NewsBeat

February 2023 NewsBeat 5 Managing Editor Jen Wing devoted to topics such as arts and entertainment, parenting, seniors and local industry. The papers take particular pride in their high school sports coverage, both for its breadth and depth. Sports Editor Phil Black- well has been covering sports for 26 years, Tyler noted, and the papers' stories reflect his experience and knowledge. Local advertising revenue is essential, much of it coming from businesses in vil- lages with vibrant downtowns such as Cazenovia, with most buyers taking advan- tage of broad buys across all five papers. The papers don't cover the city of Syra- cuse itself, but the places around it. Here you'll find a healthy mix of rural, suburban and urban with a wealth of towns, villages and school districts. Media competition has declined dra- matically over the years. Now, Eagle News- papers are the only papers with reliable coverage of Syracuse's suburbs. Twenty-five years ago, the daily Syracuse Post-Standard competed with them in the suburbs with multiple bureaus that have since closed. "Back then, we found our- selves chasing them," Tyler said. "Now they chase us." The papers cover affluent Skaneateles, the lakeshore village and vacation spot, and Cazenovia, home to the soon-to-close Cazenovia College. The closing of the college is a major blow to the village of Cazenovia and a significant story for the paper. "This is a big deal for that community," Tyler said, adding that people area already working on a plan to use the campus once the college closes. An even big- ger story land- ed in October 2022 when Mi- cron Technolo- gy announced plans to build a computer chip plant in the town of Clay, northern Ononda- ga County. The $100 billion investment over 20 years is expected to create 50,000 good-paying jobs. "I sat down with the [Onondaga] county exec recently and he believes within six or seven years, our pop- ulation will grow by somewhere between 125,000 to 200,000," Tyler said. That's a reversal from the last 30 years when the county, like many other upstate New York regions, saw the economy wither and people move away. "In the 2020 cen- sus, the population had increased a little for the first time in a long time, but not by a lot," he said. For now, a big part of the Micron story is monitoring how communities will plan for the expected growth. Traditionally, local planning boards here tended to favor sin- gle-family developments. But with Micron on the horizon, there is a growing realiza- tion, Tyler said, that other types of housing, such as apartments and condos, will be in the demand. Since October 2009, The Eagle Newspapers has been owned by Community Media Group, a limit- ed liability company. Community Media is owned by Tyler, along with partners John McIntyre of The Spotlight Newspapers in Albany and Dan Alexander of Sun Commu- nity News and Printing in Eliza- bethtown. The decision to buy the papers was the product of "a little bit of self-preservation and a little bit of crazi- ness," Tyler said in retrospect. The previ- ous owners were looking to sell, or close. Like other local papers, one of Tyler's bigger challenges is finding and retaining employees. "Right now I have a reporter position open and reporters are hard to find," he said. That challenge gives him a heightened appreciation for longtime dedicated em- ployees such as Paul Nagle, a salesperson with 46 years with the company, and Lori Newcomb, who'll celebrate her 47th work anniversary this year. Lori, now director of operations/circu- lation, interned with the paper as a high school student from Baldwinsville Cen- tral and slipped into a full-time job. "I graduated on a Sunday and started here on Monday," she said. She has stayed all these years because the variety of her days sustained her interest. She talks to customers. She drives paper routes over the beautiful central New York countryside. She orders supplies. She coordinates. She takes out her camera and shoots news events like parades as she sees them. But she also notes that there's one more important reason she stays: Be- cause "this place, really from the begin- ning, has been like family." Tyler served as NYPA board president in 2012 and another two-year term as president in 2015 and 2016. He current- ly serves on the NYPA Foundation board of directors. "Dave is a terrific board member," said NYPA executive director Michelle Rea. "He is tuned in to the needs of the mem- bers and the things NYPA can do to meet those needs. He is thoughtful, decisive, and highly regarded by his peers. He is also a huge Red Sox fan which gives his a special place in my heart." Judy Patrick is vice president for edito- rial development for the New York Press Association.

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