The E.W. Scripps Company has named Dave Hedge, a sales and marketing professional with more than 25 years of experience in local media organizations, as the publisher of the Abilene (Texas) Reporter-News.
Hedge, 48, the director of advertising at the Evansville Courier & Press for the past five years, assumes his new role in Abilene immediately. The Reporter-News has circulation of 24,400 daily and 33,700 Sunday. Both the Evansville Courier & Press and the Abilene Reporter-News are owned and operated by Scripps.
“Dave is one of our most-talented and innovative sales executives,” said Tim Stautberg, Scripps senior vice president of newspapers. “His work selling digital advertising made Evansville one of the strongest members of the Yahoo newspaper consortium, and we’re confident that he’s going to deepen the relationship between the Reporter-News and the community of Abilene.”
Hedge joined the Courier & Press as its advertising director in 2006 and has consistently driven success in key revenue initiatives and increased customer satisfaction scores. He also oversees sales for the Scripps-owned Henderson (Ky.) Gleaner.
From 2003 to 2006, Hedge was the retail advertising director for the Carolina Publishing Group in Florence, S.C., where he was responsible for the advertising of one daily newspaper, four weekly newspapers, one Web site and various niche publications.
He previously spent three years as the retail/national advertising manager for a Macon, Ga.-based newspaper group, and held various media sales roles in Kentucky and Indiana from 1986 to 2000.
Hedge will report to Bruce Hartmann, vice president of sales and chief revenue officer for all 13 Scripps newspaper markets.
About Scripps
The E.W. Scripps Company is a diverse media enterprise with interests in television stations and newspapers. For a full listing of Scripps media companies and their associated Web sites, visit https://www.scripps.com/.