Marty Beneteau
A high school religion teacher, the enigmatic Father Dillon, perhaps channelling the ’70s other enigmatic Dylan, wrapped his daily lessons with something resembling a chant:
“Questions? Comments? Cries of anguish?” he said.
Were Father Dillon still proselytizing 35 years later, his gaze might have landed on my other religion, the newspaper business. Its struggle for a viable future in the digital age is a beguiling puzzle, consuming more newsroom chatter than Justin Trudeau’s looks.
Start with The Star, one of Windsor’s storied franchises. Mix in an industry in its most jarring transformation since radio entered the game. Sprinkle in a city challenged to find its economic bearings.
And now, for 120 Star employees, top it with a move from our nearly century-old home at Pitt and Ferry to a renovated movie theatre at Ouellette and University. One year ago the place was a failing four-plex, its gum-encrusted, ski-slope floors no more resembling an office than a roller rink.
Small wonder that a behavioural studies major hasn’t set upon us as subject matter for a thesis paper. We’re uprooting staff from 68,000 square feet and plunking them into one-third that space. We’re taking departments split among three floors and mashing them into one. We’re tossing out cubicles and winnowing down filing cabinets. We’re making worlds collide, putting ad reps within spitting distance of reporters.
Egad, we’re killing the “women’s lounge!”
And while the motivations for moving are bona fide — enhancing our profile, upping our digital game, partnering in the rebirth of downtown — the change of address illuminates a fundamental upheaval in our industry.
Smaller footprints. Lower costs. Greater efficiencies. Yes to our foundational strengths of content, sales and marketing; no to waste. We’re managing the transition of our business from print to digital, enjoying an unprecedented audience but still not quite sure how to make it work on the balance sheet.
Survival has introduced never-before-seen concepts to newspapering, from the divestiture of real estate to centralization, outsourcing and, yes, fewer days in which a printed paper is delivered to the doorstep. The course pioneered by the Detroit News and Free Press now sees an increasing number of followers, most recently a slashing of the Pulitzer-winning New Orleans Times-Picayune to three days a week. The Star’s sister papers in Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton recently ended their Sunday editions.
Sun Media, Canada’s largest print publisher and owners of the Chatham, London and Sarnia papers, deep-sixed a raft of publishers, editors, writers and printing presses all in one $45-million cost-cutting swoop.
Rebuilding the revenue side of the ledger has been daunting. Seen as blasphemous as recently as three years ago, media led by the New York Times and Globe and Mail have begun charging for access to their websites. The Star will place a thoroughly redesigned website behind a metered pay wall by the end of 2013, as will the other nine Postmedia-owned papers and the Toronto Star.
The sale of Pitt and Ferry is part of this new reality. While treasured for its historical significance and great, if not slightly hazy memories, the building’s best days are behind it. Big-ticket items like the roof and HVAC system are at end-of-life, and some of the carpet is so weathered it can’t tolerate a shampoo. Postmedia could not reasonably foot a significant renovation bill when the place is two-thirds unoccupied.
Our conversion from owners to renters will, hopefully, give us a new lease on life. We found the right buyer in the University of Windsor, which values heritage and will give our old home the TLC it deserves. We found a landlord who shared our vision of a forward-thinking space in the heart of downtown, and had the wherewithal to make it happen.
When I hand the keys to university president Alan Wildeman, it will be with mixed emotions. Pitt and Ferry has been my professional home for more than 30 years. From its walls emerged journalism which changed the face of our community. We forged a reputation for no-holds-barred reporting, and angered masses with not quite mainstream opinion. We won national awards. We learned to drink less but probably curse more. We cared — deeply.
I will leave the old place with questions (mostly unanswered), comments (why didn’t they build the $@&$#% arena next door?) and one very loud cry of anguish: Farewell old friend, I will miss you!
Marty Beneteau is publisher and editor in chief of The Windsor Star.
