Rescuer of weekly learns the ropes
‘Got to have a paper’ in Calhoun County, says news novice
HAMPTON — Larry Killian didn’t know anything about running a newspaper until he bought one.
“I didn’t even have a paper route as a kid,” he said.
Nonetheless, at age 53, Killian decided to plunk down $12,000 and reopen the South Arkansas Sun in November, about three months after its previous owner shut down Calhoun County’s only newspaper.
Killian has put out three editions of the weekly paper so far, and he’s still the only full-time employee. Not that he’s really full time. A Ouachita Baptist University graduate with a degree in music, Killian also works as worship pastor at Parkers Chapel Baptist Church in El Dorado in Union County. And he hasn’t quite figured out a way to start paying himself, so it’s not entirely clear whether his endeavor will turn out to be a public-service project, a moneymaking business or some combination of the two.
“I don’t care if I make money,” he said during an interview in the paper’s storefront office, “but I can’t afford to lose money.”
General-interest daily newspapers have been fighting declining circulation and advertising revenue for years, but the picture is little brighter for community papers such as the South Arkansas Sun, some experts say.
“Readership surveys that we’ve done show they are doing fairly well,” said Stan Schwartz, communications director for the National Newspaper Association, a trade group for community papers. “Some are even growing.”
An individual paper’s prospects depend on the level of competition it faces and the amount of local advertising available, Schwartz said. If a paper is located in a county seat and has no head-to-head competitor, as is the case for the Sun, then it has a chance to prosper, he said.
Killian said he prints between 800 and 1,000 copies of the Sun, with somewhere between a third and almost half being mailed to out-oftown subscribers.
Hampton has about 1,500 residents, and Killian says the county’s population totals about 5,000. Highland Industrial Park, occupied by several defense firms, is located nearby in East Camden, but most military contractor activity is in Ouachita County, where about 2,500 work in manufacturing, according to 2013 U.S. Census Bureau data. Fewer than 100 worked in manufacturing in Calhoun County, the data indicate.
Hampton’s Main Street was fairly busy on a recent Friday afternoon, but there were a number of empty storefronts. Killian’s own building sits between a closed flower shop and an antiques and woodworking store that showed no signs of activity.
As the county’s paper of record, the Sun benefits from publishing required public notices, and Killian pointed out that the Nov. 19 edition, his third, carried the Calhoun County delinquent property tax list, a nice boost to his bottom line.
“Plus, it’s an election year, and we’ve got several contested races,” Killian said, expecting that the candidates will buy ads as their campaigns heat up.
Killian said he talked to other publishers before buying the Sun and believes that the paper can net $30,000 to $50,000 annually. But money wasn’t his chief motivation.
When the former owner Brenda Clark announced she was closing the Sun in August, Killian said, “my first thought was we’ve got to have a paper in the county.”
Clark had run the paper for more than 19 years when she decided to call it quits because, she says, “I was tired.” She had help selling ads and designing the paper but did everything else, Clark said.
Clark closed the Sun on Aug. 17 after accepting a state job in El Dorado. She said she made no effort to find a buyer. “I didn’t contact anybody, and Larry called me. It was a blessing for both of us.”
During the time when the Sun was shut down, copies of the Fordyce News-Advocate were made available at a few locations in Hampton so that public notices could be circulated. But it wasn’t the same as having a hometown paper, several residents said.
“It’s because it’s our kids’ pictures in there, our schools, things that happen here,” said Patricia Gurnsey, the county judge’s secretary. “One lady told me we all know the news but we need the paper to see if he heard it the way we did.”
While a reporter was interviewing Killian, Larry Buzbee from near Tinsman in Calhoun County stopped by the newspaper office to order a mail subscription for a former resident.
“I’m glad you got the paper going,” he told Killian. “We missed it very much.”
Howard Wilson, a retired Lockheed Martin quality control specialist who covers local sports for the Sun, said residents have been approaching him to renew their subscriptions. He said the paper was especially important in a town with few places where large groups could gather to discuss community events.
“People looked forward to Thursday when they could get the paper and the news,” Wilson said.
The Sun publishes community-newspaper staples such as church columns, school honor rolls and pictures of young hunters with trophy deer. But the Nov. 12 edition also featured a frontpage article on a legislative audit of the county government that found what the reporter called “minor offenses.”
Killian conceded that the town’s excitement about having its newspaper back may diminish when it publishes harder-edged stories. He said he’s still figuring out what news to cover.
“Reporting on difficult issues and writing it where it’s not destructive to somebody” is a big part of what he calls his steep learning curve.
His adult son has a degree in mass communications, and Killian hopes he will move home someday and take over the paper. In the meantime, Killian is learning as he goes: how to sell ads, how to write and edit news articles, how to design a paper that looks good to him, how to keep the books balanced so he can go on publishing.
Tom Larimer, executive director of the Arkansas Press Association, said the economic woes of south Arkansas add to Killian’s challenges.
“It’s quite a feat what he’s done,” Larimer said. “He’s going to need a lot of energy because it’s going to be an uphill climb for him, at least at first.”
Killian is quick to note that his wife, Shanna, a teacher in the Hampton public schools, helps out, and Ovid Goode, who owned a now-closed competing paper in Hampton, serves as editor-at-large, covering hard news and writing a regular column.
Killian, a laid-back, optimistic sort, insists he’s enjoying himself.
“I told somebody that I haven’t worked this hard for the past 10 years,” he said. “But it’s fun. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think I could have fun.”