Editor’s Note - CL welcomes new publisher
Creative Loafing has a new publisher. His name is Dave Schmall.
Those of you who’ve followed the saga of CL publishers can go ahead and cast bets over how long the new guy will last. Yeah, sure. Snicker. Tell your little jokes.
“How many Creative Loafing publishers does it take to spin the revolving door?”
“One — as long as he comes in and out on the same day.”
Ha. Ha.
Well, this time, we’re gonna prove you wrong. Aren’t we, Dave?
“Absolutely.”
You’re gonna stick around, right, Dave?
“Absolutely.”
You swear, Dave?
“What part of ‘absolutely’ am I not articulating clearly?”
OK. Jeez, dude. Relax.
Schmall, who came to Atlanta earlier this month as CL’s associate publisher and ad director, was promoted to the top slot last week after Terry Coe, who’d been named publisher in April, yielded to his family’s wishes not to move from Seattle to Atlanta.
Coe was to replace Creative Loafing Media CEO Ben Eason, who’d served as interim publisher since a fellow named Mike Sigman had been publisher last year — for all of nine days. Before that, we had another publisher for about six months. He’d replaced longtime publisher Scott Walsey, who retired in October 2004.
OK. OK. So we haven’t had a full-time, permanent publisher for nearly two years. But, hey, good things come to those who wait ... and wait ... and wait.
Schmall’s committed to the job, and he’s highly qualified. A former exec at various alt-weeklies, he’s been ad director at the Minneapolis City Pages and publisher of the Sacramento News & Review. He came to us from the Dallas Morning News’ free daily tabloid, Quick, where he was general manager.
“I really didn’t feel comfortable at a daily newspaper,” he told me. “I got frustrated at how long it took to do things.”
You gotta like a guy who disses the dailies. I’m betting he’ll set some sort of longevity record for a publisher around here. Of course, that won’t take too long, will it?