A “move into the future” saw NYVT Media, publishers of the Granville Sentinel, Whitehall Times, North Country FreePress and Lakes Region FreePress, officially cut the ribbon to their new office at 71 Quaker Street on April 28.

Although the company officially started full workdays on March 19 after moving into office the day before, the ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by NYVT Media staff, members of the Granville Area Chamber of Commerce, Granville Mayor Paul Labas, Granville town supervisor Matt Hicks and CPA Joel Carpenter.

“What we’re trying to do is cement the idea that we are a modern, multimedia, community treasure, it’s really what we are,” said Mark Vinciguerra, president and publisher of NYVT Media. “I’m careful to not say ‘newspapers,’ not to say that we aren’t, we’re really a lot more than that.”

In addition, NYVT Media produces more than 40 specialty publications including the Washington County Senior Times, community, fair and seasonal guides and business directories serving a variety of vertical markets and readership on multiple platforms in print and digital format.

Vinciguerra looks forward to “accelerating” his so-called “continual evolution” of the process of telling stories in a wide variety of capacities with his 15-person company spread into six different departments: Business, Editorial, Sales/Marketing, Production, IT and Delivery.

“We, by far, are the biggest megaphone in Washington County, we by far are the biggest megaphone in Western Rutland County, Vermont. There’s nobody close as far as having an audience like ours,” Vinciguerra said.

Business office manager Dee Dee Carroll and office assistant Georgeanne Hall said the transition from the 10,000-square-foot building at 14 East Main Street, formerly known as Manchester Newspapers and then Manchester Media, to the 1,400-square-foot NYVT Media office was much easier than expected in getting a “fresh start.”

“I think it went a lot smoother than I anticipated it to be,” Carroll said. “It was basically a blank slate when we first came in here… I think we see more foot traffic here than we did on East Main Street. More visibility.”

“I think the timing’s perfect,” Hall said. “Mark (Vinciguerra) has been the owner of the paper for a year and-half now, but all of the history that was at 14 East Main Street was kind of left there. We are grateful for the history that we had as far as being a paper owned by the Manchesters… but being here on our own and in our own space that is not owned by the Manchesters, I think, will help separate and distinguish that the paper is no longer owned by the Manchesters.”

Editor Jared Stamm proudly laid out a major goal of his with all four papers.

“We’re trying to gain a more robust digital presence throughout the communities we serve,” Stamm said. “We don’t have to have as large an office, we don’t have to have as large of a footprint. All of the inserts are being done by the company that prints our papers so we are able to be a much more lean machine. And a smaller office space is a reflection of that, but it also puts us more squarely in the community. We’ve had more foot traffic, as Dee Dee was saying, in the office than we’ve had in years at our East Main Street location.”

“Rebranding the company as a new entity” excites Stamm with the task of proving that social and digital media storytelling are just as important as print media.

“It gives us more opportunities for different kinds of media,” he said.

Vinciguerra picked up on Stamm’s thoughts by informing the community of what to look forward to in the future.
“We’re going to be introducing so many different elements of content, the way to tell stories, we’ve started to do it now,” Vinciguerra said. “They’re going to see more and more videos, they’re going to see more and more podcasts, eventually they’ll see events that we will physically host, whether it be here or at an offsite facility.”

Vinciguerra concluded by stating NYVT Media’s role as informers to the public.

“We are the town square. It’s a different town square than it used to be, but we’re still the town square to the communities we serve,” he said. “We’re the place people go to exchange ideas and have communication. That’s the key to what we do.”

To contact NYVT Media, call 518-642-1234 or send an email to [email protected].