Sports Reporter, Wilson (N.C.) Daily Times

The excitement of the sporting life beckons. The Wilson Daily Times, a 6-day-a week afternoon paper, is seeking a full-time sports reporter. We’re a four-person department that covers everything from Atlantic Coast Conference basketball to high school football to Little League baseball. High school coverage is our main focus but there’s plenty of chances to write about a lot of other activities and events. Candidates should possess excellent writing and reporting ability, a willingness to learn and an enthusiasm for doing a job that can be a lot of fun. You will be expected to do some page layout so any experience with Adobe InDesign and InCopy is a major plus. Now is an exciting time to be at the WDT, a family-owned paper for more than 130 years that is firmly committed to meeting the challenges facing our industry. Send a cover letter, resume and samples of your work to Paul Durham, Sports Editor, The Wilson Daily Times, at paul@wilsontimes.com. For more information call him at 252-265-7808.

Paul is one of the good guys so this could be a decent gig. Since it is an afternoon paper, expect split shifts.

 

I always liked running into Paul when I was in Rocky Mount. Good to the core. He showed a competitive streak at times. But I never minded that. I just took it as he was passionate about his paper and his job.

Don't know how things have changed since he became SE. When I was in the area, though, I thought the DT did a great job of covering games and being the paper of record for its schools. But that came at the expense of good enterprise, in my opinion.

Again, that was a couple years ago. Paul may have changed the priorities.

 

Paul is a good guy who seems to know what kind of section he wants.

That means game stories. Game stories on top of game stories. They try very hard to cover everything, and they succeed for the most part. I've often wondered what kind of section it would be if 25 percent of that manpower was used on features.

In this day and time, there are far worse gigs for a recent grad with some experience.

 

so would it be a complete waste for somebody right out of college to apply?

 

You'd be a fool not to try for it, Lefty. I don't know much more than what I can glean from the papers I've purchased when traveling through the area, but the paper and sports section seem to be of good quality.

 

I graduated a few weeks ago and I applied. Doesn't hurt to give it a shot, especially in this day in age. If you have the qualifications and experience at a collegiate paper or through an internship or two, give it a shot.

 

With a four-man staff I would think there is time to do some enterprise. The sports staff also shoots action pics except for football unless that has changed.

 

As far as I have seen in the Sports section and online, Wilson does few features, and almost no enterprise. This is not a knock on the section. They cover games, a lot of games, and they do it well. Because they are an afternoon, they are able to cover a lot of games that other folks might not be able to cover (because of distance, deadlines and the like). But no to enterprise.

And their sports writers do shoot their own photographs.

 

Who is leaving!!!! This was the paper I was at last, and they had filled my position well and everything was going good.
I can fully vouch for Paul, he's a great guy to work with and knows what he likes and what it takes for the paper to be good both on the writing side and the design side.
It is split shifts and gamer on top of gamer, but that's what makes it good for a person just coming up. You learn a lot! Lots of hard work and lots of good bylines for someone looking to put in a year or two and then move up. Yes, there could be some room for enterprise, but I think Paul understands that and may have found a way to get things like that in.
Three words define this paper: LOCAL, LOCAL, LOCAL.
PM me for more information, but I think I've already said a lot.

 

I have yet to meet Paul, but WDT has been a solid local product for years.

Lots of split shifts, almost oppressive game coverage. I do wonder if maybe an extra feature or enterprise piece in lieu of a game might help, but that's picking small nits.

Get ready for marathon Fridays. WDT puts out a PM edition Friday morning, then turns around and puts another out on Saturday. On the bright side, years ago the Saturday deadline was 0100, giving the staff enough time not to have to throw together the Saturday edition.

Tell me Tom Ham isn't finally retiring ... and this time, not heading somewhere else only to come back again.

 

Tom has already "retired". After I left the WDT, Tom nearly worked himself to death, literally. The day I packed my U-Haul, Paul called me and said, "You did it, you killed him." Tom was in the hospital. That started his move to what he is now, a "Senior Staff Writer". He covers games, but doesn't have to come in at 6 a.m. anymore. He was a great editor, and an even better person. Paul is really in the same kind of mold, but has a better grasp on the design part.

Make all checks payable to Precious Roy, care of this station.

 

Tom wanted nothing more to do with layout than any other writer. He wrote countless stories chock full of copy, though.

If Tom deals with the "Senior Staff Writer" well this time, then good. He was given that title during a previous stint at WDT and quickly bolted to Jacksonville. I think that was more of a power struggle with the then-SE than anything to do with that title.

Tom was always good to me. When he was comfortable with me that he didn't even have to really say hello at assignments where we both were, that was really good stuff.