Columnist, Eugene Oregon

[Idaho]

Nice gig if you can get it.

DEPARTMENT: Sports
POSITION: Sports Columnist
STATUS: Full-time
BEGINNING SALARY: $1,039.60 – $1,145.30 per week
CLOSING DATE: Thursday, March 1, 2007


The Register-Guard, a 77,000-circulation morning daily in Eugene, Ore., is seeking to hire a new lead sports columnist. This is a high-profile, high-impact job at a respected family owned newspaper in a wonderful community, and our first outside-the-building hire of a sports columnist in 36 years. We're looking for an independent, thick-skinned, self-starting sports columnist with backbone, integrity, and heart; someone who can define our section by giving readers provocative, critical opinions, analysis and human-interest insights three or four times a week in the newspaper, and more than that on a blog. We're looking for someone with the news instincts, competitive nature and cynical streak of an investigative reporter, and someone who can be a team player on one of the hardest-working, most-unified staffs in the country. Coverage focus is University of Oregon and Oregon State University athletics; our top priority is coverage of local sports, including major track and field meets.

At least six years of sports-writing experience for a daily newspaper and graduation from a four-year college or university required; experience as a sports columnist strongly helpful, but so is the ability to provide expert, literate, informed opinions on sports. Our goal is to have our new columnist on the job no later than August 1, 2007. Salary range $1,039.60 – $1,145.30 per week;

Please send an application, cover letter, resume and non-returnable clips by March 1, 2007.

Columnist
Human Resources Dept.
Ron Bellamy, Sports Editor
P.O. Box 10188
Eugene, OR 97440

Applications are available at 3500 Chad Drive, Eugene, OR 97408, Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. or visit our Web site at www.registerguard.com.

No telephone inquiries please. All applicants will receive a response.

 

[awriter]

Agreed. Great gig. Great area.

 

[luckyducky]

Wow, what happened at the Guard?

 

[Shaggy]

I just accepted. Don't bother applying.








....

 

[Tom Petty]

expect every person who ever graduated from the U of O J School to apply for this along with all qualified and over qualified applicants who are making 50k or less a year.

 

[Idaho]

Where'd you find this one, Idaho? I don't see it on jjobs or APSE.

I know a guy who knows a guy.

 

[Editude]

Interesting town. Bring a light windbreaker to shield you from the mist and running shoes to tackle the green paths. Insular, of course, but as the No. 2 paper in the state they do pop up to Portland and Corvallis in addition to all U of O, all the time. Good high schools as well.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

I wouldn't think so, JG. If they HOPE to have a hire in place by August 1, they're sure leaving themselves plenty of time for the search process-indicating genuine indecision on their part.

 

[leo1]

Where'd you find this one, Idaho? I don't see it on jjobs or APSE.

did you check the chain's jobs site? i didn't but i'd guess it's there.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Where'd you find this one, Idaho? I don't see it on jjobs or APSE.

did you check the chain's jobs site? i didn't but i'd guess it's there.

They aren't a chain. Family owned.

Haven't seen it in a while. In the early and mid-1980s it was arguably the best paper of its size in the nation, but they ran into some financial problems in the late 1980s, early 1990s and scaled back in some ways. In fact, the ME left because he didn't want to make the cuts. Which still left it as an elite paper, just not as good as it had been. Still did some long pieces and ran lots of large staff photos. What's it like now?

 

[thegrifter]

damn. that's some nice cha-ching.

 

[Clever username]

The jjobs ad says they're hoping to fill the spot by Aug. 1. I guess they plan on doing a thorough search.

 

[Idaho]

the guy who knows a guy says there is a retirement in the works at the paper and an anticipated shuffling of the department. the retirement is tentatively set for August, hence the date in the ad. They are in no hurry, but also want to make sure they have the right person for the job.

 

[silvercharm]

I'm putting two and two together here and coming up with, well...but Bob Rodman, who has covered Oregon State in recent years, is retiring soon. My guess is Ron Bellamy, the sports editor, is giving up his role as the paper's columnist and turning Rodman's position into that of a columnist. I don't know that for fact, but it's an educated guess.

 

[Angola!]

Why do they put how much they will pay a week? I've never seen that before.

 

[luckyducky]

I love the RG and (most of) the folks that work there (many college buddies included, sports desk as well), but maybe this is the kick in the proverbial pants they need to step back a little bit from being buddy-buddy with the Ducks. Ideal candidate? Perhaps a columnist who knows the Pac-10 but isn't UO bred, excells in analysis and can handle having a coach mad at him for a day or two. Not to say that the RG has *****-footed around the Ducks (or Beavs) recently, but 90 percent of the harsh words in the community shouldn't be coming from the student paper.

That said, the focus is Oregon, Oregon State, preps, Lane CC, track and field, Oregon alum and then everything else. It's a great community.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Why do they put how much they will pay a week? I've never seen that before.

They were unionized last I looked, so I would guess this is scale.

 

[awriter]

It's a very good section. Bellamy seems like a good guy. Most of their Portland stuff comes from the Vancouver paper or AP, so they rarely pop up north.

 

[Lucas Wiseman]

Ron Bellamy, the sports editor in Eugene, asked me to post this note that was sent to the newsroom staff today...

Note to: Newsroom colleagues

From: Ron Bellamy

Today, an ad was posted on our Web site to begin the process of hiring a new lead sports columnist for The Register-Guard. The same ad is also being posted on several journalism-related job boards, including Associated Press Sports Editors.

Here's the background: Reporter Bob Rodman retires in August, after 42 years in journalism. After considering a number of options, I determined in early December that the best way to fill this pending vacancy with impact — to give our readers more, to improve our sports section both in the print edition of The Register-Guard, and on our Web site — is to hire a columnist. The Publisher, Managing Editor and sports staff have endorsed this plan.

By the time our new columnist begins work, ideally no later than Aug. 1, I will have completed my 20th year as the sports columnist here (and my 32nd year overall at the R-G). A lot has changed in Eugene, and in the sports world we cover, since I started columnizing about quarterback Bill Musgrave's first Oregon football season in August 1987. This newspaper, and community, are ready for a different voice.

By August, too, I will have completed my fifth year as sports editor. As with being the Oregon head football coach and athletic director, these are really two jobs, and I no longer want to face the dilemma of short-changing our readers because I can't produce as many columns as I want to produce, or short-changing the quality of our section by putting the column first. As we gear up to cover the 2008 Olympic Trials, that will require even more of my time and take away from column time. Our readers deserve more consistency than that.

I still intend to write columns — one a week, maybe two — because I believe that we're in an era in which readers want opinion, analysis and perspective from us, far more than simply the score. I'll also help cover games as a sidebar writer, and contribute other stories where needed. But I won't be the lead columnist, and so on Sunday mornings after football games this fall, there will be a new mug looking back at you from the cover of the sports section.

There will be some sports beat changes that will be taking place between now and August, and they'll become evident when they happen. For now, in case you'd wonder, I want you all to know that this is completely my idea and my decision, that I'm not close to retiring — two kids yet to put through college should be ample evidence of that — and that I'm very much at peace with this transition.

I believe it will make us better.

-- Ron

 

[Eagleboy]

At least six years of sports-writing experience for a daily newspaper and graduation from a four-year college or university required

How set in stone are these qualifications? I see on their own Web site that it says the following:

Minimum of five years of maturing news-related experience; graduation from a four-year college or university, preferably with major course work in journalism; any satisfactory equivalent combination of experience and training.

Six years there, five years here ... what are we looking at in terms of experience? And how about the "satisfactory equivalent"?