA President and the presentation of the Journalism Educator of the Year Award and the Golden 50 Service Awards. The Honorees’ Reception, featuring Arkansas Symphony Orchestra harpist Alisa Coffey, will precede the banquet.

Saturday morning starts with the APA

Member Business Meeting and Breakfast, followed by panel discussions on breaking stories using FOIA and investigative reporting. The Better Newspaper Editorial Awards Luncheon will close the convention Saturday afternoon.

The DoubleTree by Hilton Little Rock is this year’s host hotel. Room reservations can be made at www.hilton.com/en/hotels/ litmbdt-doubletree-little-rock

Wanda Williams

Williams

Continued from page 1

could just say she’s got ink in her blood, too.”

When Sharla was born, her mother took five years off from fulltime work. But she continued helping the staff with work from home, and occasionally found a babysitter if needed for in-office duty.

Williams then returned full-time when her daughter started kindergarten.

Those earlier days in weekly newspapering were quite different from the present. The Graphic, like many other newspapers, was produced with the linotype-hot metal system. Williams’ principal early task was typing information to be set on the linotype. Although Williams admits some aspects of the current electronic production system are “a little difficult for me to grasp at times,” she always has enjoyed the relative ease compared to the old hot type days.

She credits IT coordinator Gerald Sanders for helping her through any technical issues. “He always explains it very patiently,” Williams said. “You had to have been there in the old days to appreciate what we have now.”

Dick Mayo was the owner of The Graphic when Williams began, but it soon was sold to Mary Clarke. Next up in ownership was Kerm Powers, before Williams began her long association with the Fisher and Wylie families.

Bob Fisher and wife Christine and Ron Wylie and wife Margaret (Christine’s sister) began publishing The Graphic in 1971, and Williams has been with the family operation for 52 years. The tradition now continues following the recent retirement of Wylie and the assumption of management by his daughter-in-law, managing editor Megan Wylie.

The Fisher-Wylie team instituted electronic production shortly after purchasing the newspaper.

“Bob Fisher was one of the best editors I ever worked for,” Williams said. “He would give you an assignment and then leave you alone. If there were any changes or improvements to be made, he had a very diplomatic way about him.”

Williams said the great working relationship continued later with Wylie as editor and publisher. “He was just so good to work for. We all worked together so long and so well that it was just like a family. I have always been treated fairly, and I just couldn’t ask for better people to work for.”

Williams needed to care for her husband Carl, a Clarksville accountant, when he had health problems before passing away in 2011. “Ron was so understanding about taking care of family matters, and it is still that way under Megan. We take off if we have to, but we all know we have to do what is necessary to get the paper out each week.”

Several years after purchasing The Graphic, the Fisher-Wylie team acquired the competing Herald-Democrat and merged the two. Williams was an integral part of that competition for several years and remembers it with relish.

“I actually enjoyed it,” she said. “I’m a very competitive person. I always loved it when we got a big ad, and they didn’t. But sometimes the shoe was on the other foot.”

The Graphic eventually reached a circulation of about 9,000 and published 24 pages or more each week. “I believe at one time we were the second-largest weekly in Arkansas,” Williams said.

While those numbers understandably have declined in recent

See Williams Page 5

Williams setting type on the then-new VDT in 1988

Arkansas Press Association Convention

DoubleTree Hotel | July 20 – 22, 2023

THURSDAY, JULY 20

Noon Arkansas Press Association Board of Directors Luncheon & Meeting

5 pm Cocktail Hour & Hors D’oeuvres at the Arkansas Press Association Headquarters

7 pm – 10 pm Dinner at Cotham’s in the City & Live Music with Brooke & Mike

FRIDAY, JULY 21

8:30 am Breakfast Social with Omelet Station

Trade Show & Arkansas Newspaper Foundation Silent Auction Open

9:30 am Session: The Trailblazer’s Guide to Digital Subscriptions: Mapping a Path to Success

Presenter: Bridget Sibthorp-Moecker, BLOX Digital

10:30 am Mimosa Break in the Trade Show

10:45 am Session: Improving Healthcare in Arkansas Through Media & Medicine

Presenters: Preston Tolliver & Katie Leath, UAMS

11:45 am Break in the Trade Show

Noon Luncheon

Keynote Speaker: Janet Harris, Executive Director/CEO of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute

2 pm Session: Photojournalism via Smartphone

3:30 pm

Presenter: Mark Humphrey, Associated Press

Panel Discussion: Maximizing Operational Efficiencies

Moderated by: Lori Freeze

Panelist: Tom White, Rusty Fraser, Jim Holland, Rhonda Overbey

4:30 pm Cookie Break in the Trade Show

5 pm Trade Show Closes

6 pm Honorees’ Reception

Featuring Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Harpist Alisa Coffey

7 pm Arkansas Press Association Honors Banquet

• Past Presidents’ Gavel Passing

• Installation of Eliza Hussman Gaines as President

• Presentation of Journalism Educator of the Year Award

• Presentation of Golden 50 Service Awards

SATURDAY, JULY 22

8 am Registration Opens

APA Past Presidents’ Breakfast (Invitation Only)

8:30 am APA Member Business Meeting & Breakfast

9 am

Panel Discussion: Breaking Stories Using FOIA

Moderated by: Sonny Albarado

Panelists: Tamara Johnson, Ellen Kreth, Andrew Bagley, Chris Fulton

10:15 am Break

10:30 am

Panel Discussion: Investigative Reporting

Moderated by: Sonny Albarado

Panelists: Hunter Field, Tony Holt, Rick Kron

Noon Arkansas Press Association Better Newspaper Editorial Awards Luncheon

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Little Rock Room block open for reservations

2023 APA Convention Registration Form

Deadline to register is July 17th

Newspaper/Company or Individual Name

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Ticket Options:

Full Convention, $225: Includes Thursday evening reception and dinner, Friday sessions, breaks, lunch, Honorees’ reception and dinner and Saturday sessions, breaks, and APA Better Newspaper Editorial Awards Luncheon

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Saturday Only, $50: Includes Saturday sessions, breaks and APA Better Newspaper Editorial Awards Luncheon

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Williams

Continued from page 2

years, Williams remains the optimist.

“So many of our advertisers have stayed with us, even during the COVID-19 period,” she said. “We feel blessed because I know some other weekly newspapers are no longer in business.”

Williams’ job title is sales promotion and accounts receivable manager, therefore she oversees the financial lifeblood of any newspaper – sales and collections.

“As you can see, I love to talk,” Williams said with a laugh. And she uses that trait in a positive manner to make sure The Graphic continues drawing advertisers.

“We are seeing an upward trend,” she said.

An example is her campaign to reinvigorate the newspaper’s business directory. After it declined to about three businesses, she kicked it back up to 16 with a 13-week sales promotion.

Now that the time period has ended, she has called each business to suggest continuing indefinitely. “I didn’t have one person turn me down,” she said.

Williams also enthusiastically cited a 26-week ad she recently sold for $205 a week. Additionally, she handles telemarketing of promotions such as county fair sponsorships, Christmas greetings and football pages.

“I feel really good about our advertising,” she said. “I have a great working relationship with all the old-time customers.”

As for new customers, she calls on them personally by delivering a newspaper and presenting ad rates. “I go back in a week to see if they would be interested. Nine times out of 10 I get an ad out of them, when all is said and done.”

Williams credits Sanders for a lot of her success. “He designs the ads, and he makes me look good. He does a great job with spec ads, which really helps.”

Of course, collecting accounts is critical and Williams seems to have a knack for that, as well. It’s not an area many employees are comfortable handling, but she is committed to being polite, yet firm. She cited several examples recently in which other members of the staff were amazed at her ability to collect very difficult accounts.

To round out the full responsibility package, she also answers the phone and waits on the counter – and handles items such as obituaries and legals, as well as some emailed submissions.

Williams basically outlined the role of the vital community newspaper employee and one that has been hers for the last 62 years (although she insists the five years working from home should not count in her total) – “if everybody is busy, and you’re not, you do it.”

Williams is a member of a five-person staff. Others are Sanders, her daughter Sharla Norris, Janice Penix and Megan Wylie.

Norris is the copy editor, keeps all circulation records and directs the mailroom operation. Penix handles most of the news coverage, including school and municipal meetings. Wylie, of course, manages the entire operation and has been focusing lately on increasing digital advertising, as well as learning pagination.

Williams is very family-focused and is proud of her grandson, Trey Norris, who graduated from Arkansas Tech and is employed by Hewlett-Packard in Conway. She appreciates the help of her sonin-law, Eden Norris, who provides lots of help on items around her home. “He is like the son we never had,” she said.

To round out the full family story at The Graphic, Williams mentioned that her father, the late Owen Stumbaugh, worked at the newspaper part-time after he retired. He delivered pages to be processed and printed and then returned the newspapers to Clarksville, while also helping with custodial and other jobs around the office.

After more than six decades on the job, the obvious question is –when does Williams plan to retire?

Naturally, she was ready for that question. “I guess I’ll be here as long as the good Lord gives me the strength to do my job and as long as Megan will keep me,” she said with a laugh. “Seriously, she has told me that I have a job as long as I am healthy and want to work.” And why not? As noted, she handles advertising and collections.

“It’s just been a very pleasant experience for me,” Williams said. “I wouldn’t trade my career for anything. I would do it all over again. I guess you could just say it’s in my blood too – printers ink is there.”

While observers note all the problems associated with publishing community newspapers today, there is no doom and gloom for Wanda Williams. She is just as positive and focused as when she was a young high school graduate all the way back in 1960. The challenge is to keep up with her pace.

Williams with her husband Carl

Stewart promoted at Paxton

Paxton Media Group has selected Log Cabin Democrat Editor Jeanette Stewart to lead the Conway newspaper following the retirement of Publisher Mark Elliott on June 28.

Paxton announced on July 5 that Stewart will remain in her position as editor of the Van Buren County Democrat in Clinton as she takes on an extended leadership role as managing editor in Conway.

Stewart started at the Log Cabin Democrat as a general assignment reporter in 2015. Since then, she has received multiple promotions.

She is a 2013 graduate of the University of Central Arkansas, and previously worked at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and The Courier in Russellville. Stewart credits the UCA journalism program and mentor Dr. David Keith, a former Log Cabin Democrat managing editor, with preparing her for the real-world, community journalism she practices every day.

“My education at UCA prepared me well to serve this community,” Stewart said.

In the announcement of the promotion, Stewart described working at the Log Cabin Democrat as her “dream job,” adding that “this newspaper is a vital part of this community.”

“The Log Cabin Democrat has been delivering local news to Faulkner County for 144 years,” Stewart said. “I do not take this responsibility lightly, and I am honored by the company’s faith in me to be the face of the newspaper.”

Moll

named managing

editor over six northwest Arkansas weeklies, Horne to become editor at Herald-Leader

Randy Moll, managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer in Gravette, has been promoted to managing editor of six of NWA Media’s weekly publications. These properties include The Weekly Vista in Bella Vista, the Pea Ridge Times, the Siloam Springs Herald-Leader, the Washington County Enterprise-Leader and the McDonald County Press in southwestern Missouri, in addition to the Eagle Observer

Moll has been serving as managing editor of the Eagle Observer for 17 years. In his new duties he will assist the other newspapers’ editors and staff and be a liaison with the daily Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and the River Valley Democrat-Gazette.

Bennett Horne, currently the managing editor of the Weekly Vista, will take over as the editor of the Siloam Springs HeraldLeader. Horne, previously a staff reporter for the Los Alamos Monitor in New Mexico and editor of the Press Argus-Courier in Van Buren, will focus on sports coverage for the Siloam Springs Panthers and the John Brown University Golden Eagles.

Lisa Thompson, managing editor of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, praised the strengths of both journalists.

“The weekly newspapers published by NWA Media are the backbone of our commitment to communitybased journalism,” she said. “Randy is the right person to take on this leadership role as we continue to meet our pledge to be the number one source of news and information throughout the region. Additionally, I know Bennett will bring to Siloam Springs the same dedication and hard work as he exhibited in Bella Vista. Bennett became part of the Bella Vista community, and I know he will bring that enthusiasm to Siloam Springs.”

Jeanette Stewart

Randy Moll

Bennett Horne

Snelson new reporter at The Courier in Russellville

Author, journalist Robinson to hold book reading and pie tasting this Sunday

Arkansas author, journalist and food historian Kat Robinson will be holding a signing of her newest book, “The Great Arkansas Pie Book: Recipes for The Natural State’s Famous Dish From Our Favorite Restaurants, Bakeries and Home Cook” along with a pie tasting at WordsWorth Books in Little Rock on Sunday, July 9, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.

“Classic Eateries of the Ozarks and River Valley” and compiled the cookbooks

“Arkansas Cookery: Retro Recipes from The Natural State” and “A Bite of Arkansas: A Cookbook of Natural State Delights”. The new book is Robinson’s 12th.

Olivia Snelson, a 2023 graduate of the University of Central Arkansas, was hired in June as a general assignment reporter for The Courier in Russellville.

While an undergraduate Snelson served as a staff writer for The Echo, UCA’s student newspaper, and also served as a newsroom intern at the Log Cabin Democrat in Conway.

“I’ve known most of my life that I want to be a journalist, and I’ve been fortunate enough to take advantage of opportunities that helped me get to where I am today,” said Snelson in an introductory column in the newspaper. “The journalism classes I took in high school established my love for the field, and the experiences I had in college only fueled my desire to be a reporter.”

The El Dorado native is eager to take on the job and get to know her new home.

“Providing the Russellville community with the most relevant and factual local news is my main goal,” she said. “I’m eager to begin covering local government, among other things, for the city of Russellville and really see what this community has to offer.”

Robinson is the host of the Emmy-nominated documentary “Make Room For Pie: A Delicious Slice of The Natural State” and a committee member for the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame. The author of “101 Things To Eat in Arkansas Before You Die”, “102 More Things to Eat in Arkansas Before You Die” and “Arkansas Food: The A to Z of Eating in The Natural State”, Robinson has also written the travel guides “Arkansas Dairy Bars: Neat Eats and Cool Treats”

Robinson is the former writer of the Arkansas Times “Eat Arkansas” blog and a frequent contributor to the “River Valley Eats” column in the Arkansas DemocratGazette. Her work has also appeared in regional and national publications including Food Network, Forbes Travel Guide, Serious Eats and AAA Magazines, among others, and her expertise in food research and Arkansas restaurants has been cited by Saveur, Eater, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and the Southern Foodways Alliance’s “Gravy” podcast.

RSVP to info@wordsworthbookstore.com

Olivia Snelson

Kat Robinson

My wife and I once visited with Rick and Karen, a couple who had served as missionaries overseas. As part of their work to get involved in the community, Rick was assigned to teach a class at a local school. “For some reason,” he said, “they wanted me to teach advertising. I had absolutely no experience in advertising, but they requested that subject, because they wanted their students to learn something about business.”

How in the world did he deal with such a big challenge? “I figured the best way to handle it was to make the class as interactive as possible, so we could learn together,” he explained. “On the first day, I pinned ads from newspapers and magazines to the wall. Then I asked the students to identify what each ad was selling. To put it mildly, it was a lively discussion. All of their other classes had been lectures, and they weren’t accustomed to contributing their ideas in the classroom. They really dove into it, walking around the room, studying the ads. It was interesting to hear their perspectives – and to watch them bounce ideas off each other. From the beginning, the students were attracted to the ads that

Guest Column: Ad-Libs: What are they selling?

By John Foust

clearly indicated what they were selling. Along the way, it was surprising to see how many ads were so unclear that none of us could figure out exactly what those particular ads were all about.

“The conversation progressed from ‘What are these ads selling?’ to ‘What makes some ads better than others?’ That’s when the fun started. They talked about nice-looking photographs and drawings, good headlines, and what types of people would likely buy the things various ads were selling. Their reaction was so positive that – in the next few class meetings –we went into detail on the things they mentioned.”

Rick said the class was a “wow” experience, and it’s easy to see why. He discovered an excellent way to teach the basics of advertising – and the students learned a lot about how businesses promote themselves. “Together, we learned that advertising is not some distant intellectual topic,” he said. “It’s ground-level communication.”

The point for us to consider is simple: Are our readers really that much different from the students in that overseas classroom?

Aren’t readers also drawn to well-written copy, and compelling photos and illustrations? Of course, they are.

One of the first questions to ask an advertiser is, “What do you want to sell?” If he or she does not provide specific information, the resulting ad or series of ads will not perform well on Rick’s classroom wall or in the paper. Maybe they have so many products and possible audiences that they need to narrow their focus. Maybe they don’t realize that effective advertising is more than slapping their logo on the page. Or maybe no other ad person has talked to them about the value of marketing strategy.

In many ways, selling is teaching. Your client list is your classroom.

(c) Copyright 2023 by John Foust. All rights reserved.

John Foust of Greenville, North Carolina, has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals. Many ad departments are using his training videos to save time and get quick results from in-house training. Email for information: john@johnfoust.com