Sports writer, Fort Walton Beach (Fla.)

http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1400062

Looks like there's a fair bit of turnover, but people do have good things to say about the paper and the area.

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/89817/
http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/82224/
http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/75135/
http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/61766/
http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/31289/

 

Turnover comes from not paying a decent salary. The area is beautiful.

 

Drip you seem to have a clue about some of the papers who advertise and contrary to the opinion of others this is a good thing especially for those of us who aren't fond of surprises.
Anyway, is the pay that bad?
I haven't passed that way in years and they could have bulit anything there from a domed stadium to 10 skyscrapers for all I know.
I am coming out of a bad situation that eventually led to my dismissal and I would like to avoid a repeat.
For those who are jumping on Drip, ease up.

 

It's a cut your teeth paper. You can learn a lot and you will work hard. Unfortunately, you may find the resources questionable and the pay awful. Good luck in your search.

 

They pay the SE mid-to-upper 30s (at least that was the range i was told on a single interview) so the writer salary can't be too high.

 

The former Fort Walton sports editor (Adam Pruiett) was there from Oct. 2006 to Feb. 2011. That's a decent stretch considering he's now in media relations for the Louisville Bats -- close to where he was from (Madisonville, Ky.). I believe his wife is from Louisville, too.

So I don't think it's fair to blame the turnover on someone who had the chance to come home.

 

Let's not pretend Adam left to go home. He left for the Press-Register in Mobile. He may be in Louisville now, but that's not why he bailed on the Daily News. It's a stepping stone paper, and he had outgrown the paper. There's nothing wrong with that. It's not a big paycheck. That leads to folks moving along once they've cut their teeth and proven their worth.

 

Adam Pruett has never worked at the Press-Register, at least not in my time here (started in 2008). I also asked a colleague who has been here since the mid-90's and he had never even heard of him.

 

Can't vouch for the paper, but Fort Walton Beach is a gorgeous area. And there is a lot of turnover at most papers that small. As eek! says, once people get the clips, they move on for better pay. Would imagine this would be a good gig for someone getting started.

 

Jared Macarin is the SE who left the NWF Daily News for the Press-Register a few years ago. I'm pretty sure he was the SE in Fort Walton before Adam (left '09 or '10?). Travis Downey followed Adam before going to Jackson, Miss.

 

One thing to keep in mind about this paper is that it recently changed ownership from Freedom to Halifax. I haven't heard much about how the new ownership is treating the place, but the paper definitely took some big hits during the final years of Freedom's ownership. Then again, a lot of papers around the country took big hits during that time frame, as well.

 

Just for accuracy's sake, Adam Pruiett is not from Madisonville. He is from Evansville, Ind., which is about an hour north of Madisonville. He worked in Madisonville for several years before moving on to Elizabethtown, Ky. From there he went to Florida. I don't think he outgrew the job. I think it was more a case of him deciding to get out of the business and go back to school. He and his wife had a young child (now they have two). He wanted to spend his evenings with his family. While at the Florida paper, he applied for a couple of jobs in sports information and was outed on here by someone who shall remain nameless. He could have easily been fired if his bosses were paying attention. Adam is a good guy. One of the nicest people I ever worked with in the business. He's going to school in Louisville and I think works as a media relations intern for the Bats.