by Keith Ryan, Publisher
Westside News
After nearly 54 years of employment with the company that today is Westside News, it is time to move on and allow others the opportunity to serve our readers and advertisers.
During those 54 years, the company has faced many challenges including down-turns in the economy. Perhaps most daunting were the blizzards of 1977 and 1978. We had moved from postal delivery of our publications a couple of years prior to that, but our carriers completed their task in each of those storms as well as less impactful snow events.
We have seen many changes over the 54 years, moving from what was called cut and paste to desktop publishing to design our publications. We had many people helping in the process, including my former partner, Ed Bozek, who first presented this technology to our operation. The members of our current staff average 27 years with our company. We have been very fortunate to have had such support over the years by our fabulous staff.
In spite of the ever-increasing role of the digital landscape in the distribution of the news, which has been a part of news reporting by Westside News for many years, the print product is still the primary source for the vast majority of our readers. I regularly hear compliments about the look of our print publications and the importance those publications represent in the lives of those readers.
As to the impact of our digital efforts, we have hundreds of thousands of page views on our website each year. Our weekly publications are posted to our website each Friday. I had one former writer send me a message at around 6:30 a.m. one Friday pertaining to a story in our publications. That told me the importance of having our print publications available in that manner each week. While one cannot hold that copy in their hands, it is the next best thing. Also, our readers forward stories to family and friends around the world by supplying a link to our website in an email.
Our readers have been extremely supportive over the years. A local grocery store planned on moving his advertising from our publication to a competitor, until our readers presented a petition to him asking to keep his advertising with us. It was signed by many community residents. The store owner was so impressed by their efforts, that he decided against a move to our competition.
A typical local election saw many readers take sides in the election process, as should be the case.
Most times we were accused of being more supportive of the other party in those elections and that was by both parties. I have always felt that we were not doing our job correctly if we were not so blamed by both sides. On many occasions, after the election, I was told that our role was important to both sides and most thanked us for our fairness.
We could not have existed at all without the support of the many people who owned businesses in the area. Their investment in the advertising in our publications proved to be one of the most important decisions they made. Most who were in business 54 years ago no longer are. However, one that has been supportive over that stretch is Dunn’s Furniture in Brockport. John and Wendy Dunn have been fabulous to work with over the years. Another supportive business, which is on their second generation, is Jim Barnard Chevrolet in Churchville. Jim Barnard established his business in 1972 shortly after I joined our company. He soon began having his half-page ad on page five in our Suburban News. Fifty-four years later, Jim’s son, Allyn, has his full-page ad on the front of our wrap twice a month. It is my hope that both Dunn’s Furniture and Jim Barnard Chevrolet will be around for years to come.
When an advertiser places an ad with us they often end up speaking with our production staff. Headed by Karen Fien, a 41-year staff member, and Joanne Michielsen, a 26-year staff member, I hear many compliments from advertisers about the work of that staff and how easy and nice it had been to work with them. The staff includes Emily Antinore (34 years), Vicki Caspersson (18 years in her second time with us), Suzette Coleman (26 years), Linda Michielsen (38 years) and Donna Stultz (34 years).
Without the efforts of our sales staff there would have been a lot fewer advertisers in support of our publications. Mary Lou Rockow has been with us for more than 48 years and for many of those years she was our sales leader for most weeks. Other staff members in the sales department are Debbie Day (35 years), Lori Antonelli (17 years), Ellen Stevens (16 years), and our most recent hire, Trish Walter. Again, when talking with businesses about our sales staff, I would get numerous compliments about their particular sales representative.
All the work done each week is for naught if the publications are not delivered for those who prefer a print copy. While we have been transitioning to more delivery to newsstands, it is important that our publications are at those locations when a reader wishes to pick up a copy. Forty-eight-year employee Don Griffin, as well as newer staff member Linda Tefft see to it that those deliveries are made. Both have done an excellent job in that regard.
To get us to this point, we have had other staff members over the years who were very important to our continued growth. In the top spot is Marilyn Brown, our long-time office manager, who joined the company in September of 1971. She survived through four owners, helping each achieve their goals.
Second only to Marilyn was Evelyn Dow, who became the editor in September of 1984. Evelyn was excellent at guiding our publications to their greatest heights. While the news content had been important to our gaining the number one spot in the area for readership among local publications, Evelyn took it to a new level. Marilyn and Evelyn both remain important to the Westside News family thus their titles of Team Leader Emerita and Editor Emerita, respectively, as can be found weekly on page four of our publications.
Finally, I will miss the connections that I have made over those 54 years of involvement but I do hope to see a number of them in the many community organizations to which I have been a member for a long time. I want to thank all of those who have been supportive of my business and me personally. It has always been very much appreciated.
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