Letter from the editor: Exciting changes

Dear readers,

You’ll notice a few changes in this week’s print issue.

First off, we’d like to welcome our newest columnist, Clyde Moore, who’ll be revealing the latest business and social news in downtown Winter Park. Clyde is the owner of the website ILuvWinterPark.com and seems to know more about Park Avenue’s goings than anyone I’ve met. Have something to share with Clyde? Send a message to [email protected] or find him on Facebook or Twitter.

Another change you’ll see is new staff email addresses that carry the Turnstile Media Group label. It’s become clear to us that the name “Observer Newspapers” doesn’t convey what we’ve become: a diverse media platform that goes far beyond the printed page. Rebranding ourselves as the Community Media Division of Turnstile Media Group will allow our titles — Winter Park-Maitland Observer, Seminole Voice, East Orlando Sun and Baldwin Park Living — to grow as a more cohesive unit as we continue to expand how we deliver the local news you care about.

Before we go on, I thought you’d appreciate a little bit of history about how we got here. In 2007, Winter Park-Maitland Observer founder Gerhard Munster sold the newspaper to Orlando-based Turnstile Media Group, the parent of Golfweek and Professional Artist magazines. The Observer was Turnstile’s first foray into the newspaper business, but it was a business that owner Rance Crain knew all too well. Crain’s father, G.D. Crain, founded Crain Communications in 1930 with two newspapers and three staffers. That company has grown to 30 publications, including such respected titles as Advertising Age and Crain’s Chicago Business.

Crain, president of Crain Communications since 1974, is an ardent believer in the mission of community journalism. In 2007 he gave his blessing to build a portfolio of high-quality, community-focused publications. The same year that the Observer joined Turnstile, we welcomed the Seminole Voice – formerly the Oviedo Voice – to our team. The Voice was founded in Oviedo in 1990 and expanded to Winter Springs in 2000.

In mid-2009, we added the East Orlando Sun, a monthly newspaper that serves Avalon Park, Eastwood, Stoneybrook and Waterford Lakes. The newspaper started publishing in 1995. In November 2010, new President and CEO Francis X. Farrell arrived, bringing decades of magazine experience with him. Less than two months later, we started publishing Baldwin Park Living, a community magazine serving Baldwin Park’s residents and business owners. Founded in 2005 as a quarterly community newsletter, the magazine has grown to 10 issues a year.

Our promise fits well into Turnstile Media Group’s mission: Develop diverse media platforms that engage and strengthen the communities they serve. We are more than a newspaper — we are a constant flow of information. Our other products — websites, newsletters and social networks — are the go-to place for fresh, award-winning community news that’s happening right in your backyard, news that affects your family and your

neighbors and cannot be found anywhere else. And we’re constantly developing new ways to deliver that content: to your laptop, mobile phone, tablet and maybe, one day, on your computerized glasses. One thing is certain: community news, no matter how it’s delivered, won’t go out of style.

As we continue to evolve as Turnstile Media Group’s Community Media Division, I’d like to hear from you. Please tell us about the changing ways that you consume media, and how we can adapt our mission to best fit your needs. Please email [email protected], message us on Facebook or Twitter, call 407-563-7026 or send a letter to 1500 Park Center Drive, Orlando, FL 32835.

Thanks for reading!

Warm regards,

Jenny Andreasson

Managing editor