MEDIA SUPERPOWERS Podcast

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Sammy Papert

“The Curious Innovator”

* Chief Imagination and Acceleration Officer (CIAO), Wormhole Inc.

* Media Superpower: Connecting people, asking better questions, and recognizing when it’s time to turn insight into action.

Origin Story

Sammy Papert doesn’t believe in retirement. He believes in getting rewired.

After decades serving the newspaper industry, Sammy still finds purpose in helping publishers solve problems, strengthen revenue, and navigate change.

His journey began selling used cars during college, where he discovered a principle that would shape his career.

“The best way to make a sale is to ask questions.”

In 1981, Sammy joined his family’s newspaper advertising representation business. Eventually, the Papert Companies represented 500 newspapers with 50 salespeople across 17 offices.

But when industry changes threatened the business model, Sammy recognized the warning signs. He recommended selling the company in 1996.

Later, as CEO of newspaper research firm Belden Associates, he faced another painful decision. The Great Recession devastated publishers’ research budgets, forcing him to close the company in 2008.

“I desperately needed help to execute what I knew we needed to do. I had no idea how to do it.”

Rather than pretending to have every answer, Sammy sought trusted advisors.

That humility became part of his leadership philosophy.

Lessons & Strategies

1. Listen to learn, not to answer.

Sammy believes curiosity is one of the most valuable skills in business.

Asking thoughtful questions uncovers customer needs, strengthens relationships, and creates opportunities that presentations alone cannot.

For publishers, that means understanding advertisers’ challenges before pitching solutions.

2. Face reality and act.

Sammy gravitates toward organizations with a “bias for action.”

Whether evaluating merchant processing savings, researching audience preferences, or improving advertising prospecting, he encourages publishers to investigate opportunities and make informed decisions.

Today, through Wormhole Inc., he represents companies including Pulse Research and Coda Ventures, connecting publishers with research and revenue solutions.

3. Invest in tomorrow’s audience.

Sammy worries that publishers spend too much energy protecting existing print audiences while overlooking younger generations.

“What newspaper publishers should be focused on is millennials.”

His message: Research what emerging audiences actually want, understand how they consume information, and build products they’ll support.

Behind these strategies is something deeper.

“The reason that I’m still banging the newspaper drum ... is pretty basic, man. Democracy.”

For Sammy, helping publishers survive isn’t merely business development. It’s protecting independent journalism.

And retirement?

“No, I’m not retired. What I am is rewired.”

Collaborate

Get in contact or collaborate with Sammy Papert

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammypapert/

* Web Site: https://www.wormholellc.com/

Join the Movement

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Be a guest! Take the publisher survey at https://survey.peopleofmedia.com

*I use AI in the production/refinement of some written content. See my boundaries for ethical AI usage in the content I create: https://datajoe.substack.com/p/ai-policy

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit datajoe.substack.com

Carin Keane | The Guardian of Print Excellence

Publisher, Gulfshore Life Media

Media Superpower: Creating a culture of excellence where beautiful print, authentic local storytelling, and empowered teams turn a regional publication into a thriving brand.

While many publishers are questioning print’s future, Carin Keane is confidently investing in it.

As publisher of Gulfshore Life Media in Southwest Florida, Carin leads an organization that, at the time of our conversation, was celebrating consecutive record-breaking years.

Her philosophy? Excellence is worth the investment.

Origin Story | Finding Her Way Back Home

Carin’s love for magazines began long before her publishing career. Growing up, she eagerly anticipated the September fashion issues of Vogue, Elle, and InStyle, tearing out pages to create vision boards.

After graduating from Boston University, she initially pursued television news before a mentor encouraged her toward advertising sales.

That advice launched a career spanning Boston Magazine, Boston Common, Modern Luxury, and eventually Gulfshore Life.

But her journey included a painful detour.

Attracted by a bigger paycheck, Carin left publishing for healthcare software sales. Within three months, she knew she’d made a mistake.

“I was absolutely miserable for two years,” she admitted.

Returning to luxury publishing eventually led her to Gulfshore Life, a magazine she’d admired for years.

Today, she’s leading the very publication she once held up as an example of excellence.

Lessons & Strategies | Excellence Is a Business Strategy

1. Invest in the product, even when cutting costs seems easier.

Carin credits Gulfshore Life president Jim Schwartzel with understanding that exceptional photography, talented people, quality paper, and strong storytelling aren’t unnecessary expenses.

They’re competitive advantages.

When publishers compromise these elements, they risk losing what makes their brands valuable.

“You have to believe in what you’re selling,” Carin explained.

2. Local storytelling requires local people.

Having experienced the challenges of nationally shared editorial content, Carin insists that Gulfshore Life’s writers understand Southwest Florida firsthand.

Readers recognize authenticity. They also recognize when it’s missing.

Her advice: Protect the local expertise that makes your publication irreplaceable.

3. Build relationships, not just advertising transactions.

Carin believes publishers must listen carefully to advertisers and develop solutions together.

“We’re not just selling pages, we’re selling packages.”

That means combining print, digital, and other opportunities around clients’ actual needs.

Equally important is creating a workplace where talented people feel trusted, supported, and empowered.

Carin’s competitive swimming background shaped her leadership philosophy: Hire capable people, trust their expertise, and build a team committed to excellence.

Her confidence in print extends into the AI era. Gulfshore Life uses AI for operational support, but Carin says its published journalism and photography remain human-created.

Her conviction is simple: Human work, local relationships, and authentic storytelling will continue to matter.

Collaborate

Get in contact or collaborate with Carin Keane

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carin-keane-114444b

* Web Site: https://gulfshorelife.com

Join the Movement

* Subscribe for more stories at https://subscribe.peopleofmedia.com

* Be a guest! Take the publisher survey at https://survey.peopleofmedia.com

*I use AI in the production/refinement of some written content. See my boundaries for ethical AI usage in the content I create: https://datajoe.substack.com/p/ai-policy

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit datajoe.substack.com

Carol Wood | The Pollinator of Local Media

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Carol Wood, Founder, Emerge Media Group

Media superpower: Carol brings decades of newsroom and operational pattern recognition to local publishers, strengthening the business underneath journalism so informed communities can thrive.

For Carol Wood, healthy journalism starts with something publishers don’t always have time to think about: healthy operations.

Through Emerge Media, Carol serves local and hyperlocal media organizations as a fractional COO, stepping into the back office so publishers and editors can stay focused on their communities. That can mean HR, insurance, operations manuals, financials, redundancy planning or simply identifying a weakness before it becomes a crisis.

“If we keep the operation sound, the journalists can do their good work,” Carol says. “And that’s what’s really important to me.”

Origin Story

Carol’s connection to journalism started early. Her grandfather was a pressman at The Denver Post. As a child, she remembers descending into the old building, hearing the presses and smelling the ink.

“I was hooked.”

She eventually started as an intern at the Rocky Mountain News, became a reporter and editor, then helped found a business journal group. She spent 22 years learning the business side of media before becoming COO of The Colorado Sun and ultimately launching Emerge Media Group.

Those years gave Carol something especially valuable now: pattern recognition.

“If we had a dime for every mistake we made, we’d be millionaires,” she jokes. Today, she uses those expensive lessons to help independent publishers avoid the same mistakes at a key moment when, “there’s less room for error.”

Lessons & Strategies

Build the business because the mission matters. Operational discipline isn’t a distraction from journalism. It protects journalism. Strong systems can reduce stress, strengthen grant applications and give journalists room to concentrate on serving their communities.

Be willing to rethink the model. Carol believes publishers must question assumptions built for another era. Her work with The Local explores delivering professional local news through streaming platforms and organizing coverage around ZIP codes; meeting audiences where they already consume content.

Invest in the next generation. Carol also helped create a journalism program exposing middle and high school students to the many careers inside media. Her message was simple: “If you like to do spreadsheets, I will find a spot for you in journalism. If you like to write poetry, I will find a spot for you in journalism.”

Carol calls media her “pollinator garden;” a place where she can help many different organizations blossom.

That metaphor captures her mission beautifully: stronger publishers create stronger journalism, and stronger journalism creates informed communities.

Collaborate

Get in contact or collaborate with Carol Wood

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroljwood/

Join the Movement

subscribe for more stories at https://subscribe.peopleofmedia.com

Be a guest! Take the publisher survey at https://survey.peopleofmedia.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit datajoe.substack.com

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Julio Melara

President and CEO, Melara Enterprises

Baton Rouge Business Report | 225 Magazine

Media superpower: Seeing where media is going next without losing sight of the relationships and integrity that make a local publisher influential.

Julio Melara has spent more than four decades in media, but his philosophy begins somewhere deeper than publishing.

He calls it the “triple bottom line”: economic impact, social impact and spiritual impact. Profit matters because it funds growth and the mission. But Julio measures another return, too.

“The most important ROI is not necessarily return on investment,” he says, “but it’s return on integrity.”

That principle runs through Melara Enterprises, whose portfolio includes Baton Rouge Business Report, 225 Magazine, inRegister, StudioE, and its Leadership Academy. Julio and his team have a core vision of pursuing “excellence, innovation and impact every day.”

It's one thing to have this posted on the wall. It’s another thing to live these words, relentlessly, for decades.

Origin Story

Julio’s entrepreneurial education started with his mother, who immigrated from Honduras and raised him after his father left when Julio was four.

Her advice became a lifelong operating principle: “You don’t let anybody outlearn you or outwork you.”

At 18, while playing Division I soccer on a partial scholarship, Julio took a $3.35-an-hour courier job at a young local business journal. Seven years later, he was vice president of sales.

His strategy was simple: solve problems.

“The more problems we solve, the more value you create,” he says.

That mindset ultimately grew into something bigger: a media company intentionally built around people, culture and continuous reinvention.

Lessons & Strategies

* Hire for character before skill. Julio says publishers often hire people for what they believe candidates can do; but ultimately fire them because of who they are. Melara Enterprises now hires slowly, using multiple interviews, assessments and reference checks. Culture fit matters because turnover is expensive.

* Build relationship equity. Julio believes publishers can become too transactional. They are chasing the subscription, advertisement or sponsorship while forgetting the person on the other side.

“Everything, every resource you will ever need is built on your relationships.”

That philosophy helped inspire leadership and training programs that serve the market while deepening relationships with future decision-makers.

* Move toward where the puck is going. Julio is investing heavily in AI, digital and video. His team launched an AI Academy to help local leaders navigate the technology while simultaneously training its own people.

Innovation also means accepting failure. After acquiring a video company that ultimately didn’t work, Julio refused to call the experience wasted.

“That was an expensive lesson. It’s tuition.”

For publishers navigating rapid change, his model is worth considering: protect the relationships, invest in your people, experiment early and keep learning.

Because technology may transform the tools of publishing. Julio’s bet is that the human connection underneath them will become even more valuable.

Collaborate

Get in contact or collaborate with Julio Melara

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julio-melara-a987b27a

* Web Site: https://www.melaraenterprises.com/

Join the Movement

Subscribe for more stories at: https://subscribe.peopleofmedia.com

Be a guest! Take the publisher survey at: https://survey.peopleofmedia.com

*I use AI in the production/refinement of some content. See my boundaries for ethical AI usage in the content I create: https://datajoe.substack.com/p/ai-policy

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit datajoe.substack.com

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Julie D’Aloiso | Founder, SpiderCat Marketing and NordoniaHills.News

Media superpower: Julie combines fearless experimentation with creative problem-solving, continually finding new ways to bring useful local information to people wherever they already spend their time.

Julie D’Aloiso doesn’t believe the community should have to hunt for its news. Her job, she believes, is to bring the news to them.

That conviction has taken her from websites and social media into a growing network of hyperlocal publications across Northeast Ohio—and from long-form articles into TikTok videos, AI-assisted workflows, and even experiments with bringing print back to readers who aren’t online.

Origin Story

Julie’s comfort with technology began long before social media. In the 1980s, after growing up in a rural community without computers, she studied computer technology and became a COBOL programmer.

Then came social media.

After attending an SEO conference in 2008, Julie began experimenting with emerging platforms. A year later, she was laid off and knew immediately what she wanted to build: SpiderCat Marketing.

“I knew immediately I wanted to start a company and call it Spider Cat Marketing.”

Eventually, Julie noticed another gap. Local newspapers weren’t consistently putting community news on social platforms, even as audiences were migrating there.

She already knew the community. She knew local businesses. She knew websites and social media.

So she built NordoniaHills.News.

Today, her publishing footprint includes six news sites, with additional markets and concepts being explored. Her motivation remains remarkably simple: “I really feel that that is my mission—to at least, as many as I can, in the best way possible, get the information out to people of what’s happening in their own community.”

Lessons & Strategies

Meet readers where they are. Julie doesn’t expect audiences to conform to a publisher’s preferred format. “Find out where your readers are and be present there.” That might mean Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Nextdoor; or eventually print.

Use technology to extend capacity. Julie uses tools such as SeeGov to transform lengthy government meetings into accessible short-form video. One local-government clip she discussed had reached more than 52,000 TikTok views. The goal isn’t simply views; she uses those clips to encourage audiences to learn more from the full story.

Keep learning—but start with one thing. Julie’s advice to publishers isn’t to master every emerging technology. Pick an area and pursue it. “When we stop learning, we stop growing.”

Her operating philosophy is a useful one for publishers facing constant technological change: “We all always have to be in a constant state of evolution.”

Julie’s innovation isn’t technology for technology’s sake. It starts with service: How can more people receive useful information about the place they call home?

Then she works the problem until she finds a way.

Collaborate

Get in contact or collaborate with Julie D’Aloiso

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdaloiso/

* Web Site: https://spidercatmarketing.com/

Join the Movement

* Subscribe for more stories at https://subscribe.peopleofmedia.com

* Be a guest! Take the publisher survey at https://survey.peopleofmedia.com

*I use AI in the production/refinement of some written content. See my boundaries for ethical AI usage in the content I create: https://datajoe.substack.com/p/ai-policy

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit datajoe.substack.com

Jacob Fogg, Founder & CEO, CopperPress

Media superpower: Translating the complicated world of technology into clear outcomes publishers can understand, evaluate and act on.

The Challenge of Media Tech

Publishers have an unusual technology problem: You may be responsible for managing work you aren’t technically qualified to evaluate.

Jacob Fogg has spent nearly 25 years at the intersection of publishing and technology. That’s a rare combination, which makes him a valuable, credible asset.

His warning is simple: what you can see on the screen represents only a fraction of what your developer actually built.

“95% of what they do is behind the scenes,” Jake says. “Only 5% of what you see is the work that they’re actually doing.”

That creates a confidence gap. Is the work secure? Is the architecture sound? Are subscriptions quietly failing? And when your developer says something will take another week, how do you know?

The Cost Isn’t Just Bad Code

Jake has seen the answer show up in actual revenue.

While investigating one publisher’s paywall, his team discovered failed credit cards weren’t being retried. In one case, temporary subscriptions never expired. Some readers had effectively received free subscriptions for years.

Then there are opportunity costs: disappearing newsletter signups, declining search traffic or technical problems nobody notices because nobody is monitoring them.

“If they’re missing those details,” Jake says, “you don’t know what they’re missing that you can’t see.”

You Don’t Need to Understand the Code

Publishers can lead technology teams without becoming technologists themselves.

The starting point is clarity.

“The biggest gift you can give to a developer is having clarity,” Jake says.

Define the outcome, not merely the feature. Don’t ask for a fancy newsletter form; define the goal as removing friction and increasing newsletter subscriptions. Then establish specifications that make success measurable.

You cannot have accountability without clarity.

AI Changed Coding, But Not This

AI makes this issue even more important.

Publishers can now experiment and “vibe code” ideas at extraordinary speed. Jake encourages it. But an experiment and a production system are different things.

“You can vibe code and get a result,” he says. “But if you want it to be sturdy, if you want it to last … this is why you still need a developer.”

AI might get you from zero to 80% remarkably fast. The human expertise matters in knowing whether that final 20% contains a minor inconvenience, or the security hole, payment error or edge case that eventually costs you real money.

The leadership question, then, isn’t whether your developer writes every line of code personally.

It’s whether your technology operation consistently produces outcomes you can trust.

View the full interview to learn more!

Collaborate

Get in contact or collaborate with Jacob Fogg. His current public profile identifies him with CopperPress and describes his work across publishing technology, custom software and fractional CTO services.

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-n-fogg/

* Web Site: https://copperpress.tech/

Join the Movement

* Subscribe for more stories at https://subscribe.peopleofmedia.com

* Be a guest! Take the publisher survey at https://survey.peopleofmedia.com

*I use AI in the production/refinement of some written content. See my boundaries for ethical AI usage in the content I create: https://datajoe.substack.com/p/ai-policy

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit datajoe.substack.com

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Mandy RichardsonPresident, Consumer Division | Arkansas Business Publishing Group / 360 West / Little Rock Soiree

Media superpower: Curiosity! Asking the questions that uncover opportunities, develop people and help the organization rethink what’s possible.

Origin Story

When Mandy Richardson joined Arkansas Business Publishing Group in 2008, she had sales and corporate training experience, but no media experience.

What she did have was curiosity.

After starting in sales, leaving and eventually “boomeranging” back, Richardson kept asking questions about how the business worked.

She learned P&Ls, moved from sales management into publishing and operations, and began thinking beyond her own division.

“I have created opportunity for myself by just being generally curious about how things work and asking questions,” she says.

That curiosity eventually helped prepare her for ABPG’s next chapter. In January 2026, Richardson became president of its consumer division, taking responsibility for roughly 60% of company revenue and freeing CEO Mitch Bettis to focus more energy on acquisitions, new opportunities and the company’s ambitious 2030 growth plan.

But Richardson’s story isn’t simply about moving up. It’s about creating room for others to do the same.

Lessons & Strategies

Build around great people. ABPG intentionally looks for what people do exceptionally well and creates structures that help them thrive. Sometimes that means allowing a valuable employee to work remotely. Sometimes it means creating an entirely new opportunity.

Richardson says, “We want people really to be able to thrive at the jobs that they’re doing.”

Protect culture, even when it costs something. ABPG has been willing to part ways with high producers who weren't a good culture fit for the team and invests significant time and money into company-wide retreats. The lesson for publishers isn’t that everyone needs a two-day retreat. It’s that culture requires investment.

“You have to find ways to continue to be able to create, succeed, and create the culture that you want,” Richardson says.

Clarity comes before accountability. As Richardson’s leadership responsibilities have expanded, she has learned that she can’t jump in and fix everything herself. Her job is increasingly to create direction, empower managers and hold people accountable.

At ABPG, there’s a phrase for that: “Clarity is kindness.”

“Really being clear on expectations, having the hard conversations when it’s easier not to, really is kindness to that other person.”

For publishers navigating limited resources and enormous expectations, that may be Richardson’s most practical reminder: You don’t scale by doing more yourself. You scale by giving good people clarity, trust and room to grow.

Collaborate

Get in contact or collaborate with Mandy Richardson

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mandy-albert-richardson-b762945/

* Web Site: https://www.abpg.com

Join the Movement

Subscribe for more stories at https://subscribe.peopleofmedia.com

Be a guest! Take the publisher survey at https://survey.peopleofmedia.com

*I use AI in the production/refinement of some written content. See my boundaries for ethical AI usage in the content I create: https://datajoe.substack.com/p/ai-policy

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit datajoe.substack.com

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Amber Nettles

Chief Partnerships Officer, EmpowerLocal

Media Superpower: Amber builds ensembles; connecting people, publishers, and revenue opportunities so independent media organizations don’t have to solve their biggest challenges alone.

Origin Story

Amber Nettles loves journalism. She just discovered early that her contribution to it might happen outside the newsroom.

“I think there needs to be more people finding the money and the way to keep journalism going,” she says. “I think it’s important for democracy. I think it’s important for people’s lives.”

That conviction has carried Amber through nearly two decades in newspapers, radio, sales, and publishing; including leading the Chicago Reader through an extraordinarily difficult season. Today, she serves as Chief Partnerships Officer at EmpowerLocal, where the mission is straightforward: make it easier for advertising dollars to reach independent media.

But another part of Amber’s story explains how she approaches that mission: improv.

Amber started taking improv classes in 2014 while doing public speaking and sales training. What began as a hobby became a framework for listening, collaboration, and leadership.

“Improv’s a team sport,” she says. “If you believe everyone on stage has your back and wants to help you and wants to make you look good … you take more chances.”

That sounds a lot like what media needs right now.

Lessons & Strategies

1. Stop making publishers solve revenue alone.

Small publishers often aren’t included in larger advertising buys because purchasing across dozens of outlets is simply too complicated. Amber believes collaborative, cross-publisher sales can change that.

“If I am a small weekly paper and I don’t ever get McDonald’s money…if I can start getting some of that money because I’m involved in a collaborative sales effort, then everyone benefits.”

2. Remember what local media actually provides.

In the race toward easy digital advertising, Amber believes the industry sometimes forgot to explain its own value.

“We need to remind people how valuable it is to have local people reporting local news.”

Trusted local media provides context, community, accountability, and relationships with audiences. This is value that can’t always be measured by the last click.

3. Believe people want to help.

After one of the hardest years of her career, Amber walked away with surprisingly simple wisdom: “People wanna help you.”

Readers, media colleagues, philanthropy leaders, and friends showed up.

That experience changed how she approaches difficult work.

“You do harder work and bigger things get accomplished if you operate from the mindset that you’re not alone in it and people wanna help you.”

That may be Amber’s greatest lesson from improv and her greatest hope for media.

The future isn’t a solo performance. It’s an ensemble!

Collaborate

Get in contact or collaborate with Amber Nettles

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ambernettles/

* Web Site: https://empowerlocal.com/

Join the Movement

* Subscribe for more stories at https://subscribe.peopleofmedia.com

* Be a guest! Take the publisher survey at https://survey.peopleofmedia.com

Affirmations

Were you inspired? Don’t keep it to yourself. Give an affirmation in the MDR Slack Channel. It matters when you take the time. It can be as simple as just tagging the person and adding three adjectives that describe them. Or saying something that encouraged or inspired you.

*I use AI in the production/refinement of some written content. See my boundaries for ethical AI usage in the content I create: https://datajoe.substack.com/p/ai-policy

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit datajoe.substack.com

Many publishers are rushing to solve problems with AI, and with good reason. But technology strategist Jacob Fogg says the smarter move is knowing when AI isn’t actually the answer.

AI can solve a lot of problems for publishers. That may also be the problem.

As media companies experience early wins with AI, it’s tempting to start looking at every operational headache through the same lens: How can we solve this with AI?

Jacob Fogg, founder and CEO of Copper Press, thinks publishers should take a step back and ask a different question:

What is the best way to solve this problem?

Jake has spent nearly 25 years at the intersection of publishing and technology. Today, he works directly with media companies untangling technology stacks, automating workflows and determining where AI actually belongs. And sometimes, AI absolutely belongs.

One publisher Jake works with spent roughly 60 hours each year creating charts for an economic profile. Jake developed an AI-assisted workflow that turns spreadsheet data into branded charts in seconds.

The publisher recently called him after another chart was completed: he’d just saved about five hours on that chart alone.

That’s AI solving the right problem.

But when the same publisher asked whether AI could take spreadsheet data and generate finished, print-ready pages of a data-driven special section, Jake’s answer was essentially:

Don’t do it.

Why? Because every number would need to be checked.

Jake’s AI Rule #1:

“Don’t use AI on things where you can’t verify the output.”

AI Isn’t Always the Solution

Publishers are encountering consultants, vendors and internal enthusiasts eager to apply AI everywhere. But sometimes a problem that looks like an AI opportunity can be solved more reliably with 20 lines of traditional code.

AI might even help write that code.

Then the deterministic software, not an AI model, does the work consistently from that point forward.

Jake offers publishers another helpful boundary.

Jake’s AI Rule #2:

“Don’t let AI touch judgment … let it handle the labor.”

Use AI to analyze, organize, research and identify possibilities. But when the output affects important business decisions, editorial credibility or critical data, keep human judgment in the loop.

Because, as Jake puts it:

“The most important thing that a publisher has is trust.”

Don’t Automate a Broken Process

There’s an even bigger trap: using AI to make a bad process faster.

One publisher asked Jake to automate a manual subscription workflow. Instead, Jake investigated what was happening underneath it and discovered a cascade of problems, including more than 100 readers who had retained access after their subscriptions stopped.

Jake’s AI Rule #3:

“Don’t automate broken processes.”

They fixed the process. Within the first week, the publisher gained eight subscriptions.

That may be the biggest AI lesson for publishers right now.

Don’t start with AI. Start with the problem.

Understand it. Question it. Fix what’s broken. Then decide whether the right solution is AI, automation, traditional code, or simply a better process.

And if you don’t know which one you need? Find a technology ally who understands publishing deeply enough to help you tell the difference.

Collaborate

Get in contact or collaborate with Jacob Fogg

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-n-fogg/

* Web Site: https://copperpress.tech/

Join the Movement

Subscribe for more stories at https://subscribe.peopleofmedia.com

Be a guest! Take the publisher survey at https://survey.peopleofmedia.com

*I use AI in the production/refinement of some written content. See my boundaries for ethical AI usage in the content I create: https://datajoe.substack.com/p/ai-policy

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit datajoe.substack.com

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Todd Tucker, President, Tucker Publishing Group

Media superpower: Building genuine relationships that turn clients into friends, publications into community institutions, and good business into a decades-long legacy.

Origin Story

Todd Tucker didn’t start in publishing. He sold surgical equipment while his wife, Kristen, worked in wealth management. But the two shared a love of magazines. While traveling, they noticed city publications popping up across the country.

Then Todd found a small, ad-filled city magazine in Paducah, Kentucky. If a market half the size of Evansville could support one, why couldn’t Evansville?

After talking about the idea for three years, Todd finally told Kristen they had two choices: stop talking or find out how far they could take it.

They chose the latter.

Twenty-seven years later, Tucker Publishing Group publishes Evansville Living, Evansville Business, and other publications and custom projects. Their complementary strengths became part of the formula: Kristen brought organization, editorial instincts, and high standards; Todd brought relationships, revenue, and a love for being in the community.

“I genuinely love conversations with other people, the friendships, the loyalties that go along with that,” Todd said.

Lessons & Strategies

Make excellence non-negotiable. From the beginning, the Tuckers rejected “good enough.” Todd says their goal wasn’t merely to meet high standards but “to continually exceed them.” If a story, photo, or project isn’t ready, it doesn’t go out; even when the deadline hurts.

Treat relationships as the long game. Todd calls his approach “conversational selling”: friendly, approachable, honest, and without the artificial distance often associated with sales. Sometimes that means telling an advertiser not to spend money.

His father’s advice became a family principle: “You can never go wrong by doing the right thing.”

Love the community you cover. “You can’t be Evansville Business if you’re not at the business event,” Todd said. Local publishing requires presence. Know the community, show up for it, and genuinely care about the people whose stories you tell.

That perspective deepened after open-heart surgery and, soon afterward, stage-four cancer. Treatment brought Todd a clarity he hadn’t experienced before.

“It is all about your family and your children and your parents and your loved ones,” he said.

For publishers carrying the weight of a difficult industry, his message is equally simple: care deeply, be kind, keep learning, and do work you love.

“If I didn’t love it, I’d hate it.”

Collaborate

Get in contact or collaborate with Todd Tucker

* Web Site: https://www.evansvilleliving.com

Join the Movement

Subscribe for more stories at https://subscribe.peopleofmedia.com

Be a guest! Take the publisher survey at https://survey.peopleofmedia.com

*I use AI in the production/refinement of some written content. See my boundaries for ethical AI usage in the content I create: https://datajoe.substack.com/p/ai-policy

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit datajoe.substack.com