It's the paper I grew up with, and I've always felt the writing was far superior in the sports section to the Enquirer. I'll be picking up a final copy on Monday...

From Josh Katzowitz, UC beat writer...

 

This past year has been one of the harder ones I've endured. I think my Post colleagues - at least the ones in sports - have handled it far better than I have. Trent with his laid-back demeanor. Lonnie with his old-school confidence. Kevin GoGo Goheen with his infectious personality (and ability to drink beer).

 

Me, I've been a wreck since Dec. 31, 2006 switched to Jan. 1, 2007. Last year of the Post, for sure. Last year in this profession for me? I don't know. The low point probably occurred in August or September when the Post closing was pretty much all I thought about. I wasn't depressed - at least, not in the clinical sense - but I was sad and scared.

 

Lucky I had my wife, Julie, a never-ending support line; my family; my friends and, to a lesser extent, this blog.

 

I've really appreciated the nice comments and well wishes you folks have left me the past few weeks. I haven't been called an idiot in at least a month, and it's a nice change of pace. It also kind of feels like an eulogy. Which, I guess, is appropriate for the Post.

 

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/cincybearcats/

C. Trent Rosecrans, Reds beat writer...

It seemed only fitting that I start this farewell post where it all really started, here in lovely Sarasota.

 

At this very moment, I’m sitting at Maria’s Chicken ready for yet another great meal but an Adam Dunn homer from the Reds’ spring training complex. I’m down on Florida’s gulf coast to serve as best man for my dear friend Marc Lancaster’s wedding on Saturday.

 

It’s been about a year since Marc took a job covering the Devil Rays for the Tampa Tribune and I realized my dream of covering Major League Baseball, and not just any big league squad, but the one that started it all -- the Cincinnati Reds. And what can I tell you? I had a blast.

 

And one of the biggest reasons I had such a great time was you and this blog. We built a community (with a generous and wonderful head start passed on by the afore mentioned Marc Lancaster, who preceded me on the Reds beat for the Cincinnati Post.

 

As most of you know, I will be the last Reds beat writer for the Cincinnati Post. The paper, a staple in the Queen City since 1881 Will be rolling the last issue off the press on Monday. It’s a sad day for the people who have worked hard putting out the paper, but if you ask me, it’ll be a sadder day for the city of Cincinnati. The city has lost an important and unique voice -- and in this day and age of more and more voice shouting to be heard, it’s a sad day when a steady, calm voice is silenced.

 

As journalists, we live with constant deadlines, but Dec. 31, 2007 was a deadline in the most literal sense in the word. We all knew that this was the day that we’d be out of work. I knew that in March 2004 when I moved from Alabama to Cincinnati. I knew it then and I know it now and I’ve never regretted the decision for even an instant. I saw coming here as a way to achieve my goal of covering Major League Baseball and I succeeded.

 

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/spring/

With today's Post, we received an invitation from our delivery guy to start taking The Herald-Leader (at a discount) when The Post stops production. It will be interesting to see if the CJ makes a simillar move in to fill the void.

With today's Post, we received an invitation from our delivery guy to start taking The Herald-Leader (at a discount) when The Post stops production. It will be interesting to see if the CJ makes a simillar move in to fill the void.

 

I know that my parents, who live in Warsaw, would much rather have either the C-J or the HL than the Enquirer.

 

I hate to see The Post go away, but I still contend they (Scripps) were dumb for not going NoKy-only with their news a long time ago. If it wasn't already before the closure of The Post, Northern Kentucky now easily is the most grossly underserved media market in the country, if not the world.

With today's Post, we received an invitation from our delivery guy to start taking The Herald-Leader (at a discount) when The Post stops production. It will be interesting to see if the CJ makes a simillar move in to fill the void.

 

Gannett will allow no such thing. That market is the HL's to be had, now. They should open a NoKy bureau.

Gannett will allow no such thing. That market is the HL's to be had, now. They should open a NoKy bureau.

 

Agreed; there's no way that Gannett will allow one of its profit centers to go into business against another of its profit centers.

 

Great opportunity for the Herald-Leader, which is now part of a much better company (McClatchy) than it was before Knight-Ridder's idiot shareholders forced the company to collapse.

Mark me down as one hating to see the Post go. I've been reading it for about 35 years.

I'll miss Lonnie Wheeler the most. The best sports writer in this town by a LARGE margin...

Here's what some of the Post staffers will be doing after the doors close ...

 

Mike Philipps, editor: Retirement.

Shelly Whitehead, cops beat: Internal communications at a hospital.

Luke Saladin, six-year staffer at the Post: He'll be majoring in engineering at UK. Really.

Managing editor Mark Neikirk: A project at NKU.

 

Not sure what will happen to some of the others. Heck, I can't even guarantee that some of the best people will be able to stay in newspapers ... things are going very badly and there are more good reporters and editors looking for jobs than there are jobs for all those good people right now.

 

The people who work all the way to the end will receive two weeks' worth of salary for every year they've been at the Post as severance pay.

 

Mike told Editor & Publisher magazine that the presses will start rolling the final Kentucky Post edition at 9:25 a.m. Monday (Metro edition should be 9 a.m.). Here's a memo from Philipps to his staff regarding do's and don'ts ...

 

http://thebellwetherdaily.blogspot.com/2007/12/cincinnati-post-editors-closing-memo-no.html

It's the paper I grew up with, and I've always felt the writing was far superior in the sports section to the Enquirer. I'll be picking up a final copy on Monday...

 

I couldn't agree more. I'll hate to see it go.:cry:

I'll miss Lonnie Wheeler the most. The best sports writer in this town by a LARGE margin...

 

 

Amen to that :thumb:

 

I will miss all of Jim Osborn's wonderful photos.....he always seemed to be in the right spot for a great photo!

C Trent summed up Lonnie perfectly...

Lonnie Wheeler -- Seriously, dude can put together words like nobody I’ve ever met. The most wonderful writer I’ve ever gotten to work with. Anyone who has read Lonnie’s columns has undoubtedly had the moment where they’ve read a sentence and immediately reread it because it was so wonderful. It just sounds great and begs to be read aloud. A brilliant writer, Lonnie’s also one of the kindest, most genuine people in the world. Although Josh and I would often pick on him, he always took it. And, he wasn’t too bad at dishing it out himself. One of the funniest things I’ve ever heard was a couple of years ago when I was sent to cover the Flying Pig Marathon. Lonnie, there to write a column, looked at me and deadpan said, “It must be weird for you writing about one of these after running in so many.” I still laugh at that one. The delivery was perfect.

Can you give me a Cliff-notes version of why the Post is going away?

Can you give me a Cliff-notes version of why the Post is going away?

It was an afternoon daily that had a dwindling subscriber base...