Sports Editor, Delaware, Ohio

The Delaware Gazette, a six-day-per-week daily newspaper in the fastest-growing county in Ohio, seeks a dynamic, community-oriented sports editor who can hit the ground running. With four school districts and a university in our coverage area, there’s always something to cover. The ideal candidate will have a bachelor’s degree and at least three years of experience in the sports department of a daily newspaper, though other strong candidates will be considered. Solid writing, editing, organizational and layout skills are a must, as is experience with Quark Express. Competitive salary and benefits. Send resume, cover letter and clips to: Jeff Robinson, Editor, Delaware Gazette, 18 E. William St., Delaware, OH 43015 or jrobinson@delgazette.com. No phone calls please.

 

Anybody know anything about the area or paper? I've been trying to get to the Midwest for a cheaper cost of living than there is out here in the West

 

The area is really nice. . . just north of columbus (maybe 25 minutes or so). Ohio Wesleyan is the college mentioned in the ad. Good DIII athletics. The town itself is a nice little town.

the paper is owned by Brown Publishing, which owns a bunch of smaller dailies/weeklies throughout Ohio. I don't know much about the Delaware paper, specifically, but the chain itself is just ok. You won't get rich working for them and their products aren't exactly top of the line. That being said, they are trying some cool things with their online content such as webcasts, a state-wide prep sports website etc.

 

Oh, and as far as cost of living goes, Ohio in general has a pretty low cost of living, so that's a plus.

 

Yeah, but Delaware is almost a Columbus suburb, so crank that cost of living up a touch and, knowing the Brown family, the salary and working conditions way down.

They are a touch economically conservative, from what I know.

 

Granted, it's been 11 years ago, but I was an SE for a Brown newspaper and the pay was pretty bad, even for the times. I was making $250/week -- yes, that's $6.25/hour. By the time I left a year later I was up to $8/hour, but still.

But times may have changed and Brown might have improved some, so what do I know? But at least you know the history with Brown.

 

I am the person who is leaving this position for a much better opportunity after way too long here. I can give you all of the details about the gig if you are interested.

I will say that Chad and GoDeacs are spot on for the most part...In Cold Blood, you have some of your facts straight.

If interested, PM or e-mail me....I can fill you in on all the pertinent info.

 

Thanks for all the help regarding the area folks as well as the paper.

 

Was told the highest they would go is 27 or 28,000 with no relocation money

 

What I've been finding is that a lot fo papers East of the Mississippi don't take West Coast people like myself seriously. We may already make more then they want to play. If it costs less to live somewhere else I would take a small pay cut if I thought it was a good job in a god area.

 

Trust me, it goes both ways. I've been doing this a long, long time, and been on both ends of the hiring process at papers of varying sizes.
Lots of papers don't want to pay for travel expenses, especially for interviews, and that includes the lead dogs, too. The reason is simple. Most papers have in mind who they want to hire beforehand, so why throw money at a charade?
With the state of our industry, certainly a buyer's market favoring management, the vast majority of job postings here and elsewhere are pure window dressing for a cattle call, so the SE can show a stack of resumes to the ME, "well, we got over 100 applicants and here's who I like best." Lots, I would argue the majority, of resumes aren't read, or the envelopes even opened.
There may be a dog and pony show interview process, but in the end there are very, very few surprises when it comes to hiring.
Need a reference? There was a posting here about six months ago for an SE of a 50,000 circ. Gannett daily in Fla. They ended up hiring a candidate who didn't even work in newspapers, was a website person. You're telling me they went through their applications, with folks looking for work from top shops like San Jose, San Francisco, Dallas, etc., and that was their most qualified candidate? Their best option?
That's who their decision maker had in mind from the jump. Period.

 

That may be true to an extent, especially for larger papers.

But a six-day daily (even dailies 20-30K) it probably isn't as true.