25. May 2010 by pat desmond.

It’s been busy in the office this spring.

It’s always a busy season - but we’ve been trying to finish off our first ever Little MiltonTelephone Book and then our advertising coordinator, Phil Perry, was hired by Comcast.

Phil wanted to keep both jobs. The hours didn’t conflict. At the Milton Times, we work 9 to 5.  The Comcast job was 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. with varying days.  Since he isn’t 30 yet, it was possible. But somehow even young people need sleep.

Phil, a graduate of Boston College High School and Georgetown University, lives in Milton. His goal is sports writing and while he worked on the Milton Times ad, he also turned in some excellent local sports articles.

We all miss Phil. He was forthright, hardworking and committed. We were disappointed when he gave his two weeks notice.

This week our new advertising coordinator began working in our office at 480 Adams St.

Patty Casinelli D’Agostino won’t be writing sports stories in her free time. Once she learns the ins and outs of the job, we expect our page count will increase. We base the number of pages of our weekly paper on the number of advertising inches. The more paid inches, the larger the paper.

We look forward to growth. There is so much more to write about and photograph in Milton. All we need is the space.

Posted in staff notes | No Comments »

6. February 2010 by pat desmond.

The Milton Times is creating a local phone book.

Phil Perry, our advertising coordinator, will be handling the gathering of information. Phil is particularly suited for this task, having roots in the community and an ability to listen deeply.

Our graphics designer, William Curry, is working on developing a map of the town that will fit on the pullout flap. William is also tasked with creating the front page, which will be a glossy full color page that will have information about the contents. This year we aren’t planning to sell any ads on the cover - we need the residents to understand this book is all about their community.

Last week we sent a mailing out to all the businesses in town with information about our little telephone  book. There is interest in the book - especially from business owners who use a cell phone as their work number and from home-based businesses.

Most of the prime locations sold even before the mailing hit the streets.

But now the real work begins for me as I gather ad copy (and checks).

People ask how this is different. And I have my reply ready. First this is just Milton. Not Canton. Not Stoughton. Not tiny type like the Verizon book. Next we are printing 10,000 copies and having it delivered to the 9,800 Milton addresses. The last time the Lawrence-based telephone book company did town-wide distribution was in 2002. (But we know Indian Cliffs got a 2009 book.)

We want this book to work for the entire community.

But people keep asking me, why is the Milton Times doing this now even after I have explained there is a need for a good local phone book.

And they are right, there is another reason.  The local economy hit a plateau in 2009. Our small business needs a way to break the stranglehold of a choking economy.

Nearly 30 years ago I worked at Mariner Newspapers, which was then headquartered in Marshfield. It was a newspaper chain created by David Cutler, whose parents started the Duxbury Clipper. David ran his business on a shoestring thanks to a staff that loved what they were doing.

Whenever the economy delivered a slow season, David started a new venture. It was an amazing lesson. He sold the Mariner papers in the late 1980s to a major corporation. And they’ve been sold a few times since. David is still involved in the newspaper business, having inherited the Clipper and parlayed his own money into backing a small daily near Worcester and a few tiny weeklies in New Hampshire.

The business model I have implimented at the Milton Times is the one I learned from David. “Local, local, local,” he would say. “Some say parochial as if it were a bad word but people want local news. They want to know about their local community.”

It is a lesson any community newspaper does well to remember. Thank you, David.

Posted in staff notes | 1 Comment »

14. December 2009 by pat desmond.

This year I’ll be spending Christmas in Berlin, NH.

My daughter and her two children want to spend the day at home.

My daughter works for the Salvation Army in Berlin. She is busy delivering Christmas presents to the needy this season. By Christmas she usually is tired.

Me too. The holiday season can be grueling. Today I traveled along the Forbes Holiday House Tour, enjoying the season and thinking about how amazing the mansions look in their Christmas wrappings.

This week I have two important holiday parties. Our staff party is Friday at the home of Judy McDonough. We close the office from 1 to 2 p.m. every Friday for our weekly staff meeting. This week, we will be closed until 2:30 (or so).  I’m still trying to figure out what I can bring for the gift swap.

The other party happens Tuesday with the women of the Board Forum. We haven’t been meeting regularly this year. But last month we had dinner and there is a possibility we may be dinnering more often.

Posted in staff notes | No Comments »

26. November 2009 by pat desmond.

Thanksgiving is all about the good in our lives.

And, of course, we all think of days past as we live through the joy of the day.

But living in the present, we can enjoy living in minutes of gratitude and hope.

Taking time for family and friends helps me find new energy.

This is a busy time of year at the Milton Times. We always run the paper at between 30 to 40% advertising. And this season we usually have more retail advertising than in the other three seasons. It gives us more space for photos and news about the community.

Thanksgiving is the height of our advertising season - it makes it difficult to take a whole day off. Yet we do.

Posted in staff notes | No Comments »

6. October 2009 by pat desmond.

Kristie Gillooley was at CelebrateMilton this past weekend, taking dozens of photos for the Milton Times. Kristie will be doing more photos for the Times.

In her first week, she covered Bella English doing a book signing at the wonderful new Abby Park, plus the Forbes Family Day.

This past week, her second, Kristie concentrated on CelebrateMilton and the thousands of townspeople who partied all day Oct. 3 at the Cunninghan/Collicot school complex.  In the Oct. 8 issue there will be one day of Kristie’s photos. But there is much more to come.

Posted in staff notes | No Comments »

22. July 2009 by pat desmond.

Lita Muhammad, who has been the advertising manager at the Milton Times for slightly more than a year, wrapped up her work today.

Her exit interview was simple. Lita has worked extremely hard in the past year to learn how to keep all our advertising orders filled. Her position won’t be filled immediately. It’s a difficult economy. We can manage with one less person for the summer.

The office closed for a couple hours last Friday so the staff could take Lita to lunch. The group went to Gerard’s in Dorchester. It was her last full day.

I wish I had been there but I was still on vacation in Puerto Rico, enjoying time in the sun with my 9-year-old grandson.

For the next month or so I will be the ad manager. The position is a part-time one. And actually we didn’t have an advertising manager until a few years ago.

Having the position filled makes my life a lot better.

I will miss Lita.

Posted in staff notes | No Comments »

3. July 2009 by pat desmond.

It’s the 3rd of July and I’m sitting in my office, typing away, getting ready for the 4th of July.  Vacations have begun for us but most of the staff is working today.

People here decided Monday would be their holiday, for the most part.  

The paper will be relatively thin this week. Expect photos of the 4th of July Races - unless they are rained out.

But we have a whole collection of fine photos about Milton events that are waiting for space. So no problem if the races fail to happen.

Posted in staff notes | No Comments »

19. June 2009 by pat desmond.

Our staff lunch today was the last time the full staff will be in the office this summer.

Vacations begin next week.

I haven’t hired an intern this summer - for the first time in more than 10 years.

And we pared back the use of freelance contributors back in December when the new editor began working.

Cash flow has not matched our 2008 numbers - but that is not the end of the world as long as this is a temporary dip.

Posted in staff notes | No Comments »

10. June 2009 by pat desmond.

This week we are switching to a photo gallery that begins to offer a way to monetize our local web franchise.

We’ve been on the web for a dozen years and never done more than break even on the venture.

The news that goes on line is only a small sample to what’s available in the print paper. We have tried and failed to create paying subscribers for news on the web and since people have been paying for the printed newspaper, we are going to make sure they realize the way to find news about Milton and its residents is to buy the paper on the newsstand or through the mail.

Anyway, we now have a photo gallery that offers prints, customized merchandise and downloads. We’ve tried an in-house photo gallery without much success. The real problem was the amount of in-house time it took to maintain. We tried a gallery that specializes in working with East Coast newspapers and found the photo galleries didn’t seem to work for our readers - they could never seem to find what they were looking for and so continued to call the office looking for help finding a desired photo.

The new site is something we discovered because it works for Roy Chambers, the photographer who captures MHS sports for us. He has been using a company called SmugMug.com.

We have a couple galleries set up on the site at www.miltonnews.biz but we may be changing the domain to www.miltonpics.com as soon as the new registration takes hold.

Posted in staff notes | No Comments »

3. June 2009 by pat desmond.

Well tonight a pipe near my livingroom wall decided to explode.

The good thing is I am capable of turning off a water main.

Of course there will be much more work to the clean up. For now the towels sopping up the water that soaked into the carpet will have to be sufficient.

Why do pipes burst? I know there was a plumber doing something for a couple on the third floor Tuesday morning. I know that because the third floor people left a note in the lobby warning that the water would be turned off for a few hours. I wasn’t home at the time.

Having personal issues certainly gets in the way of growing a business.

Dealing with life - reality - can be annoying.

Does anyone know how to prevent pipes from bursting?

Posted in staff notes | No Comments »