It's now 9 a.m. Monday and we are getting plenty of calls and emails on the new and improved newspaper. Most of them are helpful. I found the new look magnificent and send kudos to the newsroom workers who made it happen.
We'd like to hear your comments in the forum that follows.
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It's 5:30 p.m. Sunday and several daysiders such as me are trickling into the newsroom to help out with the changes that I've been writing about and columnizing about. You can read Sunday's column here http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/column/foley//index.php?ntid=265708&ntpid=1.
Tim Kelley, our managing editor, has brought in pizzas and cold cuts for the crew caught here over the dinner hour and there's an air of anticipation. Even Max Kelley, 14, who is Tim's son and a freshman at McFarland High School, joined us today. He is about five inches taller than the last time I saw him. In any case, there's a different feel to the newsroom tonight, all the rules are a bit off kilter and with the new faces in the newsroom, there's a sense that we'll have some fun.
Tim, David Dombrowski and Mike Rott are all huddled around a digital version of our front page experimenting with type sizes and design ideas that will make our changes pop. David, our design guru, is the architect of the changes on the front page and Mike is one of the front page editors who will need to learn the new elements and deliver them each night when most of us are already home.
Chris Juzwik, our features editor, is also here. His pages will see the biggest content changes. He is carrying around prototypes to make sure tomorrow's paper is true to the plan.
The sports staff is working on computers and eyeing sports on television. While the sports section will not see great changes, the folks in that department are excited to see food arriving. The night crew from news and sports often feel like the Keebler elves. They come in at night and no one truly appreciates the hard work they do to put out the paper. Tonight, with daysiders here, it's an opportunity for us to let them know how much we value them.
In the press area, there is also a lot of work being done. We will change our web width from 50 inches to 48 inches. I'm headed back there to see how it's going for them. I'm not going to attempt to explain how difficult it is to change a web-width. The press is a mammoth piece of machine-driven metal and the web change involves intricate and fine-tuned changes with very small parts that need to be exactly positioned.
Our press crew has been working on this for several months. We started when our client, The Chicago Tribune, announced it was going to a 48-inch web about six months ago. In order to print the Tribune for this area, we had to switchover to the narrower width.
I'll also be preparing tonight to answer reader phone calls tomorrow and to do some media interviews. Editor and Publisher, one of our industry trade magazines, and Wisconsin Eye, a local media outlet, have requested interviews. Tim did a show on WTDY radio last week. Commentors seem intrigued that in these days of digital innovation that the State Journal would put energy into improving the paper. Our newspaper customers still support our company so it's interesting that even our sister media believe predictions of the death of newspapering. We are alive and well in both ink-on-paper and on the Internet!
I'll check back with this blog later if I find out anything new. I'm off to the press area.