FAIR GAME:Good news amid doom and gloom

Last year around this time I brought you up to date on how the Daily Pilot was doing overall.

Today, in the news on an almost daily basis, there’s doom and gloom being reported for the future of newspapers. Watch out, they say, here comes the Internet. They said the same thing to newspapers when radio was introduced in the 1920s and then again when TV came in the ‘50s.

Reports have circulation down, advertising revenues struggling and media companies on the whole trying to figure their way through a quickly changing environment.

Well, I’m happy to report that we are the exception. Local news seems to be where it’s at. Last year we celebrated company records in revenue and cash flow.

It’s a nice position to be in.

My friend and Daily Pilot advertiser Brett Hemphill, of Hemphill Rugs & Carpets, would be the first to ask, “Then does that mean we’re going to get better ad rates?”

And the answer is no.

But the exciting news is that we’re going to reinvest that money into serving you, our community, better.

Move No. 1 is elevating former editor and current Daily Pilot Web general manager Tony Dodero to a new position of director of news and online.

In his new role, we will leverage Dodero’s extensive knowledge and understanding of the local marketplace into dramatically improving our daily home-delivered paper, as well as building a strong local Web presence.

Tony and I are working on improvements of content and packaging of our daily product. We expect a redesign to launch sometime in mid- to late February. Our goal is to bring you more quality local content daily.

We’ll also be continuing to develop our website. Tony asked me what my goal is?

I believe our website should develop into a place where our readers can not only find up-to-the-minute local news content, but also make a reservation for a local restaurant, figure out what field the kids’ soccer game is on, or even buy a dog license for the new pooch. I’d like to take community polls and find out who serves the best hamburger or how people at a particular moment feel about local political issues.

Another example is that we send photographers out to cover many local sporting events and we select one photo because of space limitations in the paper. Yet the website opens up a new arena to show the other 20 or 30 good photos from the same game.

We’re hoping to integrate both products in a way to help you better enjoy the community.

We’re also looking at improving our local distribution.

Beginning in the next several weeks, people in the western part of Irvine (Shady Canyon, Turtlerock, etc.) will begin receiving the Daily Pilot. That’s good for our advertisers because more readers means potentially better results.

We’ll even be working closely with the Los Angeles Times to bring better subscription opportunities to the marketplace.

2007 promises to be another good year here on the coast. It also happens to be our 100th anniversary. We intend to make it memorable and welcome your comments or suggestions.