New TV station revamped; weekly paper join forces

Backed with new capital, Glovsky made the conversion early this month, in concert with a second attempt to put a UHF television station on the air in Ashland, WAST-TV, Channel 25. While the two companies remain separate, they are bound together in a strategic alliance and common purse strings to compete in a tight media market.

“We are not going to be competing in news, because we will be unique, but we will be competing for ad space,” he said.

The new weekly

Glovsky launched the Sounder as a monthly in 2003 and it grew from 16 to 36 pages per issue. “I wanted the paper to be an open forum for the community,” Glovsky says. “The paper has evolved from an open forum to include feature stories. Alternative papers are common in urban areas, but not rural. We are no longer alternative, we are taking it to the next level.”

The old Sounder featured a lively range of opinions. Most strident were regular diatribes against Ashland Mayor Fred Schnook by Alan Ralph, an Ashland media specialist who did a stint on the city council in the 1990s. Schnook, who was weighing whether to run for reelection in early November when his term ends in April, declined to comment on the strategic alliance between the beefed up weekly and its new majority owner, Jessica Nuutinen. She was a key figure in the political campaign of Republican Barbara Linton, who lost her challenge last year to incumbent state Rep. Gary Sherman, D-Port Wing, but won a civil lawsuit against the Democratic mayor for restricting her free speech.

Glovsky says the new weekly will continue to be a forum for public opinion, including Ralph’s contributions, but will have a separate news section. Ralph also will manage circulation, said Nuutinen, who provided the capital to finance the conversion to weekly publication.

There’s also a new Sounder news editor, former advertising representative James Bailey. He has worked for the L.A. Weekly and various northern Wisconsin publications, and also contributed feature stories to the former monthly. “We are excited about this opportunity, we wanted to do more, and now we can,” Glovsky says.

The expansion opportunity came when Nuutinen approached Glovsky with an investment offer. While the pair has offered few details of their deal, Nuutinen confirmed she’s the majority shareholder in Sounder, LLC, which publishes the new weekly. Glovsky is its minority owner and managing editor. The new weekly will remain free to readers, and totally advertiser-supported. “Papers like the Sounder are the papers of the future, newer, less reverent, and focused on what is local,” Glovsky says.

Nuutinen said she’s entered the newspaper business because “it looked like a good opportunity, and was a good product. I wanted to help it be better. Also, I felt that other local papers were not balanced, more opinion than news. I also want more state coverage.”

She said contract carriers in Ashland, Bayfield, Iron, and Sawyer counties will distribute the Sounder.

Nuutinen also is the bridge in the newspaper’s alliance with the reborn television station.

WAST-TV

TV 25, Ashland’s long dormant station is back to life, with a new vision and purpose, after Nuutinen and her father, Hank Martinsen purchased its license. Operating as a UPN affiliate, WAST-TV will return to the airwaves this month, producing news and other local programming.

“I wanted a television station in Ashland, one that had Wisconsin state government news, not Minnesota, and local and state sports coverage. It will also be good for local businesses to have a local station to advertise on,” Nuutinen says. “I want the best newscasts possible, and local weather and sports coverage. Our signal will reach From Mellen, to Red Cliff, to Bessemer. It will also be available on cable in a number of areas.”

Some in the community have political reservations about the new venture. “Media consolidation makes me uncomfortable, both at the national and local level,” says Ashland city councilor Brandon Boys. “Jessica Nuutinen has served as campaign treasurer for a Republican legislative candidate, and was a co-plaintiff in a highly political lawsuit against the mayor of Ashland. Her father is the chair of the local Republican Party. Can we expect her political bias to shine through the news coverage?”

The station’s new general manager and news director vows that won’t happen.

Television news veteran Julie Moravchik grew up in the Ashland area, and reported and produced stories at KUWS-FM in Superior and WDIO-TV in Duluth, before moving on to the Twin Cities market. She received 24 journalism awards, including the Edward R. Murrow Award and an Emmy, for her work.

“Jessica approached me about the station about a year and a half ago. I joined the team this year to put (her) vision for a local station into action - solid Wisconsin and local news, weather, and sports. I want to do fewer stories, but with greater depth,” Moravchik says. She promises local feature stories, and eventually locally-produced shows, including, outdoors, sports, entertainment and public affairs. One of the local productions will be built around performances at Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua.

Other alliances

Nuutinen and Glovsky say WAST and the news weekly will share newsgathering resources and offer bundled rates and programs to advertisers.

Similar agreements have been forged or are in the works with Granite Broadcast-ing, which operates Channels 3 and 6 in Duluth, Range 11 and UPN-Duluth, and with Wisconsin Public Radio. Nuutinen says the WPR agreement will feed downstate Wisconsin news to WAST, and the alliances in general will extend the news resources, and audiences of both operations.

The principal external obstacle to this strategy is the Ashland Daily Press, a unit of Superior Publishing Co. Daily Press Publisher Gary Pennington isn’t laying down the gauntlet just yet.

“A TV station will be a good addition. We have always cooperated with television stations. We hope they do well. We will obviously be competing with the Sounder now, but we wish them well too.”

The alliance

True North TV 25, LLC

Call letters: WAST TV Limited availability on cable.

Owners: Jessica Nuutinen and Hank Martinsen.

Sounder, LLC

Publishes the weekly

Lake Superior Sounder.

Owners: Jessica Nuutinen and Jarad Glovsky

The people

Jessica Nuutinen grew up in the Ashland area, and graduated from Ashland High School. She is the daughter of Hank and Sue Martinsen, who own several Wisconsin businesses, operating collectively as Martinsen Companies. Nuutinen attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. After living and skiing in Colorado for a year, she bought the Taco John franchise in Ashland and worked as a bookkeeper and personnel manager for her father while earning a nursing degree. In 2004, she served as treasurer for the unsuccessful campaign of Republican Barbara Linton who challenged Rep. Gary Sherman, D-74th Assembly District.

Nuutinen says she’s no longer a party member, but “still goes to meetings.”

She works at Memorial Medical Center in Ashland and also manages Martinsen Care Facilities.

Jarad Glovsky grew up in Ashland, and graduated from Ashland High School. He worked in a variety of jobs, including WEGZ-FM radio in Washburn. In 1996 he and his father started Paradigm Press, which initially produced historical reprints. While working in radio, Glovsky started thinking of a newspaper format similar to talk radio. Doing business as Glo Communications, he launched the Lake Superior Sounder as a monthly newspaper in January 2003, working as its publisher and editor.In April 2005 Jessica Nuutinen approached him about investing in the newspaper. They sealed a deal that turned it into a weekly newspaper in early November. Now a minority shareholder, he serves as its co-publisher and managing editor.

Useful links:

Lake Superior Sounder

True North TV