Newspaper in Fort Myers, Fla.

Didn't know really where to put this, so move it if need be. I'm could be making a move to the Fort Myers area in the near future and I was wondering if anyone had any helpful information on the papers down there. Obviously there must be a metro and then smaller papers in the nearby communities. With the metro, what's the circulation, how big is the staff and is there a lot of movement? Are any of the smaller papers worth working for? Again, any information would be helpful. Thanks.

 

Be prepared to spend a fortune on housing, unless you live 10 or 15 miles inland. Even then, it's dicey.

Fort Myers Press-Herald (Gannett) and Naples Daily News (Scripps) both cover the heck out of the Red Sox and Twins during spring training. The Fort Myers SE, Ed Reed, is a good guy who apparently is beloved by Florida Everblades fans.

Ogden also owns some weeklies down there.

Port Charlotte paper may penetrate some of Fort Myers' circ area, but not much, I don't think.

Circulation numbers from the March audit. Do note that these are skewed slightly by the fact that these are from snowbird season.

NEWS-PRESS, FORT MYERS (LEE CO.) AVG M (M-F) DLY 96,675
NEWS-PRESS, FORT MYERS (LEE CO.) SUN DLY 115,783
NEWS-PRESS, FORT MYERS (LEE CO.) SAT M DLY 97,063

DAILY NEWS, NAPLES (COLLIER CO.) SAT M DLY 67,107
DAILY NEWS, NAPLES (COLLIER CO.) SUN DLY 75,553
DAILY NEWS, NAPLES (COLLIER CO.) AVG M (M-F) DLY 67,776

 

It's a Gannett paper, around 90 or 95K, and I came very close to working there before landing my current job.

I can vouch for the ASE, David Kaye.

News-Press columnist Deron Snyder posts here, too.

SE Ed Reed also is a member.

 

Is there a lot of movement at either daily? Or do guys make their last stop? I wouldn't even mind stringing for a time and doing something on the side. Thanks, by the way, for the tips.

 

The News-Press is an OK paper overall, and the sports section is quite good, based on my reading the paper at several spring trainings. The Naples paper probably uses more stringers, it's a little thin.

 

Rumor also has it that Scripps has a company-wide hiring freeze and has had one for some time.

 

YOU'RE HIRED!!!

(C'mon, you guys are slipping)

 

You can also consider the Charlotte Sun, which is about 15-20 miles away in Port Charlotte. Sports has six or seven people and the turnover expected of an under 40,000.

There's the Cape Coral Daily Breeze, which is in the same county as Fort Myers and focuses on a couple of high schools there. It's just to the north of Fort Myers and has a one- or two-man staff.

http://www.sun-herald.com/

http://www.cape-coral-daily-breeze.com/

 

There was a piece I read not so long ago about "mojos," mobile journalists. Can't remember if it was an E&P type piece or a mainstream news article. Anyway, the guy they focused on was a mojo in Fort Myers. He was on the scene of the unveiling of some social circle's calendar. He'd been to three different such events.

They were real big on that project. Don't know if they still are. There was a thread about it here, but I looked for it and couldn't find it. They did have a nice batch of layoffs a while ago, though.

 

We had a nice batch of layoffs?

I must have missed that.

 

david, this guy wants you to fess up.

 

Come after me. I'm 43. I'm a man.