August 13, 2010 Meeting

Call to Order & Invocation

President Howard Perkins welcomed the assembled masses to the Eagle-Tribune’s North Andover headquarters, and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Reverend Peter Caruso then offered a heartfelt invocation.

Guests

Our guests today were too numerous to mention, but included a number of Al Getler’s colleagues from the Eagle-Tribune.

Announcements / Upcoming Events

President Howard put in a plug for the upcoming Food Drive, which is scheduled for Saturday, August 28th from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Eagle-Tribune’s Turnpike Street, North Andover location; volunteers are encouraged to reach out to Jim Greeley and Al Getler.

President Howard also reminded the membership about the Club’s 2nd annual Pancake Breakfast, which will be held at Bowling Green Park in Shawsheen Village on Saturday, September 25th, from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon. This event will be held in conjunction with Andover Days, and we will again be teaming up with Atria Marland Place. Foundation Chair Bob Lavoie announced that there will be a Polio Plus table at the event, in order to raise awareness and funds for this important Rotary initiative; after the Breakfast, Bob indicated that the Polio Plus table will be moved up town for Andover Days, and he is looking for volunteers to assist, both at the Breakfast and during Andover Days.

Program

Today’s program was led by Andover Rotarian and Publisher of the Eagle-Tribune, Al Getler. Al told us that the Eagle-Tribune is not what we think of when we remember Perry White, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olson and the Daily Planet – rather, it is a media company whose purpose is to inform its readership of newsworthy events, and the lifeblood of the newspaper business – the means by which the presses run, the employees get paid, and the community gets informed – is advertising. This is why the North of Boston Media Group runs out of the Eagle-Tribune’s North Andover facility as well.

The Eagle-Tribune serves the geography north of Boston and into Southern New Hampshire, and does so through the following daily and weekly newspapers: the Eagle-Tribune; the Gloucester Daily Times; The Salem News; The Daily News of Newburyport; the Haverhill Gazette; Derry News; the Andover Townsman; and the Carriage Towne News. North of Boston Media Group also offers magazines centered around the following communities: the Andovers; Marblehead; Newburyport; and Cape Ann.

Al then took some time to introduce several key players at the Eagle-Tribune / North of Boston Media Group, each of whom had an opportunity to describe their job:

Al White is Editor, and has been there for many years; Al’s job is to manage content, discuss and foster story ideas, and a whole lot more.

Tim Brady is Advertising Director, and in addition to managing the advertising executives, he is overseeing the launching of a Merrimack Valley “40 under 40” initiative.

Lori D’Amore is Director of Human Resources, and has her hands full managing over 400 employees in various locations throughout Northeastern MA and Southern NH.

Steve Milone is Circulation Director, and takes care of getting publications in paying customers’ hands once they leave the building.

Martha Sybert is Controller, and to the collective groan of all the other executives, announced that budget season is just beginning.

John Gregory is Director of Information Technology, which means that he keeps the paper’s hundreds of PC’s and MAC’s running smoothly, gathering the data they need, and being available for the creative work of the staff.

Jim Falzone is Director of Operations, and is responsible for getting the publications from electronic media to aluminum plates, then through the presses, then into circulation.

Following the introductions and overviews, there was a lively period of Q&A, and many thoughtful questions were met with excellent answers from Al and his directors.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at about 8:30, and from there, the majority of attendees were given a tour of this impressive facility. It was interesting to note that the executives giving the tours each thought that their particular area was the most integral part of the operation, but it was clear to see that this dimensional operation is well run, and that there is a true “team approach” to delivering the news to our demographic, and doing so with excellence.

Many thanks to our host, Al Getler and his staff at the Eagle-Tribune for a wonderful breakfast and program!