Santa Rosa newspaper makes a sequel November 27, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Publications, Sports.add a comment
Last year about this time, the Guadalupe County Communicator newspaper, based in Santa Rosa, N.M., printed a special edition in case its local high-school football won the state championship.
To top it off, the newspaper timed it so the congratulatory edition would actually be distributed at the game the minute the state title was won. The publisher took a gamble, risking $700 in printing expenses that Santa Rosa would win. If the team lost, the special edition would be quietly tossed into a Dumpster.
On Saturday, Santa Rosa — and the Communicator — did it again. The Lions defeated previously unbeaten Eunice 21-14, with the winning touchdown scored with less than a minute remaining. And a congratulatory edition was distributed immediately after the game.
You can see the front page of the special edition in this Facebook post.
And, at 3:35 in this video recap of the game, you can see a Santa Rosa player showing off that special edition:
The Communicator, as you may recall, is owned by M.E. Sprengelmeyer, who lost his job as a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News when the newspaper went belly-up in early 2009. He argued that newspapers could still be financially viable and took a gamble on a struggling weekly newspaper in Santa Rosa.
More than two years later, it appears he’s succeeding. The Communicator recently took home about two dozen awards at the state’s newspaper-excellence contest. His advertising percentages in the newspaper continue to hover at a healthy 50 percent level. And, with such stunts as Saturday’s, he’s adding excitement to the community.
State honors Arizona Route 66 passport program July 27, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Events, Publications, Road trips.add a comment
The Arizona Route 66 passport program received the prestigious Governor’s Tourism Award during the Governor’s Conference on Tourism earlier this month in Phoenix, reported the Williams-Grand Canyon News.
The Arizona Historic Route 66 Passport, spearheaded by the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona (Association) on behalf of the Route 66 communities, received the distinguished Cooperative Marketing Award at a luncheon, which recognized 10 individuals and organizations for their best practices, accomplishments, and contributions to the Arizona tourism industry.
The Cooperative Marketing Award is presented to the project that best exemplifies creative partnerships to develop and execute a cooperative marketing initiative. The criteria used by the panel of judges to select the winner included demonstrating an exceptional effort, innovation, uniqueness, effective use of resources, measurable results, and its overall contribution to the tourism industry of Arizona.
According to the Association’s press release, The Historic Route 66 Passport is the first joint marketing effort between all the communities across Arizona’s stretch of Route 66. The Association said while the overall goal for the Passport Program is to increase visitation to the Route 66 communities, attractions, and businesses across northern Arizona, a major objective has been to demonstrate the power of working together (my emphasis).
Here’s a list of Arizona Route 66 passport locations. A mail-in order form for the passport can be downloaded here. One also can call 928-753-5001 to order the passports.
This “working together” objective on Arizona’s Route 66 is a significant development. The eastern and western halves of the state have long grumbled at each other.
Part of the rancor sprung from the annual Historic Route 66 Fun Run always being held in the western half of the state — never mind that long stretches of unavoidable interstate would make logistics of an eastern Fun Run nearly impossible.
In fact, I received a news release today from Sharlene Fouser, byway leader of the Historic Route 66 All-American Road in Arizona, about a summit on July 21 in Winslow where 50 community leaders from across the state attended. “Coming together, sharing together, working together, succeeding together” was the theme.
The news release also contained a few newsworthy nuggets:
This year two major projects were identified to tie into Arizona’s upcoming Centennial celebration. Planned are a Route 66 Centennial Passport, and a Historic Route 66 Geocaching Project. Both of these projects are designated Arizona Centennial Legacy Projects.
In addition, the 25th Annual Historic Route 66 Fun Run, the Association’s major fundraising event held the first week in May each year, has been designated as an official Arizona Centennial Event.
I haven’t yet received answers to follow-up questions I had for Fouser. Regardless, these are very encouraging developments for Arizona’s portion of the Mother Road.
Notes from the Route 66 festival June 10, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Art, Attractions, Books, Events, Motels, Movies, People, Preservation, Publications, Web sites.6 comments
A lot is going on this weekend at the International Route 66 Festival in Amarillo. But Friday, most of the newsworthy stuff Friday could be found at the artists and authors exposition, housed in the San Jacinto Christian Academy cafeteria.
The inside of the cafeteria provides a good indication why it was used. Check out all the road signs:
Photographer Shannon Richardson was selling his new book, “Route 66 American Icon.” He’d received his very first copies just the day before. We’ll have a review about this volume in the coming days.
Carolyn Hasenfratz showed the QR codes (explanation can be found here) on flyers that will help promote her new website, Sell66Stuff.com. Her site has been live for several weeks, but she’s planning a full rollout soon.
I also saw QR codes being used on promotional materials used by 66 The Mother Road magazine.
Author Michael Wallis also attended the festival, promoting his new books about Davy Crockett and The Wild West. Here he is, chatting with Emily Priddy (aka Redforkhippie).
Also, he announced he would launch a Michael Wallis app for iPhones, iPod Touch, iPads and Androids for $3.99. The app will contain new stories, videos and photos posted weekly. The app is expected to arrive in the iTunes and Android stores within two weeks.
Wallis also is launching an online fan club at MichaelWallis.com for $9.99 a month, which also will contain original stories, photos and videos each week, along with a chance to win prizes and memorabilia monthly.
On a related note, Lynn Miller of the California Historic Route 66 Association said Wallis would be leading a Route 66 caravan from Chicago to Los Angeles in summer 2012 to commemorate the opening of the Cars Land amusement park in Disneyland Resort.
Organizers hope to schedule the 2012 International Route 66 festival, likely in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., during the same week Cars Land opens.
(The festival had originally been set in Santa Monica, but organizers found it difficult to secure affordable lodging.)
A firm date on the Cars Land opening hasn’t been announced, but it will probably be known within six weeks. Cars Land is inspired by the original 2006 Disney-Pixar movie “Cars” and the upcoming “Cars 2,” which opens June 24.
A collection jar for donations was set out by co-founder Rick Freeland of the Route 66 Alliance to help Harley and Annabelle Russell (aka the Mediocre Music Makers of Erick, Okla.) defray their medical expenses. Annabelle is undergoing an experimental treatment for ovarian cancer, and Freeland said she was progressing.
While roaming the exhibition hall, we spied artist Pete Morris at his booth, painting a watercolor of the Dolly’s Diner on Route 66 and Portraits by Tracy building across the street:
We also saw these cool-looking drinking glasses at the New Mexico booth:
Much of the festival area is along Amarillo’s Sixth Street corridor (aka Route 66), which contains a variety of antique stores, art shops, and restaurants in historic buildings. Here’s a couple of examples of old gas stations being converted into restaurants:
Traffic was fairly light Friday, but the crowds should increase dramatically when the city will close about 10 blocks of Sixth for a street fair.
Friday also turned into a scheduled work day at the Triangle Motel in Amarillo, where about a dozen volunteers dug out half-buried gutters and painted windows.
The Triangle Motel, after many years of neglect, is the subject of a long-term restoration project by owner Alan McNeil. Restoration should quicken in pace after a new roof was installed several weeks ago.
The day began with the annual Route 66 e-group breakfast, hosted by the Ambassador Hotel in Amarillo (which also serves as the official festival host hotel). Here, Mike Ward gives away dozens of door prizes:
And at the breakfast, longtime roadie George Game shows a poster from the very first national Route 66 gathering in 1996, which occurred in a tent in the near-ghost town of Landegrin, Texas.
Needless to say, the festival has come a long way since then.
Online Route 66 magazine launches its first issue April 23, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses, Publications.add a comment
66 The Mother Road launched its inaugural online issue on Friday.
It’s 36 pages, and you can view it online here. I spent some time surfing around on it, and it works very well. You can enlarge the full-color content, and turning the virtual pages is a snap.
Stories in the magazine include:
- A feature about the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum, and the upcoming Bob Waldmire-inspired festivities in early May
- A useful story about Quick Response codes and how they can be useful to Route 66 business amid the smartphone era
- A portion of Missouri Route 66′s earlier history with the Civil War
- A short story about 4 Women on the Route in Galena, Kan.
- The changes coming with the Route 66 Vintage Iron Motorcycle Museum in Miami, Okla.
- A blurb about the International Route 66 Festival in Amarillo in June
- A long feature about Richard Talley and his Motel Safari in Tucumcari, N.M., and his Smalltown America initiative
- A profile on Terry Lee Smith-Kafides, who is the official National Route 66 Ambassador
In case you missed the earlier announcement about this Web-only magazine, here’s the magazine’s mission statement:
It’s actually pretty simple: if it’s good for the entire Road, do it.
We are dedicated to helping business survive and thrive across the entire Route 66 corridor. We take preservation, protection and enhancement of the historic highway seriously. The history is well documented. Our goal is to accept that history, and move forward in the 21st century and beyond, using the most modern technology available to ensure future generations carry the work forward.
The magazine comes endorsed by prominent Route 66 author Michael Wallis and the Route 66 Alliance.
Route 66 online magazine coming next month March 27, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses, Publications, Web sites.11 comments
A Route 66 online magazine — supported by advertising, with content generated by Route 66 fans — will be launched in late April.
The magazine, called 66 The Mother Road, is the brainchild of John and Judy Springs, who are based in Palm Desert, Calif. According to the magazine’s media kit, it will be published every two months. It will consist of 24 to 32 pages each issue.
Springs said he wants to have the inaugural issue launched by April 24, before the Arizona Historic Route 66 Fun Run in early May.
John Springs is listed as advertising manager, and Judy is publisher. It has enlisted Bob “Crocodile” Lile, a former ad rep for the dormant Route 66 Pulse newspaper, as sales rep. Staff includes a copy editor, graphics designer, events consultant, and web developer. Prominent Route 66 historians and authors Jim Ross, Jerry McClanahan and Michael Wallis have endorsed the effort.
Springs said it will be constructed online like a magazine, where readers can flip through the pages, with ads stacked on many of the pages. A “working” cover of the first issue can be seen at upper left.
Springs e-mailed a few thoughts about the venture:
We want this to be a ‘one stop shop’ for businesses to get the word out and for travelers to find the word. [...] No one will EVER pay to view the magazine – ads and our personal dollars will fund the project.
We have absolutely NO experience — we just saw a need and followed a dream. However, my experience in the tour business will help and Judy has been in advertising and marketing for about 30 years. We also have an award winning writer and two senior advisers with a great deal of experience. One, Frank Furino, was head writer for Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest, and General Hospital – and he worked for Dick Clark Productions and he remains Dick’s best friend! The other adviser wishes to remain nameless, but he comes from one of the most famous Hollywood families of all time. You would immediately recognize his name. They are all personal friends, and are helping us at no charge!!! [...]
Our biggest challenge will be getting our website rated high enough on world wide search engines – no small feat, but we have employed an experienced web designer to handle that chore. [...] The advertising revenue will make or break us. If we stay true to our Mission Statement, which is simply “If it’s good for The Road – DO IT’, we’ll be OK.
This is a labor of love. We’d love to make money at it, we absolutely would love to turn a profit, but our goal going into this venture was to bring much needed attention to SMALL businesses on Route 66. We have no other agenda other than getting the word out that life, and commerce, on 66 truly does begin at the off ramp (stolen from Michael Wallis). Judy lives by a personal motto of “pay it forward.” We fell in love with Route 66, and wanted to find a way to help. When the online idea came to us, we felt it was a fabulous way to “pay it forward”.
At least 66 The Mother Road doesn’t have to worry about the enormous weight of printing and distribution costs. Those two factors — plus a weak economy and a downturn in the newspaper industry — have essentially scuttled the Route 66 Pulse twice. Going web-only removes a ton of expenses.
Whether this magazine becomes successful enough to be self-sustaining is an open question. Competition for Route 66 content online remains intense. With many Route 66 businesses able to establish their own presence online cheaply, it may be a difficult task to persuade them to part with dollars for a fledgling site.
Still, it seems like a worthy venture, and I’ll be keenly interested to see how this turns out.
Santa Rosa newspaper surviving just fine, thank you February 17, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Publications.2 comments
About 15 months ago, Route 66 News and other media outlets reported about M.E. Sprengelmeyer, a former reporter for the defunct Rocky Mountain News, and his purchase of the Guadalupe County Communicator in Santa Rosa, N.M. Sprengelmeyer said he still had faith that print newspapers could survive, and staked his life’s savings on it.
A new article today by Editor & Publisher tells how tell he’s doing:
[H]e’s been successful with his 16-page weekly, increasing revenue some 75 percent over the previous year by staying local and relevant. [...] Sprengelmeyer, who drives 99 miles weekly on a press run, said if he’s not back with the papers by 2 p.m. Thursdays, cross-armed customers are waiting for him. He doesn’t like to disappoint.
Editor & Publisher tells about how Sprengelmeyer planned a congratulatory extra edition the day the local high-school football team was playing in the state championship. Victory wasn’t guaranteed — Santa Rosa had a 7-4 record, and was facing an undefeated foe. Sprengelmeyer said he’d “eat” the extra cost — and embarrassment — if Santa Rosa lost.
“I called up one advertiser and said, ‘Look, I’m taking a gamble here. If we win, we both look great. If we don’t, we never had this conversation,’” Sprengelmeyer said. “I told him I’d eat the cost.”
In-house, the secret paper was known as the “Dewey Defeats Tularosa” edition, because if the Lions lost and the paper ended up on Facebook, they’d be as embarrassed as the Chicago Daily Tribune was when it wrongly printed “Dewey defeats Truman” in 1948.
Santa Rosa won, and Sprengelmeyer sold 2,000 copies of that extra edition at the game. Another 2,100 copies were sold at Santa Rosa. And in the subsequent editions after the game, the newspaper sold dozens more congratulatory ads.
“What did I risk?” he asked [about the extra edition]. “I risked $700. It was a coin flip. Anything you do that just creates excitement about the paper is critical.”
Not every publication needs to be global or universal, he said, adding that he is “disgusted” with newspaper corporations that think they must slash expenses and staff.
“If the revenues are suffering because people are questioning the relevance of your paper, invest to make it more relevant,” he said. “Do exciting things to make it more relevant. Do whatever you have to to make it more relevant. Or die.”
Sprengelmeyer refuses to “give away” his newspaper’s content on the Internet. If you want to read an article in the Guadalupe County Communicator, y0u have to buy a print copy. And we do.
The irony is the media outlet that reported on Sprengelmeyer’s story, Editor & Publisher, still posts its material for free on the Internet, and nearly ceased publication a year ago after years of declining revenues.
New Oklahoma guide touts restaurant options January 23, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Publications, Restaurants, Television.add a comment
If you’re traveling Route 66 through the Sooner State and wondering about a place to eat, the state tourism department has just published its Discover Oklahoma Destination Dining Guide to help you decide, according to The Oklahoman newspaper.
This food lovers’ companion was compiled by the experts from the “Discover Oklahoma” television show and is the ultimate guide to exploring more than 100 uniquely Oklahoman diners, kitchens, drive-ins and restaurants across the state.
Inside the guide, you’ll find information about restaurants such as Clanton’s Cafe in Vinita, a Route 66 staple that’s been serving chicken fried steaks, lamb fries and other mouthwatering delicacies since 1929.
You can mail-order the guide, along with the department’s excellent Oklahoma Route 66 brochure, here at no charge. The guide also is being offered at the state’s tourism centers.