Signal adds two to editorial staff
Perry Smith, Steve Kiggins take on new roles for local newspaper
The Signal has recruited two news veterans to top positions on its editorial staff as part of the ongoing strategic changes at the media company as it moves toward launching several new initiatives over the next 120 days.
Perry Smith is the new deputy managing editor responsible for running the daily news operations for both The Signal newspaper and its online operations at SignalSCV. com.
“We are happy that Perry has joined our news team and believe that he will take our coverage to the next level, providing more news and a broader scope of news on both the pages of The Signal and online,” said Signal Publisher Chuck Champion.
Smith is a journalist
who has spent his career covering local community news.
He’s spent the last 10 years in the Santa Clarita Valley as a resident working with media outlets, and prior to that he worked at the Kitsap Sun in Bremerton, Washington; the Visalia Times-Delta in California’s Central Valley and the Shelby County Reporter in Columbiana, Alabama.
He most recently was news director at KHTS radio in Santa Clarita.
He first came to The Signal in December 2008, spending time as a copy editor, education writer, sports writer and assistant city editor.
Steve Kiggins is the new editor of the Santa Clarita Valley Business Journal and business editor of The Signal. He oversees the content and design of the Business Journal and online content at scvbj.com. He also is responsible for daily business coverage for The Signal online and The Signal newspaper’s business section.
“Steve brings many years of reporting and editing experience to his role at The Signal and Business Journal. We’re confident that under his direction there will be more business coverage in The Signal and the Business Journal will offer more in-depth coverage of the Santa Clarita Valley economy,” said Business Journal Publisher and Signal Editor Jason Schaff.
A California native, Kiggins has won awards in four states for his news, sports and features reporting over a 26-year career in media and public relations. Prior to joining The Signal in December, Kiggins was based in Utah as an executive editor in the USA TODAY Network.
The Business Journal is undergoing a redesign that will make it more readerfriendly and allow for more in-depth coverage. The publication is also sponsoring a series of events to highlight and honor businesspeople and companies that are integral to our local economy.
Smith and Kiggins are actively involved in several new initiatives the company is undertaking including a year-long tribute and celebration of the 100 years that The Signal has been the main source of news for the SCV. The Signal was founded on Feb. 7, 1919.
“The Signal has been an integral part of this community for the last 100 years and has chronicled its many changes over the decades. Most of the valley’s history since its inception has been printed in the pages of The Signal,” Champion said.
The Signal has already begun a look back at the SCV’s past 100 years. On a daily basis on page A2 of the newspaper, it has been reproducing articles from the pages of The Signal over the last century. It is reaching out to the community and encouraging readers to share their stories of the biggest moments in local history and their favorite stories in The Signal over the years.
“The story of The Signal is the story of the people of the SCV and we want everybody here to be a part of our birthday celebration,” Champion said.
New initiatives underway include development of the new Signal app which will include The Signal Vault that will offer additional compelling content to readers that you won’t find anywhere else.
The Signal Vault will provide access to local content such as video series, contests, podcasts as well as interactive features that offer more than what is available on the regular site.
“The Vault will offer readers much more information and perspective about the SCV and it will be presented in interesting and interactive formats,” said Gary Sproule, Signal chief operating officer and chief financial officer. “Readers will not need to leave our site to find everything they want to know about the area.”
Signalscv.com, which has received 3 million page views for the last 30 days, is the most viewed media website in the SCV. The site has recorded 279,900 unique visitors for the last 30 days.
Unique visitors refers to the number of distinct individuals requesting pages from the website during a given period, regardless of how often they visit.
The recent additions to both Signal staff and to its products are part of a strategic plan by owners Paladin Multi-Media Group, Inc. to offer more information to local readers and provide more community engagement, Sproule said.