It was about this time nine years ago I first drove through the city of Cassville.
On my way to Monett to meet my old boss, who was trying to sweet talk me up here from Searcy, Ark., I came up 86 through some of the windiest roads I had ever driven, then took 76 over to hilltop.
Heading to his house in Monett, I took 112 past the nursery, museum, Legion building and vacant The Rib building. I approached Sunrise Cafe and took a right around Arvest to see the Cassville Democrat building for the first time.
I never imagined within the next decade I would own a 151-year-old publication — and I couldn’t be more excited.
When CherryRoad Media purchased us in March, I was — as I typically do — looking at it from a glass-half-full perspective. This was a newer company when it came to the newspaper industry, and though they came from a tech and software development background, their mission was sound.
The model CherryRoad is building is working in spades, especially compared to other investment firms or industry dinosaurs whose purchases are typically followed by mass exoduses of employees and rapid decline in quality.
CherryRoad was not that. They empowered us and offered new possibilities for some of our processes, linking many areas together and forming a regional model for small newspapers.
Our newspaper is small, we know, but what we lack in size, we make up for in engagement. Newspapers succeeding the most on CherryRoad’s model are the ones that were close to shutting their doors, and the company’s purchase has given it a chance to be revived.
Our newspaper has never been in that situation, and thus, our needs and our focuses can be different.
We put our entire focus on the community, doing business with our neighbors and engaging with as many people as possible not only through the pages of newsprint, but in-person at festivals, ball games, parades and the like.
For more than 130 years, families have been the face of the Democrat, and I couldn’t be more proud to add my family to the likes of the Rays, Mitchells and Schlichtmans that came here before us.
We believe this model is the best to be accountable to you, our readers and our advertisers, and we cannot wait to show you the new content we have coming, and how we hope your family will connect with our product.
Over the years, our print product has shrunk, making it difficult to print as much content as we’d like. One of the biggest victims of space constraints have been school items, like students of the month and club accomplishments.
We have a plan in place to open up a couple pages and get more kids’ faces bask in the paper.
There have also been changes with the processing of legal notices and obituaries.
We plan to revert back to a small-town model — you call my wife Jordan or myself, and we will handle your request personally.
Or staff is small, just three including us and Sales Executive Vicky Abraham. This puts us in fantastic position to provide the customer service and products you deserve.
News and sports content in the newspaper will also change with this move. Having been the editor of The Monett Times since July 2014, I only had a few months after starting where I poured 100 percent of my attention into the Democrat.
I cannot wait for Jan. 1 and to get to do that again. The narrowing of my duties to Cassville’s coverage area alone will allow me to dig deeper for news stories and focus even greater on local sports coverage.
We also hope to introduce some new special sections, things like a 15-under-15 or 10-under-35 tab, or a more expansive Through the Years tab.
One idea we are already doing is in this week’s edition — a new 12 Days of Christmas special that is tied to a social media campaign. Check our Facebook over coming weeks to see how we hope to utilize social media to improve our advertising offerings.
These are just a few of the ideas Jordan and I have been discussing every night for the past couple months, and we can’t wait to turn words into action.
We also want to hear from you. What are the things we do well and what do we need to get better at? What would you like to see from your hometown paper?
As I was quoted last week, “This newspaper has been here 151 years — it belongs to you, and we aim to deliver a product you deserve.”
Kyle Troutman has served as the editor of the Cassville Democrat since 2014. In 2017, he was named William E. James/Missouri Outstanding Young Journalist for daily newspapers, and in 2022, he won a Golden Dozen Award from ISWINE. He may be reached at 417-847-2610 or ktroutman@cherryroad.com.
