Reed to head new management team at Town Crier

Grace Reed will head the new Idyllwild Town Crier management team as publisher and will report directly to Tindle Newspapers Ltd. (TNL) Chief Executive Officer Brian Doel. Doel announced the new team on Thursday, Oct. 29, at the Town Crier office. Joining Reed are J.P. Crumrine (center in photo) as editor and Jim Crandall as chief operations officer.

The new team will take over from retiring Publisher-Editor Becky Clark on Nov. 14. The Town Crier is the lone American paper in the Tindle chain of more than 225 community newspapers and several radio stations.

With a motto of “Local Papers at the Heart of the Community,” Tindle focuses on local coverage. With that emphasis, Tindle has managed to avoid many of the problems that burden larger papers laden with expensive national and international news coverage responsibilities.

“The Town Crier is a good community paper,” said Doel. “It fits well within the Tindle ethos and dedication to producing and publishing community news. This team evolved from within the Town Crier, has been part of it for years, and is identified with the people of Idyllwild as part of the community.”

“I was surprised,” said Reed, who brings solid business background to her new position. She will be the face of the Town Crier in the community. Having served previously as advertising sales manager, Reed said she would focus on enhancing the good relationships she has built throughout the community and will continue to stay in touch with Town Crier customers.“I’m excited,” said Reed. “I think we have a great future ahead of us. I think we have a tremendous team and I’m looking forward to improving the products we offer our customers and the service we offer the community.”

Crumrine moves from news editor to editor. “In the short term, our readers won’t see any real difference,” he said. “Becky and I share the same views about what to cover and the depth of that coverage. In the long term, I want to improve our use of the Internet as a form of information distribution. I’d like to see that happen.”

Known to his coworkers for his wry sense of humor, Crumrine added, “And, if the Los Angeles Times continues to falter, I hope we’ll be prepared to take over.” Returning to the challenges of the job ahead, Crumrine added, “I feel excited. It’s an important responsibility. I’ll do everything I can to protect the community’s right to speech and their right to govern themselves.”

Crandall proffered kudos to his team members. “I think Grace is perfect for the job,” he said. “She’s popular in town and knows how to resolve conflict. I’ve never seen anybody as dedicated to getting the news as J.P. This is a great chance for him to grow on the job and bring the paper to an even stronger level.”

Crandall will focus on improving the reach of the Crier’s circulation. “I’ll also continue to make sure that we’re getting the best products [within Crier infrastructure] for the best price. With this new team I hope we can make the Town Crier everything Ernie Maxwell wanted it to be and focus on being the best paper Idyllwild has ever seen.”

Clark said she is pleased with the choices. “I think this will be great for the paper and the community,” she said smilingly. “I wanted to leave knowing that the paper is in good hands and I know now that it is — not just with this new management team but with our entire team.”