The Daily Commercial (Leesburg, Fla.)

[philly fanatic]

The Daily Commercial, a 25,000 daily newspaper in Leesburg, Fla., is looking for a versatile sports writer/copy editor/paginator to complete our staff of three full-timers. High school sports are our focus, with select opportunities for college and professional assignments. We need someone who can handle a variety of tasks from writing gamers, features, advances, columns and enterprise stories to copy editing stories, designing pages and compiling agate and roundups. Experience on Quark or another page design system is a must. Please submit a resume, cover letter, references, no more than five writing samples and no more than five page design samples to: Adam Minichino, Sports Editor, The Daily Commercial, 212 E. Main St., Leesburg, FL 34748.

 

[philly fanatic]

Isn't three full-timers kind of a small staff for a 25,000 daily?
Anybody know anything about the town or the paper? Seems like Leesburg is pretty small (16,000 population).

 

[ThatGuy]

Leesburg=retirement town (yawn)...close to Orlando though...I live here in Orlando but have never dealt with the paper...nor have I heard much about it.

 

[doctor x]

If I remember correctly, coverage area includes 10 public high schools (two in neighboring Sumter County), 2-3 privates plus a community college whose teams seldom contend. Some good prep baseball and basketball from time to time. Sentinel is a huge presence in Lake County. Bureau guy has been there almost 30 years.

 

[Wonderlic]

I applied for and was offered a job here a couple of years back after nothing more than a phone interview with the incoming sports editor, who is no longer there (or at least not in charge).

Once they offered $18k to start, I told him to forget it. It would not have been my first job, and I would have been moving roughly halfway across the country. Dude knew this going in ...

Ever since, ads for positions in their sports department have routinely cropped up, all (until this one) stressing their desire for regional applicants only. :

 

[Tarheel316]

18K to start for a daily that size? Sheesh .....

 

[playthrough]

That figure is not surprising for Leesburg. They've had some peculiar owners in recent years, apparently none inclined to spend money.

As the saying goes in Florida, they'll pay you in sunshine.

 

[philly fanatic]

The paper is offering $23,000 for this current position ($11.04 / hour).

 

[melock]

The paper is offering $23,000 for this current position ($11.04 / hour).

In Florida? Do you have to provide your own box to live in or does one come with the position?

 

[zman82]

23K outside orlando? what a f***ing joke! 23K would be hard to get by on most places these days. is that what our esteemed profession is coming to?

 

[Ace]

The paper is offering $23,000 for this current position ($11.04 / hour).

In Florida? Do you have to provide your own box to live in or does one come with the position?

Some parts of Florida are not really that expensive. I'm sure you can find a nice mobile home next to a swinging senior for that amount of loot.

 

[philly fanatic]

To update my previous post, the wage has been increased to $11.75 / hour.

 

[melock]

To update my previous post, the wage has been increased to $11.75 / hour.

Damn man! The mailman is going to hate you for all those resumes that are bound to flood in after the wage has been increased to a whopping 11.75.

 

[playthrough]

Hey, that is about an extra $1500 a year before taxes. Better than the guy saying the wage went in the other direction (though maybe that happens after you get hired).

 

[Tommy_Dreamer]

I interviewed with this paper not long before I accepted my current position and I can tell you, the newsroom (when I last saw it) is not very modern. Downtown Leesburg is nice, but it's not "youth" oriented.

That said, it is Florida and the surrounding countryside is nice.

 

[melock]

Hey, that is about an extra $1500 a year before taxes. Better than the guy saying the wage went in the other direction (though maybe that happens after you get hired).

That should help you pay for cable AND internet in your box.

 

[daemon]

Hey, that is about an extra $1500 a year before taxes. Better than the guy saying the wage went in the other direction (though maybe that happens after you get hired).

That should help you pay for cable AND internet in your box.

it really is counter-productive to post about things you know nothing about. leesburg isn't the florida you are thinking of. and even if it was, it wouldn't be as bad as you are talking about. leesburg = middle of nowhere. you could find a two bedroom for 700 a month within 15 minutes of "city" center. that said, pay still sucks.

lots of things to knock. cost of living in this area of florida isn't one.

 

[zman82]

Hey, that is about an extra $1500 a year before taxes. Better than the guy saying the wage went in the other direction (though maybe that happens after you get hired).

That should help you pay for cable AND internet in your box.

it really is counter-productive to post about things you know nothing about. leesburg isn't the florida you are thinking of. and even if it was, it wouldn't be as bad as you are talking about. leesburg = middle of nowhere. you could find a two bedroom for 700 a month within 15 minutes of "city" center. that said, pay still sucks.

lots of things to knock. cost of living in this area of florida isn't one.

never been to leesburg, but the living still sounds steep. paying $700 for rent alone means after taxes your 24K salary would amount to one check going to rent and the other going to car/food/gas/expenses. anyway you slice it, it still sounds pretty hard to do.

 

[melock]

Hey, that is about an extra $1500 a year before taxes. Better than the guy saying the wage went in the other direction (though maybe that happens after you get hired).

That should help you pay for cable AND internet in your box.

it really is counter-productive to post about things you know nothing about. leesburg isn't the florida you are thinking of. and even if it was, it wouldn't be as bad as you are talking about. leesburg = middle of nowhere. you could find a two bedroom for 700 a month within 15 minutes of "city" center. that said, pay still sucks.

lots of things to knock. cost of living in this area of florida isn't one.

never been to leesburg, but the living still sounds steep. paying $700 for rent alone means after taxes your 24K salary would amount to one check going to rent and the other going to car/food/gas/expenses. anyway you slice it, it still sounds pretty hard to do.

Thank you!

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

The paper is offering $23,000 for this current position ($11.04 / hour).

In Florida? Do you have to provide your own box to live in or does one come with the position?

We're talking Leesburg, not Fort Lauderdale.