Monthly Archives: December 2012

Forum Communications Co.’s interactive team releases six updated iPad apps

Posted on by
4

A screengrab of the updated iPad app for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead.

FARGO, N.D. – Forum Communications Co. now has available in the Apple store updated iPad news apps for six of its newspaper properties in North Dakota and Minnesota, company officials announced.

The updated iPad apps feature the in-depth news coverage of local newspapers conveniently packaged for busy mobile users, but the new apps also improve a user’s experience by allowing continuous side-to-side scrolling of content, creating a more magazine-like feel to reading and viewing the stories and photos you want from The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune, The Jamestown (N.D.) Sun, The Dickinson (N.D.) Press and the Alexandria (Minn.) Echo Press.

You can find the updated apps here: The Forum, Grand Forks Herald, Duluth News Tribune, The Jamestown Sun, The Dickinson Press and the Alexandria Echo Press. Or to quickly access all six apps visit here.

.“Readers now will be able to scroll between articles by the simple swipe of a finger,” said FCC Digital Product Development Manager Chris Welle.

In addition, the updated apps include new caption and photo views, rebuilt layouts and new advertising opportunities for those wishing to capitalize on Forum Communications Co.’s mobile content platforms.

Forum Communications Co. iPad apps are updated throughout the day and offer a simple, clean presentation of content from their newspapers’ most popular sections, and the apps also include breaking news and video.

In addition, Welle said, the new updates should give the user increased iPad performance.

“We’ve also significantly optimized the apps performance and reduced the amount of resources it uses on the iPad,” Welle said. “This results in a much smoother and faster experience for our readers.”

The new iPad app demonstrates Forum Communications Co.’s commitment to providing the content on the platforms its users desire.

Forum Communications Co. is a multimedia information company based in Fargo. Forum Communications owns dozens of newspapers, websites and television and radio stations in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Bill Marcil Jr. named chief operating officer of Forum Communications Co.

Posted on by
Reply

Bill Marcil Jr. has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer of Forum Communications Co.

FARGO, N.D. – Bill Marcil Jr. has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer of Forum Communications Co., which publishes The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead.

Marcil will continue in his role as publisher of The Forum.

“The election of Bill as chief operating officer has been in our succession plans for a number of years,” said William C. Marcil, chairman of the board of Forum Communications Co.

“Bill is the fifth-generation publisher of the family-owned Forum,” he added. “The (Marcil) family’s committed to a locally owned newspaper company, and this succession will enable us to do that.”

Lloyd Case remains president and chief executive officer of Forum Communications.

Forum Communications Co. President and CEO Lloyd Case

The board also re-elected company vice presidents heading divisions:

- Paul Amundson, vice president of digital.

- Dennis Hall, vice president of commercial printing.

- John Hajostek, vice president of finance.

- Steve McLister, vice president of newspapers.

- Mark Prather, vice president of broadcast.

Dennis Hall

Paul Amundson

Steve McLister

John Hajostek

Mark Prather

As the diversity of divisions and delivery platforms indicates, “we’ll deliver the information any way the consumer wishes to receive it,” William Marcil said.

Forum Communications Co. is a multimedia information company based in Fargo. Forum Communications Co. owns dozens of newspapers, websites and television and radio stations in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Forum Communications Co. brings together entire sales force for continuing education

Posted on by
Reply

Forum Communications Co. sales representatives recently attended a daylong continuing education training course in Fargo. The goal was give each sales rep a competitive advantage in their market.

FARGO, N.D. – Forum Communications Co. brought together its entire sales force, including sales representatives from newspaper, broadcast and commercial printing properties, on three dates in early December for sales continuing education during the 2012 FCC Core Skills Workshop.

Dozens of Forum Communications sales reps participated in a full-day course that covered multiple aspects of sales training, with the goal being to give each sales representative a competitive advantage through knowledge of how FCC’s products and services are superior to others.

Lead Trainer Mary Altuvilla of People First Productivity Solutions, a Twin Cities consulting firm, led Forum Communications Co. sales representatives through the training.

The training was organized by Duluth News Tribune Ad Director Roz Randorf, and it was led by Mary Altuvilla, the lead trainer at People First Productivity Solutions, a Twin Cities consulting company.

“By enhancing the skills of the sales representatives,” Randorf said, “we will ultimately educate our customers about the advantages of selecting and using our products and provide them with a top-notch customer experience.”

Forum Communications Co. is a multimedia information company based in Fargo. Forum Communications Co. owns dozens of newspapers, websites and television and radio stations in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Forum Communications Co.’s Case elected leader of Inland Press Association

Posted on by
Reply

By Wendy Reuer

The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead

Forum Communications Co. President and CEO Lloyd Case

FARGO, N.D. – Lloyd Case, president and CEO of Forum Communications Co., recently was elected president of the Inland Press Association at the group’s annual meeting in Chicago.

The association provides training, research and consultation for all departments within a newspaper.

“It represents all aspects of the news industry – the revenue side, the cost side, and of course, the news,” Case said. “So the training and the webinars that are put on represent all aspects of our business.”

About 1,200 newspapers ranging in size from small weekly papers to metropolitan dailies belong to Inland Press Association.

Forum Communications owns nine daily and 25 weekly newspapers in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota, including its flagship daily paper The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. The company has been a member of Inland Press for decades, but Case is the first from Forum Communications to be named president.

“The organization of Inland is all about representing newspapers of all different sizes, so it fits well with our company,” Case said.

Case said during his one-year-term as president followed by a one-year chairman position, he will continue Inland’s mission of providing quality training to members. He said he expects a focus on the industry’s continuing shift to digital production.

As a company, Forum Communications has bolstered its own production of digital media, online and in video production, but Case said print has not, and will not, fall by the wayside.

“Print still represents 85 percent of our revenue across the country, so there still has to be a balance between print and digital, there’s no question about that,” he said.

To become president, members must serve on the board of directors before they can be selected to serve as an officer, which is a six-year movement through the ranks. The long-term commitment gives candidates knowledge and expertise inside the association, said Tom Slaughter, executive director of Inland Press Association.

“For someone like Lloyd, it’s a real sign of service and commitment to get into the point he is now,” Slaughter said.

Case, a Goodrich, N.D., native and University of North Dakota graduate, worked in public accounting for nearly a decade before joining Forum Communications – then called Forum Publishing Co. – as a controller in 1982.

He was named vice president 10 years later and chief financial officer of Forum Communications in 1992.

He was elected president by the company’s board of directors in 2006 and CEO in 2010.

A summer Inland Press Association board meeting is planned in Fargo to discuss the association’s strategic plan for the future.

“I know Lloyd is excited to get moving on that,” Slaughter said.

Wendy Reuer is a reporter at The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, a Forum Communications Co. newspaper.