Sports Writer, Flagstaff, AZ

i understand flagstaff is a great town but overpriced.

 

Just on one point ... there was no misconception about the student paper's impact. I used it as a point of reference on circulation size. I'm not sure I agree that it penetrates well, but it is pretty much alone (there's a local NBC affiliate scraping by on bare bones) as a news source in the area.

In any case, good luck to the applicants. I miss Flagstaff every day.

 

Where to start ...

Like donnie23 and Jim_Carty, I'm a Daily Sun alum. Eight years there, some brain cells killed, some hearts broken, etc.

First off, expect the pay to be closer to $20,000 than $25K, unless something has drastically changed there in the last three years. We lost a ton of good candidates for jobs there because the baseline pay was so embarrassing, at least when I was doing the hiring. That position paid sub-$20K for most of the time I was there, and only at the end were we able to beg it up to that Mendoza line, so to speak.

They're running a universal desk there now, and the sports guys only paginate one or two days a week. They only travel with NAU men's hoops and football, and for hoops, it's conference only unless you're talking trips to New Mexico, UNLV, Arizona State or Arizona. Prep sports is a big deal, with three high schools in town and a bunch of outliers (Page, Winslow, Williams, etc.).

There's a huge emphasis on rec sports (especially running), and the ME likes to meddle when it comes to that stuff. Also, coverage of the High Altitude Sports Training Complex at NAU is in full swing, especially in an Olympic year. Lots of big-time international swimming talent comes through there, including national teams from Australia and Japan.

The town itself is fun, but pricey. When I left, I was living in a one-bedroom apartment with a W/D and paying $715 a month. You can do cheaper, but you'll be either in a trailer or in a rougher part of town. Some good nightspots and great local microbrew if you're into that sort of thing. A bunch of hippies too.

The "metro" area is non-existent. The only city bigger than 20,000 within two hours of Flag is Phoenix. We used to do a lot of stuff with Phoenix pro teams, but once I left, that completely stopped. When I was there, we staffed all of the home games in the 2001 baseball postseason and most of the home games for the Suns in the postseason in years after that. Last year? Nothing on either front, I noticed.

Good gig for someone just out of college, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone with more experience than that. They will not pay for any moving expenses. They will not pay to bring you out for an interview.

Any other questions, PM me.

 

give your bottom line on the product, cosmo.

 

Granted, it was one of the more high-end places in town, and my rent jumped a bit . But even the lower-end joints were around $600 a month. You could get closer to $500 living in shacks in the druggy parts of town.

 

you mean up by the airport?

 

Airport's about four miles south of town. The houses down there are actually pretty nice. I'm talking more of the center part of town, near Coconino High School. (Yes, I know way too much about this city.)

 

nothing like bakersfield then?

 

Nah. Flag's a lovely little mountain city. Poverty with a view, the locals like to call it.

 

Sidebar.
Any of you guys ever do that drive from Flagstaff to Sedona?
It's one of the most beautiful drives I've ever done. Highly recommend, very cool.
89A South.

 

East Flag is pretty cheap, around North 4th Street over the hill. Though, a kid got stabbed with a fork in front of my house when I was living there. Cops, ambulance came and everything. True story.