Swimming against the tide never felt so good.
Excuse the exuberance. As an eternal realist, I try not to get either too high or too low but deal with things as they come, the good and the not so good.
But the 125th anniversary of the Commonwealth, which we have been marking this week, has strengthened my belief that for all the difficulties the newspaper industry has endured the past decade or two, this newspaper will figure out a way to survive.
The world is changing, and we are having to change with it, but a business does not last 125 years without some bedrock, enduring value.
The Commonwealth is the second-oldest privately owned business in Greenwood, and the oldest one that continues to operate as regularly as it did when it was founded.
For a business to last 125 years is almost unheard of. I looked online for the odds. The closest I could find was an estimate that less than 1/2 of 1% of all companies are still around 100 years after they open. I could not find an estimate for 125 years, but needless to say, it’s the tiniest of fractions.
What’s the Commonwealth’s secret?
There’s no one answer to that.
Stability of ownership stands out. The Commonwealth had two owners in its first nine years of existence. It has had two owners in the 116 years since. The Gillespie family ran it for 68 years, and the Emmerich family has had it for 48 and counting.
Both faced challenges. J.L. Gillespie had only owned the newspaper for five years when a fire heavily damaged both its building and its press. Six years later, business was so good that he converted the Commonwealth from a weekly to a daily.
John Emmerich, who bought the Commonwealth from the Gillespie heirs in 1973, significantly improved the quality of the paper and acquired a dozen others by the time of his unexpected death in 1995. The passing of a force like John Emmerich might have sent some companies into a downward spiral. Not this one.
His son, Wyatt, has doubled the number of newspaper properties in the time since. He has shepherded Emmerich Newspapers through major press upgrades, a print-product diversification that includes slick magazines and phone directories, and now a digital transition that includes a vision to create localized social media.
What is remarkable about Wyatt is that he’s not just a person who can envision where his company should go, but he gets in the thick of things making it happen. He’s on a web conference every weekday morning at 8 a.m. — I participate on those calls twice a week — talking with two different teams of developers in India on ways to improve our websites, to make them faster, more robust, more nimble for smartphones.
When he says that he’s never felt so positive about the future of newspapers, it’s hard not to join him in that optimism.
That’s not to ignore the reality of what’s been happening in our industry. Over the past 20 years, some 2,000 newspapers have closed, thanks to the disruption that the internet has produced and the competitive advantage that Congress gave to Facebook, Google and other online platforms. It’s with mixed emotions that I note the Commonwealth is the last surviving daily in the Delta. There is pride in being a survivor, but it’s also sobering to know that most would bet against our sustaining this.
We are working very hard at the Commonwealth to remain a daily. I believe it’s what the community wants, but ultimately it will depend on the market — whether advertising bounces back and whether more readers are willing to pay for the content we produce — that will determine our frequency of publication.
That will all sort itself out over time.
For now, we have cause to celebrate with our community by hosting an Open House this Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. at our offices. Please join us.
There will be food and drink. Susan Montgomery, who has worked at this newspaper for most of the past 45 years, has spent hours pulling pages and photos from the past. Johnny Jennings, a former Commonwealth ad rep who continues to do freelance photography for us, has formatted them into a neat video presentation. Riley Overend, our sports editor, will be showcasing his keyboard talents. And we have a colorful umbrella, featuring the weekend comics strips, as a “happy” for everyone who attends.
It should be a good party. We hosted a similar one on our 100th anniversary in 1996. I was here for that, and it’s special to be here for this one.
Will the Commonwealth be around in 25 more years? I certainly believe so.
It’s doubtful that I will be around to see it, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
Since 1896, the Commonwealth has been providing value — reliable, trusted information, serving both as the community’s watchdog and its cheerleader. As long as we keep that up, no matter whether in print or online, there will be a future for us.
- Contact Tim Kalich at 662-581-7243 or tkalich@gwcommonwealth.com.
