the photo in the paper tomorrow will be the one you took with your phone…..

In a small town everything is news, or at least we make it seem that way.  

Every Saturday morning we look forward to getting our local paper delivered to our front porch.  We never really know when it will arrive, be it morning or mid-afternoon.  It really depends on the weather and what time our delivery person can will themselves out of bed.  Once it arrives however, it is lingered over, every page read, every photo scanned.  We carefully take the pulse of our small town through what we read in that Saturday paper.  

Now, I have to admit, more often than not, the paper is a point of frustration for me.  You see, as the Director of a non-profit, I rely on the press releases I submit to advertise my events.  Since our paper only comes out once a week, I have only that one chance to reach my audience of 6800 people.  One chance to entice them to come to my museums.  One chance to thank my donors for their recent support.  One chance.  The odds do not stack well in my favor.  

I used to work for WOTV-ABC 41, an ABC affiliate in Battle Creek.  I was in the marketing department and I understand what it means to be pre-empted.  We did it all the time to the little guys.  If a larger national account wanted a time slot that was currently sold to a small local account we would simply pre-empt the little guy.  We would justify it by airing their ad more often in another time slot (usually at 2 a.m. in between the Snuggie and Sham-Wow infomercials).  We felt bad about it….for about a minute….and then we got over it. 

I have to admit when I get my hands on our paper I read it twice.  First, I tear through it to see if my stuff made it in or if I was pre-empted. This week I was pleasantly surprised that my article made it in.  Yeah!  One point for the little guy!  My confidence in our little homegrown paper is growing!  That is until tonight…..

Tonight I went to the city council meeting.  I was on the agenda and had to go.    As I took my seat in council chambers Larry Schuler (owner of Schuler’s Restaurant) sat behind me.  I looked and he was on the agenda too!  The Mayor was proclaiming that April 23rd be Schuler’s Day in Marshall to celebrate 100 years in business and Larry was there to accept this proclamation and do the ceremonious hand shake with the Mayor.  I turned to Larry and congratulated him on such an honor.  100 years in business is quite the accomplishment and Schuler’s put Marshall on the map.  ”This is sure to make into Saturday’s paper” I thought to myself.  A little guy is going to get pre-empted for this story for sure!

The Mayor announced the proclamation, read it aloud and invited Larry up to the bench to accept it.  As Larry approached the Mayor I see the writer from our paper frantically searching for something in her purse.  The Mayor is stalling, obviously sensing her urgency.  Larry reaches for the Mayor’s hand for the ceremonious hand shake.  They pose, proclamation in one hand and the other hand extended in a friendly, frozen, hand shake so as to not blur the photo.  She looks up in disbelief……she forgot her camera.

Will this historic moment only be witnessed by those in council chambers?  

Thanks to our Main Street Manager’s Blackberry we will have a 1 megapixel record of it on her Facebook page.  But as for the story appearing in our local paper…..well I guess you will just have to wait along with me until it arrives next Saturday…….

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