Thursday, October 29, 2009
Media / News Bites Steve Timble Leaves Reader
Posted by Michael Miner on Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 11:42 PM
The appointment of Jim Warren as publisher of the Reader has made the position of associate publisher redundant, in the view of the Reader's owners, and Steve Timble, who held that position and has been acting as publisher, has left the paper. Given the economy, what we all know about the state of print journalism, and the Reader's recent history as part of a chain of weeklies that just came out of bankruptcy, this paper's in fairly decent shape: ad sales goals are in reach, with classifieds showing surprising strength, and the return rate of distributed copies is minuscule. This is progress, it happened on Timble's watch, and I thank him and wish him well.
Comments (19)
Showing 1-19 of 19
Timble is a tireless warrior in any endeavor he takes on. He won't be sidelined for long!
like
dislike
Just wanted to second Michael Miner. He deserves tremendous credit for the fact that the Reader has its legs under it these days, for which I'm very grateful to Timble.
So because Steve Timble had experience as a publisher, knew how to set and come close to achieving reachable business goals, sell and supervise the sale of ads -- including, mirabile dictu -- classifieds, tighten up distribution, and keep out of editorial matters, he's now "redundant"? Godspeed, Steve!
Steve brought tremendous stability, structure and focus to the sales organization of the Reader after years of neglect by previous regimes. The Reader had lost many clients to the competition, not because the Reader didn't still have a big, valuable audience, but because the sales staff was mostly order takers rather than strong salespeople who engaged and served the needs of their clients. With his never-ending hustle, determination and belief in the mission of the Reader, he succeeded in making much-needed changes to the Reader culture and it's a shame he didn't have more time to see his vision through. I hope Jim Warren has some understanding how the business side operates or else I fear the Reader is in a lot of trouble.
Tribune folks running the Reader? Didn't these people ruin the Tribune? Doesn't sound like a good move on CR's part.
Chalk it up as another black eye/embarrassment for private enterprise: Financial company buys Chicago Reader out of bankruptcy. Financial company interim CEO hires crony, and former member of bankrupt Chicago Tribune Company's failed management team, as Reader's new publisher. Financial company declares new guy's predecessor's position "redundant". Thereby, dynamic, energetic and savvy Assistant Publisher, Steve Timble, who in one year's time brought substantial revenue & profit growth back to the Reader, by creatively repairing its neglected, downtrodden sales culture, is "shown the door".
One has to wonder, if Sam Zell owns a big piece of Atalaya Capital Management; & if his inept knowledge of the publishing industry is also driving fatal decisions at Chicago Reader.
These latest and most unfortunate "tinkerings" with the Reader's recovery (already "well in progress"), are ominous; and are Sad Commentary indeed!
"Country Gentleman" & "Co-CEO" of Woodsmoke
Please pardon my earlier "typo".
Steve Timble's position at Chicago Reader was "Associate Editor, not "Assistant" Editor as I erroneously posted.
Country Gentleman
Let me try my correction once again, this time with "double apologies" to Mr. Steve Timble.
His position with Chicago Reader was "Associate Publisher" not "Assistant" Publisher or "Associate Editor".
Country Gentleman (& "double typo" too in a hurry typist)
Initially, I thought the choice of James Warren was a particularly brilliant one that sent the right message that the Reader was committed to journalism.
That was until I heard about Timble’s firing.
Despite Mr. Warren’s talents and journalism pedigree, it’s a fair bet that his experience with the advertising and business end of publishing business is at best, limited.
Under the assumption that has Warren at the helm, concentrating on the editorial side, and Timble continuing to oversee advertising, it would be a perfect partnership for the Reader’s success.
Understand, unlike other businesses, newspapers and magazines have this important dichotomy between editorial and advertising. At a good newspaper, these departments run independently of each other. Yet, at the same time are absolutely dependent upon the success of the other.
A newspaper with a strong editorial side needs the advertising department to sell as many ad inches as possible to insure edit gets the space it needs for stories. Advertising needs good editorial content that will engage people into actually reading the publication in order to sell ad space.
If one side of this symbiosis performs poorly or fails, the entire organism suffers, and more and more often these days, the newspaper dies.
That’s why it’s perplexing if not down right shocking that Timble was fired.
Consider that the newspaper industry is facing its darkest and most challenging days, with the distinct possibility of extinction. Then realize no major publication in Chicago has made money in the last year with most losing butt loads of cash.
No wait! There’s one exception. One paper did make money. Can you guess which one? That’s right the Reader.
The funny thing is, as the titular head of the Reader, Timble actually produced profits for the paper over the past year. In fact, the Reader is the only major Chicago news publication that made money in the last 12 months and perhaps only one of a handful of major city publications in the entire country to turn a profit.
So, let me get this straight. The brain trust investment bankers whom now own the Reader, people whom you would assume can read a profit and loss statement, fired one of the only individuals in the entire nation heading a major newspaper, that actually made money?!?
What?!?
To be honest, I’m not too worried about Timble. With a track record like that in this industry, he should be able to write his own ticket.
As far as the Reader, all I can say is, good fucking luck.
"Then realize no major publication in Chicago has made money in the last year with most losing butt loads of cash."
You are not exactly correct, Johnny. The Chicago Tribune continues to make money. In fact, I believe it still has double digit profit margins. I'm also pretty sure that Chicago Magazine still earns a profit.
I have no desire to weigh-in on whether or not someone I know nothing about should still have a job at the Reader. But I'll just remind Johnny that Timble was the associate publisher, not the publisher (he was the acting publisher for a couple of months). Even if he were the publisher, I think you would still be going a bit overboard giving him credit for everything that may have gone right for the paper. And can someone please explain to me why there are no ads (except classifieds) on the Reader's website when I use Internet Explorer but there are when I use Firefox. Is that what other people's experience is? This has been the case for at least a year. It certainly doesn't seem to be the result of anything on my end since I see plenty of ads on every other website. This suggests that there does seem to be a lot more that can be done to maximize revenue.
Why all this praise for Steve Timble? From what little contact I've had with him, the accolades contained within this thread don't match my experience with the gentleman. I thought him to be rude and arrogant at best and a megalomaniac at worst. The guy never stops talking long enough to hear what anyone else is saying. What I hear from people within the Reader organization is his departure didn't come soon enough. After all, he did have a number of complaints levied against him by members of the Reader staff. But hey, maybe these negative things told to me are just tall tales. Someone please feel free to shine some light on whether of not I have been given false information. And these claims that he saved the Reader? Really? Please. His miraculous powers of resuscitation as Associate Publisher might come as a surprise to those veteran sales people on the Reader staff who have continued to slug away through the thick and the thin to keep the publication afloat. Where are their accolades? It's not as if their efforts were stalled until the the arrival of Mr. Timble. Someone in this thread mentioned his track record. What track record? Enlighten me.
I had the pleasure of working with Steve Timble in a sales capacity during his tenure at the Reader so I feel qualified to shed some light on his performance.
Understand that Timble inherited a sales & marketing tire fire that Ben Eason's Creative Loafing had been dousing with gasoline prior to his hiring. I see his hiring as the only good decision Eason's group made in their 2+ year stewardship of the Reader.
Timble's energy and enthusiasm combined with his knowledge and experience provided the only leadership I witnessed at the Reader. I don't believe it is possible to view his dismissal as a positive, unless you would like to see the Reader shuttered.
Put simply, I enjoyed working with the man and would do so again if the opportunity presented itself.
Altgiant... you hit your assesment right on the head. Although, Timble inherited a tire fire upon his arrival, trust and believe that it was not HIM that kept the sales organization afloat. You have a core group of sales reps within the Chicago Reader who were the REAL heros of this paper. Timble was arrogant, rude, and blew major deals because he didn't know when to keep is mouth shut. His Attention Deficit Disorder would leave a PHd of business begging for a morphine drip and a dark room from the headache you would get just by trying to decipher his need to hear himself speak. Again, the REAL heroes of the sales organization are the sales people who had to endure a MORON (Eason) purchasing the paper, bad management choices, the Kirk days where the man would walk into the building and you could feel each and every dedicated sales rep, writer, and employees souls die a little. Trust and believe, Timble was fired for a reason and I suspecct more to come until they get some people in the organization who actually know how to lead a sales team! Until then, the core group of dedicated and hard working sales people will have to keep plugging away!
UmYeahNO,
You protest what you do not understand. The Reader Sales & Marketing department is the problem. Understand that the founding owners profited greatly during the good old days when clients had no alternative but to place their ads with the Reader, creating the most insular, entitled organization ever imagined. Know that picking up a phone to take an order is just that, order taking, easily accomplished by someone pulled from the local drive-thru. (Would you like fries with that?)
Consultative media sales is a craft, that begins with picking up the phone to call a business and begin a conversation about how the Reader's audience could benefit their business. This is not the Reader I came to know. Creative Loafing under the direction of Eason, MacDonald, DiSalvo, et al, took my earlier referenced tire fire and stoked the flames by introducing needlessly complex, and failed programs like Eats and Chicago Drinks when they should have been focused on changing the broken sales & marketing culture they oversaw. The good news is Eason & MacDonald are gone. Timble attepted to change the culture, and in that respect he deserves credit for just trying.
I have no doubt Timble ruffled some feathers along the way, but that should not be viewed as a bad thing. Business as usual had to change. Given more time I have every confidence that he would have succesfully transformed the culture to that of an effective, efficient, consultative sales organization. And you must know that this transformation is the only thing that will save the Chicago Reader.
I do hope that the new Creative Loafing understands this because I believe the city must have a credible, authentic alternative voice. I will however caution you that if/when the credible leadership you desire is in place, they will continue many of Timble's innovations. How do know this? Because they make good business sense and are necessary to the long term survival of the Chicago Reader. When that happens the order takers will be replaced with true sales & marketing professionals and the Reader will flourish again.
TheRaderiswhatwethoughtitwas,
How can one "change" what you call a "broken" sales and marketing culture when the people at the top are broken themselves? Obviously one can assess that someone like Ben Eason (who is not exactly a business savant) chose his leadership so poorly. I agree that the sales and marketing side of the paper needed some serious attention however, to give credit to Timble for being the "saviour" of the Chicago Reader is simply unfounded.
You say that consultive media sales is a craft then one could argue so is being a true leader. The core sales reps at the Chicago Reader worked very hard under dire circumstances. They weathered a sale of a paper to a horrible organization who had no business purchasing the paper. They weathered a revolving door of advertising managers, poorly executed sales initiatives like Chicago Drinks and Eats to name a few, rude, arrogant, and horrible publisher after Mike Crystal was ousted (Kirk), and numerous other blows to their morale over the last year. Enter Steve Timble who inherited this tire fire and proceeded to talk down to people who had been with the Reader through thick and thin, cared about the paper, and kept at it because they had been there long enough to love this paper and didn't want to see it die.
Hate to tell you but your assessment of the Reader's culture which you described as the most insular, entitled organization ever imagined sounds like someting Timble would say beause only an ARROGANT, Rude, condescending person who does not know when to keep his mouth shut would make that assessment of the staff of the Chicago Reader. Also, to say that they became this way was a result of the business just coming in the door is a pompus and arogant way to think as well! The Chicago market has many other offerings for advertising besides the Chicago Reader! It came in the door at the Chicago Tribune, The Sun Times and every other publication that has managed to weather the horrible economy and the dawn of on-line options. The fault lies in the original Chicago Reader owners who never bothered to incorporate an on-line presence and look into the future of the paper. In not paying attention to the future the FORMER OWNERS dropped the ball because this severely hit the real cash cow at the paper which was the Classified Department in adition to the retail side. This was a common problem across the board with all publications because all their Classified Departments took a hit. If you look at any ALT WEEKLY'S (in this country) Retail sales teams, they have some of the most seasoned, effective and hardest working sales reps because they have to be! Not because some arrogant, self rightous, and insulting ousted publisher of Time Out thinks a clearly dedicated sales team are a bunch or order takers! Amazing those folks are still there and he might be the next one asking if "You want fries with that"
I have yet to see anyone post Mr. Timble's track record within this conversation. I brought this up in my previous post. I am not being flippant; I really don't have knowledge of the gentleman's background. Maybe I do not need to know. Maybe it's not relevant to the conversation. What little I do know doesn't support him being in the position he was, thereby I was a bit befuddled by the initial accolades. He was ousted as publisher from Time Out Chicago and then named associate publisher at the Reader. Really? What did he do before Time Out Chicago? Someone said he worked at Whole Foods for a period of time, but I have no proof of that. If it is true, I do not know what position he held. What was unbeknownst to me until recently is that Mr. Timble and I share a couple of mutual friends and from what I have been told, he sent an e-mail about his departure from the Reader to a group of friends and then asked them to post favorable things about him on M. Miner's blog. I don't see why this mutual friend would make up such a bizarre story, so I have to assume there is some truth to it. Ok, this is my last post on this particular subject (Steve Timble). I am not intentionally taking blows at Mr. Timble. All I wanted to do was point out that this thread started out one-sided. I didn't really understand all the praise for Mr. Timble and the swipes against a veteran Reader staff, one that has been through hell and high water, and looks as though it will come out of this experience all the better for it.
Altgiant,
This is also my last post about Mr. Timble who I suspect is blogger thereaderiswhatwetoughtitwas or one of his associates. If they man was what all these bloggers claim in his execution of the sales and marketing department and producing results, any head of a company with 2 brain cells would have kept him on board.He obviously wasn't getting the job done either how could he when he was constantly running his mouth plugging how he worked for the NY Times and belittling sales staff who knew what they were doing!
Track Record:
• A series of wins
• Sustained achievement
• Successful, long-standing business and inter-personal relationships without interruption or animosity
• A person's past performance viewed in its entirety
• A record of actual or accomplishment; the sum of recognized achievements
Latest in Bleader
-
This week's movie action
New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue
- Feb 10, 2012
-
My playlist of political soul
Nine of my favorite soul tracks that push for a better world
- Feb 10, 2012
-
Blackhawks deep-sixed
The Blackhawks lose their sixth straight game
- Feb 9, 2012
- More »
Author Archives
-
Do newspapers think we can't see who's missing?
When editors disappear, readers notice they're gone
- Feb 8, 2012
-
Hail, Hail, to Michigan!
The front-runner looks forward to the Michigan primary
- Feb 6, 2012
-
A couple of judges on criminal justice
John Paul Stevens and Richard J. Posner review William Stuntz's "The Collapse of American Criminal Justice."
- Nov 30, 2011
- More »
