Sports writer position/eastern N.C. (Wilson Daily Times)

The Wilson Daily Times, a 17K p.m. daily in eastern North Carolina, is looking for a sports staff writer. The position will be available by late July, just in time football season!

Most of our coverage is devoted to high school and community sports but we also staff North Carolina, Duke and N.C. State football and basketball games. There will also be opportunities to cover the Carolina Hurricanes as well as the Double-A Southern League Carolina Mudcats.

Layout experience will be helpful, especially on Mac (Adobe InDesign).

This is a great entry-level job for someone looking for experience and the ability to move up the ladder. Aaron Beard, AP writer on the Raleigh bureau, got his start at the Daily Times.

The Daily Times has been a family-owned publication for more than 100 years. We offer competitive salary and benefits.

Please send resume, cover letter, references, 5-7 clips and design samples (if you have them) to:

Tom Ham, Sports Editor
Wilson Daily Times
P.O. Box 2447
Wilson, NC 27894

 

Re: Sportswriter position at 17K daily in eastern N.C. (Wilson Daily Times)

Isn't this where the original Okie found a home? Who's leaving, and where is he/she going?

 

Re: Sportswriter position at 17K daily in eastern N.C. (Wilson Daily Times)

I do like the old ballpark they have in town, Fleming Stadium, I think.

 

Re: Sportswriter position at 17K daily in eastern N.C. (Wilson Daily Times)

Yes, Fleming Stadium it is. And I neglected to point out that a major portion of our summer coverage is devoted to the Wilson Tobs of the summer collegiate baseball Coastal Plain League.

Okiefoundahome aka Playoff beard isn't going anywhere. We're making sure of that. He'll continue to be our layout whiz and watch cartoons on his computer.

The departing individual is getting out of the business.

 

I can speak of the area, which isn't bad. Not a fast-moving metro or a tucked-away paradise ... Wilson's a slowly receding tobacco town.

The SE, Tom Ham, is one of the good ol' guys ... much, much more comfortable writing, talking and handling the phones. He'd probably like to put Quark in box, place it in the parking lot and blow it to smithereens. Tom certainly has his following in Wilson, no doubt about it.

But beware ... Wilson has run some people through the ground. Maybe this has changed in the past few years, but past staffers worked 60-70 hours a week, sometimes more. And forget comp or OT. (I know this isn't new in the biz, but a fair warning ... sorry, Stupid).

That said, they cover the crap out of the preps, the two local tracks and the Tobs in the summer.

 

While I usually put in more than 40 (mainly because I write at night at home because that's the way I like it), I've never seen anyone put in 60, much less 70, hours a week in my nearly 2 years there.

There's only one local track that we cover, Southern National Raceway Park, though we do publish results from three more in the area.

 

bump

 

Is this an hourly or salary position? What's the pay like?

Is this anywhere near the coast, or is this more tobacco road area?

 

I applied here. Sounds like a good gig.

 

Wilson is about an hour east of Raleigh and a little over a half hour west of Greenville on I 95. The nearest beach is probably a little over two hours away.

 

I work here as stated before, I just got back from Myrtle Beach on vacation. That trip took only about 5 hours on the highway so the wife and I like to make that a destination spot for all our beach fun. However, the N.C. beaches are very close and you might get a chance to cover the ACC and the Carolina Hurricanes (if you can wrestle the pass away from me). It's my second gig in the biz, and I will say that this is a great jump for those that are trying to get out of a small area and take a next step, PM me for more details about the town and the paper.

 

I knew a few writers who came through there and were routinely working 50-60 hours per week and hated it. A lot of that, though, had to do with the SE at the time, who was not Tom Ham.