Taking The Helm p. 20

By: Mark Fitzgerald

Incoming Inland president a good fit for 'practical' association
OSHKOSH (WIS.) Northwestern general manager Russell F. Sprung once was introducing a Guy Gannett executive to some Inland Press Association members when the man suddenly exclaimed, "I just like you people in the Midwest ? you're all so friendly!"
As Sprung becomes the 90th Inland president at the group's 108th annual meeting this week, he takes the helm of a newspaper organization that is growing in membership and geographic area in large part because it remains true to the Midwestern virtues of neighborliness and practicality.
"We work hard at that, at not alienating anybody," Sprung said. "People come to Inland and find they're not drowning in the anonymity that comes with bigger conventions."
Sprung epitomizes those Midwest values and Inland roots. His paper is a family-owned, medium-sized (25,000-circulation) daily. In fact, the Northwestern was one of 19 small Midwestern newspapers represented at the Tremont House hotel in Chicago when founders organized what they called the Inland Daily Press Association May 7, 1885.
The Northwestern is a newspaper that likes continuity: In its 125 years, it has had only three publisher changes. (Samuel W. Heaney and A. Thomas Schwalm currently are co-publishers.)
Like many a Midwestern newspaper executive, Sprung has been active in his community and the newspaper industry. He served on hospital, bank, economic development and church committees and boards while going through the officer ranks of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. He was WNA president in 1983 before he became involved in Inland.
Fittingly, the unassuming Sprung chose a restaurant named the Cracker Barrel for a recent interview about Inland.
Sprung's plans for his Inland presidency reflect the practicality that has been the organization's hallmark.
Among his principal goals is the establishment of a "circulation management academy."
"Circulation is one area that has really changed in the past years. It is getting into marketing now. And there are alot of new and young circulation managers who are ready to step into this new role," Sprung said.
The academy is intended to be an in-depth, intensive seminar that lasts four days or more, he said.
Another priority is a series of seminars for managers of weeklies ? a big growth area for Inland, especially since the organization dropped "daily" from its name four years ago.
Inland also is developing plans for an editorial symposium that will be supported partially by a grant from Stauffer Communications' foundation. Details will be announced at the annual meeting, Sprung said.
All of these ideas came not from him but from members, he said.
"We encourage the direct input . . . of newspapers and we can move quickly to accommodate them," he added.
Sprung is taking Inland's leadership just as the organization is about to launch a major campaign emphasizing the changes that communications technology is wreaking on newspapers.
"This will be the emphasis of Inland for the next three years," he said. "We are setting aside time in all our major events to look ahead to how this will affect newspapers."
The campaign will kick off in February in Palm Beach, Fla., at the Key Executive Conference, Inland's winter meeting.
"Our focus will be the future of newspapers," Sprung said.
For Sprung, serving as Inland's president will be a sort of payback for the help that the organization has provided him and the Northwestern during the years, he said.
"During the time I've been general manager, we went to a.m. publication, we started a Sunday paper, we put in offset presses. And Inland all along has been a nice place to network . . . . It's one reason I'm so enthusiastic about Inland," he said.
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