July 31, 2019
Bill Johnston, founder and Editor/Publisher of the newspaper for the past 38 years, and wife Lynda have sold the newspaper to Ryan Stanko of Churchbridge.
“We are absolutely thrilled, and relieved, that Ryan has stepped forward to take over the newspaper,” said Johnston.
“Since we announced a year ago we were intending to retire at the end of July, 2019 we have been inundated with congratulations on our pending retirement, but that was almost always followed by the question, What are we going to do without our local newspaper?”
Bill admitted even he had been surprised by the degree of concern expressed by readers, advertisers and the community in general about what would happen if The Four-Town Journal was no longer produced.
“The fact a young person is willing to take on the challenges that come with producing a weekly community newspaper is something for which our communities should be very thankful.”
“We hope that all of our subscribers and local businesses show Ryan the same support you have shown Lynda and me through the years,” said Johnston.
Stanko takes on the challenge with no newspaper experience, other than a love for the media. Bill will be working closely with him until both feel confident the full transfer of duties can proceed.
“So I guess my retirement will have to wait for a few months,” said Johnston.
He said he’s very excited about plans Stanko has for the paper, particularly in the development of an on-line, digital version to complement the traditional, “hands-on” version which will continue to be printed.
“There are still a lot of our readers who are loyal, paper-variety newspaper readers and we definitely want to keep serving them. But there’s also a whole new generation of readers who prefer digital versions, but still want local news about their hometown.
“We want to be there for both groups.”
There will be other changes as well, including a change in location.
“When we started we needed a tremendous amount of space, including room for an actual photo darkroom, and the space in the RM of Langenburg building, which had been the town’s library, was ideal,” recalled Johnston.
“But with the advent of desktop publishing, we really only need a couple of desks and a filing cabinet or two. So, to minimize operating costs, we will be moving.” To where is still uncertain.
The Four-Town Journal will take a break through the month of August. The next edition of the paper will be published early in September.
At that time current subscribers of the paper will receive a preview edition or two of The Four-Town Journal which will include information about how to go about resubscribing.
“We really hope that everyone will immediately get behind Ryan as he undertakes this very challenging commitment to the residents and businesses of this region,” said Bill.
Authored by: Bill Johnston