RN-T publisher to retire
From paperboy to publisher, Raybon is ending 54 years in the business.
Rome News-Tribune Publisher Otis Raybon Jr. recalls his entry into a career that would last 54 years.
“I was 11 and I wanted to make some money. I bought a used bike from a kid in the neighborhood for $4. I paid him a dollar a week for four weeks,” Raybon recalled.
The year was 1964 and Raybon used that bike to deliver 149 copies of the Griffin Daily News to homes along Broadway, Chapel and Morris streets in Griffin.
Raybon’s introduction to the newspaper industry was a case of love at first sight.
“On the first day that I walked into the Griffin Daily News to ask for a paper route, I was fascinated, and remain so today,” he said.
After 54 years, the fascination continues, but the career comes to a close.
Raybon has announced his retirement as publisher of the Rome News-Tribune effective Dec. 31.
“I knew on that first day that I wanted to learn all I could about this business, and I have been blessed to begin my career with a family-owned newspaper and end my career with a family-owned newspaper,” he said.
Otis Brumby III, owner of parent company Times-Journal Inc., said it’s a bittersweet day for the company.
“In addition to a great first name, Otis has been a friend and mentor of mine since I entered the industry. He is a true newspaper man with ink in his veins and has been an asset to this organization. We are happy for him and Barbara as they prepare for the next chapter in their lives and the opportunity to spend more time with family, especially their first grandbaby arriving this summer.”
“We appreciate Otis giving us a lengthy notice as we begin our search for his successor, but assure the Rome community we’ll identify someone with the same passion, love and commitment to our industry and community that Otis has demonstrated throughout his career,” Brumby said.
All through high school, Raybon worked at the Griffin Daily News’ circulation department catching papers as they rolled off the press and sorting them for carriers. The folks at the paper also allowed him to gain hands on experience in all departments during high school. He attended Gordon State College and earned a marketing degree at Georgia State University.
His career took him from advertising manager at Griffin Daily News to the same position at Valdosta Daily Times. He was named publisher of the Americus Times Recorder in 1986 and was transferred back to Griffin Daily News as publisher in 1988.
“The move back to Griffin as publisher of my hometown newspaper was special to me and my family since I had grown up there and delivered the newspaper,” Raybon said of his early career. “Many of my elementary, junior high, and high school teachers had lots of stories to remind me of and they all offered help with grammar and sentence structure.”
“Mrs. Farmer, one of my elementary schoolteachers at Northside Elementary, would read the paper and call me to say, ‘You’ve got grammatical errors in this sentence, you got punctuation errors over here.’”
Raybon suggested she circle the mistakes and bring him the paper.
“I told her I’ll go back to the newsroom and I’ll have a meeting and go over the errors.” Soon, Raybon earned the reputation of being an excellent grammarian. “The newsroom thought I was the one catching all those errors. I did finally explain the origin of those corrections and we all had a good laugh.”
In 1997, he was named president of Northwest Georgia Strategic marketing group and publisher of the Dalton Daily Citizen. He served there until 1998, moving to Rome as chief operating officer of News Publishing Company and was named publisher of Rome News-Tribune. He left Rome in 2013 to pursue an opportunity with Boone Newspapers as publisher of The Daily Leader and Prentiss Headlight in Brookhaven, Miss. He and his wife returned to Rome in February 2015 when Brumby and sister Lee Garrett, owners of Marietta-based Times Journal Inc., bought the RN-T and named him publisher.
Returning to Rome was another extraordinary experience for Raybon, he said. He and his wife Barbara had decided they would retire in Rome, so, in a sense, they had the opportunity to go home twice in their career.
Raybon has also lived through several production and technological changes of the newspaper industry. When he started at Griffin Daily News, molten lead formed the type for the press. Printing transitioned from hot type to cold type to offset printing. Photographic typesetting followed, leading to computer technology, and today’s digital technology.
Reflecting on his career, Raybon said local newspapers are just as important now as they were before the technological disruption of the internet, social, and digital media.
“Communities need newspapers and, in turn, newspapers need strong vibrant communities. The mission of a local newspaper is to serve its community and help direct its growth and progress. That is still as exciting today as it was 50 years ago.
“I tell young people that if they want a life of community service, to consider community newspapers.”
While retiring from the Rome NewsTribune, Raybon is not leaving Rome.
“Barbara and I appreciate the friendship and support of the Rome community and plan on retiring here. We raised our two sons here, and we love First Baptist Church. Rome is home. I would like to thank all our loyal advertisers, readers, subscribers, and our growing online audience. Thanks for your support. All of you have made this last stop on my career a memorable one.”
In looking back over his career, Raybon remembers sage advice from his father. He explained that back in the 1960s in Griffin, there was only one house along his paper route that didn’t subscribe to the Daily News.
“My daddy said, ‘You need to stop and see if you can get them to take the paper … because everybody that’s a good citizen ought to be reading the newspaper.’ Those were his exact words to me.”
Words, he said, that helped spur his love for newspapers and that stuck with him through a long and successful career.