What Maury Povich has learned
by owning a Montana newspaper
“After nine years, we’re
almost breaking even.”
Maury Povich’s local newspaper
was never meant to be a profit engine. But he’s proud that it is gaining
readers, revenue and respect.
The weekly paper, the Flathead Beacon, serves
the town of Kalispell and Flathead County in Montana, population 90,000. Povich
-- famous for his eponymous daytime talk show -- and his wife, Connie Chung,
have a vacation home nearby.
“It’s really homegrown and it’s
been a critical success,” he said in a telephone interview.
To that end, the Columbia Journalism Review recently profiled the paper and quoted a journalism
professor who called it “the best newsroom in Montana.”
“The first edition of the
Beacon, totaling 24 pages, was published in May 2007,” CJR explained. “Since then, the Beacon has grown from a
staff of seven people to more than 20 employees, with five and a half newsroom
positions.”
The staff publishes news
stories every day on the web site in addition to the weekly print edition.
Povich started the paper partly
because he wasn’t impressed by the community’s existing daily paper, the Daily
Inter Lake, and partly as a “tip of the hat” to his late father, the legendary
Washington Post storyteller Shirley Povich. He operates several other
businesses, including a production company, but this one is more personal.
Speaking with CNNMoney, Povich
said he has received a surprising amount of feedback about the profile of the Flathead Beacon. So has Heidi Gaiser, a
veteran Montana reporter who wrote it.
“Many people did not know Maury
Povich was the owner. They have never hidden it, but they’ve never made a thing
of it either,” Gaiser said in an email message.
Povich said he has always
sought to make editor-in-chief Kellyn Brown the face of the paper, along with
Brown’s lieutenants.
“Not only are they great
reporters, they’re great writers,” he said.
Chung, also on the phone, added
with obvious pride, “they’re so good.”
The paper recently paid for two
staff members to travel to the Super Bowl because one of the quarterbacks was a
Montana native.
The paper brings the couple
joy, but it is a business. And there have been some media business lessons
along the way.
“What we’ve found out is that
you just can’t make it on print alone,” Povich said. “You’ve gotta be a bit
more expansive. So I bought Flatland Living.” That’s a glossy quarterly
magazine guide to the region.
He also bought a local marketing firm and
integrated it with the paper. “It is almost like a production company, so we
can give advertisers more than just a spread in the paper,” he explained. “We
do web site development for clients; social media; we do their brochures,
special sections.”
Gaiser, who used to write for
the Daily Inter Lake, said the Beacon “is incredibly well regarded” in town.
After her profile let more
people know about Povich’s ownership, she said there’s been buzz elsewhere in
the state about it: Some people in Billings “would like Maury to start a paper
there.”
Povich and Chung
will appear on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” Sunday at 11 a.m. Eastern.
