News-Argus buys Wayne County Phone Book
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on March 13, 2005 2:10 AM
The Goldsboro News-Argus announced today the expansion of its telephone directory publishing business, Community Yellow Pages of Eastern North Carolina, with the acquisition of Our Town Phone Directory, Inc.'s Wayne County Phone Book.
Hal Tanner III, News-Argus general manager and head of the directory publishing division, and Michael and Deborah Eatmon, owners of Our Town Directories, said they will work together to ensure that current telephone directory advertisers and consumers "receive the results and products they deserve."
The cover of the new 2005/2006 directory will remain red and will include the names of Our Town and Community Yellow Pages of Wayne County.
In making the announcement, Tanner said, "We have been expanding our directory publishing business in other eastern North Carolina communities for several years. We recognized there was a great opportunity to leverage that capability in our home market with the market knowledge and relationships that Mike and Deborah have developed over the last 18 years with their Our Town telephone book.
"The marriage between newspaper, on line and telephone directory products enables us to re-create and promote the Wayne County telephone book in ways that only the newspaper can.
"The red color of the book will remain a central theme in its redesign, but the book will have new features, a different layout, and other benefits designed for the consumer and advertiser. With these changes, there is no question that the newly revamped Wayne County Phone Book will be the most effective yellow page advertising vehicle for our advertisers and the most useful telephone directory for the residents of Wayne County," Tanner said.
"We were also very pleased that the Eatmons have agreed to stay involved with the directory over the next two years. Mike and Deborah have been great to work with and we look forward to moving ahead with them during the transition," Tanner said.
A separate, non-newspaper staff is responsible for sales and marketing of the product and printing is contracted with a firm that specializes in directory printing. The sales staff has begun to set appointments with advertisers and will be in the area for the time necessary to complete the production for the regular fall publication date.
Tanner added, "We plan to continue with the strengths of the product, such as the large type, but improve and/or add to the book in other areas. Adding an on-line component by joining with our web site www.newsargus.com, will provide other benefits such as telephone number look-ups, maps and product/service searches that no one else can offer." Anyone needing additional information should call Community Yellow Pages at (919) 587-0039.
Community Yellow Pages of Eastern North Carolina publishes telephone directories for distribution in Wayne, Lenoir, Jones, Craven, Pamlico, and Carteret Counties.