Is Curley Leaving WaPo Co.?
Rob Curley, the high priest of “hyperlocal” Web journalism, may soon be bolting from his job at the Washington Post Co.’s online publishing arm, according to sources close to the matter. The word is that Curley is preparing to depart for the Las Vegas Sun, an enterprising paper with an attractive Web site.
Curley, 37, last summer launched the Post’s much-discussed Loudounextra.com, a site that grafts the best elements of small-town journalism–community news, events, and personalities–onto an interactive platform. Fairfaxextra.com–same idea, different county–is scheduled to launch later this year.
Yet further expansion of the concept may have to take place under a different captain. When asked about rumors of his departure, Curley responds with a lawyered equivocation: “I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not.”
Robcurley.com is a bit more forthcoming on this point than Rob Curley.person. Earlier this year, Curley posted a long blog entry on his affection for the Las Vegas Sun’s new Web site. The post makes clear that Curley is tight with the Sun , to the point of riffing about human capital:
After speaking with the staff of The Las Vegas Sun and its sister publications (the company owns/operates several weekly newspapers and glossy magazines in the Vegas area), Brian Greenspun asked me who else he should hire to do the things I talked about in my presentation.
I gave The Sun several names. To my surprise, the newspaper hired every single person on the list. Not some of them. All of them. They even added a few folks to the list who I hadn’t thought of. This new-media team at The Las Vegas Sun is full of friends of mine, as well as several other folks whose work I’ve always admired.
And more:
You gotta give the company credit for investing heavily in a new-media strategy in 2008. Lots of newspapers were investing (at least a little) back in 1998, but how many are still investing now? From an online perspective, this newspaper seems to be going from zero to 100 miles-per-hour almost overnight. It’s impressive and refreshing to see in this time of doom and gloom in our industry.
Good friends, a nice Web site, a newspaper with great acceleration–what more could an ambitious fellow like Curley want?
Before coming to Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, the Post Co.’s online publishing unit, Curley served as “director of new media and convergence for the Naples Daily News and its sister publications along Florida’s Gulf Coast,” according to his bio. And before that, he was a top official in the editorial and online operations of the Lawrence (Kansas) Journal-World.
Much ballyhoo accompanied his arrival at WPNI. Curley had given a presentation in Florida that was attended by top Post people, including the toppest of them all, Donald Graham. A period of wooing followed, with plenty of personal involvement by Graham. Curley acceded to the pressure and joined the Post Co. in October 2006, with the mission of securing the brand’s local biz plan.
His stature and innovative cachet were such that Curley got his own Skunk Works arrangement within the company, whereby he banged out his hyperlocal experiments free from the usual bureaucracy and imperfect washingtonpost.com Web platform. Washingtonpost.com Executive Editor Jim Brady declined to comment for this item. A top official for the Las Vegas Sun could not immediately be reached for comment.
In his travels from Kansas to Florida to Washington, Curley has brought with him a close-knit group of hyperlocalites–a team that is reportedly ready to join the boss should he move to Vegas. When asked about his movable fiefdom, Curley replied, “I have five people. That’s not a fiefdom–that’s not even an infield.”
“Right now, I am focused 100 percent on finishing our local projects.”
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4:57 pm
The Las Vegas Sun, an 8-page insert that gets delivered inside the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is only investing in the Web because of its close association with the travel-and-tourism site Vegas.com (Brian Greenspun owns both.) Worst of all, Greenspun, a real estate developer, gets to personally review stories written for the Sun and spike them when those stories could make his real estate cronies look bad. Believe it. The Review-Journal and alt weekly papers have been commenting on the Sun’s little ethics problem for years. I hope that’s not anyone’s idea of an “enterprising newspaper.”
5:11 pm
This would be an interesting move for him to make. The community it totally different, But I do think part of the key to solving the hyperlocal puzzle will be found in Tourism.
Perhaps he will stumble upon this.
After all… we don’t just stay in one place :)
8:25 pm
It might be nice when this guy is giving one of his big riffs at a conference that somebody actually ask him to produce audience or revenue or profit figures that justify all the huge bills he runs up. to my knowledge, all of his projects — ALL OF THEM — from Kansas to Washington to Vegas — have been massive money losers that have not moved the needle in audience or revenue.
12:13 pm
Loudon extra and the vegas sun are hyperlocal? sort of… They can’t figure out how to allow user submitted content beyond email forms… The multimedia designer is great though, both places. Really do like the photos and video on both sites. I hope they get the rest of the puzzle pieces in place, and I am sure they will.
I think Mr.Curley is a bit out of touch and overzealous in his quote below. Maybe he had a bit too much caffeine that day:)
“You gotta give the company credit for investing heavily in a new-media strategy in 2008. Lots of newspapers were investing (at least a little) back in 1998, but how many are still investing now? From an online perspective, this newspaper seems to be going from zero to 100 miles-per-hour almost overnight. It’s impressive and refreshing to see in this time of doom and gloom in our industry.”
The reality is that spending on web initiatives by newspapers, and the revenue that goes with it, continues to grow, although online ad revenue has slowed from ~34% in ‘06 to ~18% in ‘07 (nationally, NAA figures). Newspapers are starting to grow their marketshare and learn how to play on the web.
It’s all in getting it right, and Rob has definitely been a major influence on a certain market segment. There’s more too success than online, and online only opensource products are not the complete answer, though they certainly have their place.
Whatever Rob decides to do I am sure we all wish him well, and it seems weird this rumor is floating around now when I just heard at the capitol conference that he has been promoted ;)
12:38 pm
History shows that pioneers always attract naysayers, even enemies. Any person or organization with bold ideas and the energy and determination to break through the status quo to execute those ideas invariably has detractors. That happens to Rob, to Brian Greenspun, to anyone. What’s remarkable in Las Vegas is how sorry the state of journalism was before the Sun reinvented itself. Finally, Nevada has a strong, clear voice willing to shake things up.
2:29 pm
Curley - how do you have a last name like that with such a horrible hair cut.
2:56 pm
naysayers? ha. all Curley does is give good PowerPoint. that’s his one talent. Naples? no new traffic and his video experiment has died on the vine. the WP? what has he done there besides give good PowerPoint? nothing. why else would he be headed to LV? competence? hardly. get a life. just thank your lucky stars that Curley and his ‘hypterlocal’ crap is going somewhere other than where you are.
2:57 am
It is true, kind of at this point, that Curley is going to Greenspun Vegas. But he has not moved there yet. … And yet and still …
However he has convinced the Greenspuns to import his minions wholesale to the organization. Regardless of his acolytes’ individual abilities, Curley’s new cohort has alienated long-standing Greenspun employees, especially those of talent, with a Curleyite cultism and dismissal of all others. Many look to leave ASAP.
And the results of the Curley Vegas “hyperlocal” multimedia revolution are really slow in coming and not overwhelming in their scope, considering the money behind them. And much is said to have been accomplished via college intern labor.
This Curley is pretty much a bullshit artist. He’s not selling snake oil, but rather an unneeded massaging of existing technology. And the Greenspuns bought the oily pitch.
1:44 pm
This guy’s a snake. Everyone knows that he’s already signed on with Greenspun Media in Vegas and has already recruited his Kool Aid-drinking acolytes. The guy might have some Internet chops (overrated) but he’s essentially a salesman who uses shoddy humor, glib anecdotes, a little I’m-a-real-guy cussing, and a lot of boasting about mysterious awards to snake-charm people.
I got laid off from the Greenspun Media Group essentially because there was no way I’d just fall into line as a Curley disciple and not have a say as the editor of the Las Vegas Weekly website. He also lied to me about my job security (while he’s working for the Post!) and thought some Curley “charm” would somehow make me stupid. But bitterness aside, I knew from the first presentation the guy gave to GMG execs and staff that he was a hack showman and not to be trusted. Incidentally, he betrayed the Washington Post months ago and we were all instructed not to leak it).
This guy has signed on for a fortune and already spent a fortune. My guess is that his almost sexual obsession with websites (an inside joke at GMG) will come unstuck on the balance sheet. But what he is really interested in, and talks about a lot, is winning awards. Maybe he can scrape up a few then move on to the next suckers. And the Greenspuns will get exactly what they deserve.
There much more I could say about this dull brat but he’s not worth it. Be very careful if you deal with him. Honesty is not his forte.
(Oh, and his denial in the story above that he doesn’t have a fiefdom: BS. His team of kids have infested Greenspun Media. I counted a lot more than five — and they’re still coming.)
1:06 pm
Adrian,
Your bitterness is clouding your judgment. I’d say a lot of you are bitter for one reason or another.
Rob Curley is one of the few newspaper people who gets it. We have to completely and utterly rethink how we have been doing things. The Las Vegas Sun all the sudden has a Web site that is relevant. I wonder why?
Adrian let’s be real for a second, the Las Vegas Weekly Web site isn’t very good. Did you think Curley would allow that to continue? Of course not. If you weren’t willing to make serious changes, I’m not surprised you are no longer employed.
The Las Vegas Sun has a kick ass Web site, in no small part due to Curley. And it is incorrect to say that his projects have been money losers. And I don’t really think the old way of doing things at newspapers has exactly been a money winner.
7:56 am
I’m not going to get into a to-and-fro here but I’ll post this one to respond to Pat.
1/ Yes, I’m bitter. Rob Curley lied to me outright. Plus I saw a lot of good people hurt and/or removed at Greenspun Media — the “family business.” But that bitterness doesn’t change the other facts I put forward.
2/ Rob Curley isn’t a newspaper person. He’s a web guy with some good ideas and plenty of sales gab. I’ve seen both his work and his song and dance act.
3/ I didn’t knock the Sun website. The kids he sent in worked like dogs and it’s pretty good — although I’ve also heard some valid criticisms from users. And the gentleman who led them (his name escapes me at present) IS a decent person and HE made that site happen. The point is, will the thing make money? Ditto for the LVW site. If the Greenspuns don’t get back a decent chunk of the huge outlay on these sites, things might get interesting. Whenever Michael Carr (Pres. GMG) speaks, he talks about revenue. BIG revenue from all products.
4/ Pat, you really don’t know what you’re talking about with the Weekly site. I knew it was below par; but I had to carry the thing SOLO for nearly a year. I inherited a bad design and a crappy CMS. Usually I come in to a job and work as one of the site designers. In my first few months I worked 90 to 100 hours a week just to keep the thing going. I wasn’t allowed to hire anyone, and there was no intention to change the look or form of the site beyond some very basic cosmetics. Everything was put on hold after my boss was laid off a few months after I was hired (she was not replaced!) and the honchos tried to work out what direction they wanted to take. It is an epic saga, I can assure you. I myself was embarrassed by the site. But I fought for a better site and worked my arse off. Then I was repaid by the Curley recruitment. Now, I’ve never said Curley doesn’t have some good ideas (though I don’t think they’re all going to translate to Vegas the way they worked in Naples, Florida or Lawrence, Kansas) but from the beginning of my tenure I was pointing out things that had to change: both with the site and with personnel. I’d managed major sites like Tower Records and had done for years. I’d seen the same problems before. I also made it my mission to learn Vegas and the key people around town. I knew the image the site needed. I couldn’t get anyone to budge. Curley has come in and done things I suggested a year ago. I was a loyal, dedicated employee who had to look like the village idiot. But anyone at the Weekly will tell you my hands were tied and I was a good worker. Nobody wanted that site to work more than I did.
5/ Pat, your last paragraph, I don’t think you have a clue about Web site revenue streams. And I’ll bet you’ll come to see that Rob Curley is a guy who loves designing sites but doesn’t really want to stick around long and maintain them. It’s common knowledge he has a fetish for site design awards.