Name: Kelley Warnick

Birthday: July 17, 1949

Newspaper: Gallatin County News

Position/Title: Editor

How long held: Named editor in 1984

Duties, responsibilities of position: Overseeing editorial content of the newspaper and its day-to-day operation

Education: Bachelors degree from the university of Virginia

Family: Mother - Denny Kelley Warnick, publisher and brother Clay Warnick, associate editor

Views on future of newspapers:

The future seems good for community-focused dailies and weeklies. I’m not sure about the big daily papers.

What is your family history with newspapers and how has it affected you?: My father, a former Kentucky Press Association board member, purchased the Gallatin County News in 1975.

Name: Ken Metz

Birthday: Jan. 28. 1958

Newspaper: Bath County Outlook

Position/Title: Publisher

How long held: I’ve been a publisher since 1996 and a journalist since 1981

Duties, responsibilities of position: Overseeing all aspects of the daily operation of the newspaper.

Education: Associates and bachelors degree in journalism.

Family: My wife is Gloria and we have four children: Zak, Alicia, Ashley and Chasity

Civic Clubs/Organizations: Member of the local chamber of commerce and Lions Club.

Goals for KPA: To provide as many useful benefits to member newspapers as possible and to maintain an excellent status as an industry.

Views on future of newspapers:

Dailies face great competition from television and the Internet but community newspapers provide identity and value to smaller communities.

Name: Jed Dillingham

Birthday: Oct. 11, 1950 (Yeah, I know. That’s getting old)

Newspaper: The Dawson Springs Progress

Position/Title: Editor and co-publisher

How long held: Editor since Jan. 1, 1980 and co-publisher since Oct. 11, 1900

Duties, responsibilities of position: Co-publisher - None; I let my co-publisher (brother Scott) handle that. Editor: This is a weekly so pretty much all non-production matters such as writing all locally written artticles, editing all copy and writing heads for all stories.

Previous professional experience in and outside of newspaper industry: Nothing. All my other jobs were summer or part-time/temporary. Although I am particularly proud of working weekends and all-day Saturday at a pool room when I was in high school. Could there be a more perfect job for a high-school boy?

Education: 1968 graduate of Dawson Springs High School and in a 1974 graduate of Western Kentucky University with a major in English and a minor in English. Performed graduate work at Ball State University (completed classes but didn’t write my final paper. I did all the research and had boxes of notes then looked at them and said “what the hell.”)

Family: Single, thank the Lord.

Civic Clubs/Organizations: None. I agree with Groucho when he said he’d never be a member of a club that would have him as a member

Goals for KPA: Nothing specific but for a sound bit, ensure that it stays financially healthy (nothing is possible if that isn’t done) and to keep it relevant to its members and to make sure it fights for the First Amendment rights in Frankfort

Views on future of newspapers: Don’t know but I suspect that the gloom and doom crowd is going to die and be replaced many times by more gloom and doomers who will still be quoting from magazines.

What is your family history with newspapers and how has it affected you?

The paper was started in 1919 and my dad bought it in 1946 right after coming home from the war. It's been in the family ever since. In high school and even into early college, I didn't know if I wanted to come here and do this. Ever since I was a kid, I worked around the paper. We had hot type and I would catch papers. At a young age, I liked working there but I saw how hard my dad worked and wasn't sure if I wanted to get into all that. I considered being a cross-country truck driver so I could see the country or a professional baseball player. Working there was almost an anti-influence, you know as a kid, you don't necessarily want to do what your father did. But right after my first Christmas at Western, I decided that this is what I wanted to do and I've never regretted it. I love working at a weekly. I've never worked at a daily because I love the pace and what a weekly means to a community.

Click Here to go back