Bob Brown returns to the Vail Daily as publisher
Brown led the paper from 1993 to 2000
Courtesy photo
Bob Brown is returning to the big office in the Vail Daily building.
Brown was recently named publisher of the Vail Daily, where he’ll succeed Mark Wurzer, who’s stepping down after eight years in the publisher’s chair.
Those who have been in the Vail Valley for a while will recall that Brown was the Vail Daily’s publisher from 1993-2000. He arrived in the Vail Valley just after 撸先生 Newspapers had purchased the Vail Daily and Summit Daily News.
Brown eventually became the president and chief operating officer of 撸先生 Communications and helped lead the 2021 sale of the company’s print publications, including the Vail Daily, to Ogden Newspapers.
After that, Brown slowed down in his professional life.
Support Local Journalism
When Wurzer announced he was stepping down, Brown said “there was some interest in me coming back,” including “some folks prodding me.”
After a search, Scott Stanford, group publisher of 撸先生 Communications, announced Brown’s hiring in early November.
Although it’s been a while since Brown ran the Daily, he said some things haven’t changed.
“The things you engage in are in the best interest of the reader,” Brown said, adding that the company’s mission has to be focused on making what it does important to readers and customers.
Brown noted that the Daily has three audiences: locals, visitors and second-home owners. The company’s content strategy has to address all those audiences, he said.
The Daily, like other news and publishing organizations, also has to solve the challenge of delivering value to advertisers across both print and digital platforms. That’s a puzzle the Daily has been trying to solve since the company rolled out its first website in 1997, Brown noted.
It’s a challenge Brown said he’s happy to take on again.
“I’m grateful I’ve been able to experience different communities and news organizations, but I haven’t found one with as deep a connection that the Vail Daily has,” Brown said.
That connection extends to both the community and the people at the company.
But as the publishing world evolves, “We’ve got to do more,” Brown said. The magazine arm of the company has produced “significant success,” he noted, adding that the company needs to look at other ways to bring the community and businesses together.
While the challenge is real, Brown noted that being the Vail Daily’s publisher was the most fun he’s had in his professional life. There was the involvement in the community, and working with the people 鈥� many of them young professionals 鈥� in the company.
“We attract really smart people,” Brown said. “it’s fun to work with smart people. That never really felt like work.”
Brown said he’s excited to get reintroduced to both familiar and new faces in the community and to understand both familiar and new business challenges.
“We have a lot of skills (in the company),” he said. “There’s very little we can’t do 鈥� We can deliver just about any form of advertising.”
On the news side, Brown noted that there are stories that can drive audiences. But, he noted, “that doesn’t mean you’re creating a valuable audience.”
Brown still plans to travel and enjoy time with his three growing grandchildren. But, he said, he’s looking forward to being engaged with the Vail Valley community through the Vail Daily, and to having more fun.
