Former Citizen-Times advertising director Smith heads to S.C. newspaper

Jason Sandford September 2, 2009

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

Story here from the Post & Courier in Charleston:

Newspaper veteran Gayle J. Smith has been named advertising director of The Post and Courier, it was announced Tuesday.

Smith starts in her new position Sept. 28.

She will oversee The Post and Courier’s retail and classified advertising departments for print and online sales. She reports to the publisher.

Smith started her advertising career in 1972 as an advertising assistant for Sears in Selma, Ala., where she helped coordinate newspaper ads for the

department store chain.

She currently is director of sales and marketing for The Wilson Times in Wilson, N.C.

Before that, Smith was director of advertising for the Asheville Citizen Times in Asheville, N.C., and previously worked in various sales, marketing and managerial positions for The Charlotte Observer for almost 15 years.

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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4 Comments

stupid September 13, 2009

Apparently Bill Hawkins knows nothing about advertising. Why would he fire Bill Cranford only to replace him with someone that can’t make a difference. Gayle is nice but no where near the leader Cranford was.
Chalk another one up for stupid decisions.

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say goodbye to the paper September 5, 2009

She was a disaster at the AC-T. Absolutely awful. Why would it be any different at the Post and Courier? The quickest way to bury a news organization is to hire incompetent folks to the advertising positions. The Post and Courier is on its way to being no more.

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Former ACT'er September 2, 2009

God help them!

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No reason September 2, 2009

What the story doesn’t tell you is that Bill Cranford, the former Ad Director of the Post and Courier was fired about two months ago. Mr. Cranford had been the Ad Director at the paper for quite some time. Like all newspapers they are dealing with reduced revenue from major advertisers, car dealers and real estate companies. Bill maintained his integrity during tough economic times. He was devoted to his staff and very capable. It is my understanding that the Post and Courier’s publisher/editor, Bill Hawkins and Bill Cranford did not sing from the same song book.

Bill Hawkins, who was named publisher of The Post and Courier in spring of 2009, knew Gayle Smith when they were both active in North Carolina Press Association.

The plot thickens as Jeff Green, the former publisher of the Citizen-Times had done some consulting work for The Post and Courier. And, everyone at the CTimes knew that Smith and Green were very chummy. Rumor has it – too chummy!

I hope that the advertising department in Charleston is prepared for Hurricane Gayle.

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