As representatives from the Plant City Observer and the Tampa Bay Times sat in the same room for the first time last week, Ernest Hooper, the Times’ East Hillsborough bureau chief, joked that the rollout of our new joint venture, the Plant City Times & Observer, should be a wedding.
That got me thinking. Maybe an outdoor ceremony, say McCall Park? We could invite the entire town, and perhaps Chaplain Ret. Maj. Daniel Middlebrooks might even officiate. Reception on the Florida Strawberry Festival grounds, of course.
Hmmmm. Perhaps. But, despite my formerly long locks, I need to make one thing clear: I’m not wearing the dress.
All joking aside, this new joint venture is very much like a good marriage. The Plant City Times & Observer, which we will debut in August, is the culmination of months of meetings, discussions and preparations. It has been a long courtship, the culmination of which I am certain is in the best interest of our readers and advertising partners. This is the beginning of a long-range plan that cements in Plant City a hyper-local community newspaper created by Plant City residents, for Plant City residents.
In our partnership, the Observer will take the lead in producing the Plant City Times & Observer’s editorial content. We will do it with the same hometown passion you’ve come to expect from your little community newspaper with the red “O” on the cover. You’ll still see associate editors Amber Jurgensen and Matt Mauney all over town. All of our content decisions still will be made in our cozy office in Historic Downtown Plant City. Most important, our gauge for what graces our pages and website will remain the same: What is of most importance and interest to our readers?
Our editorial content will change, however, in one significant way — there will be more of it. Significantly more. As we transition to the Plant City Times & Observer, our product will increase in page count and page size. We’re converting to the broadsheet format (the size of most metro daily newspapers), which will give us more space on each page. With the additional space, we’ll launch new sections and features to help make the Plant City Times & Observer the best, most accurate reflection of the Plant City community available.
And now, with the help of the Times’ unparalleled advertising and marketing expertise, we will become a stronger, more dynamic choice for our advertising partners. We will have a complete suite of print and digital marketing solutions to ensure every one of our clients enjoys the same success we do. Think of us as Plant City’s marketing powerhouse — headquartered right down the road from you.
And, before any of our existing clients drives down here to throttle me, yes, Veronica Prostko will remain your ad executive. She’s our superstar and such an essential part of this new venture.
Of course, the most critical component of this is not any one employee. It’s not the Observer or the Times. It’s you, dear reader. You are the reason why we are here, and you are the reason why we will continue to be here. A newspaper that sits on the newsstand, unread, is silent. But in our first year of publication, we’ve been fortunate to be the one that makes it into your home, the one upon which you rely for your hyper-local news.
So many of our stories have originated from our readers, and every time I receive an “It’s Read Everywhere” photo, I can’t help but smile. You’ve embraced us, and we are blessed to have such a loyal following.
On the Observer side of our company, we have plenty of sayings, slogans and words of wisdom by which we operate. My favorite is this: “Per ardua ad astra.”
Translation: “By struggle to the stars.”
In our first year, you made the Plant City Observer a success, and as we launch the Plant City Times & Observer, I invite you to continue with us on this wonderfully exciting journey … To the stars.http://stshr.ru/dengi-v-dolg-do-zarplati.php