VILLAGE OF BALDWINSVILLE – The day after she graduated from Baldwinsville schools in 1976, Lori Newcomb started her new job at the Brown Newspapers in B’ville, one of the predecessors of Eagle News. While in school, she had been part of a fledgling job shadow program at which she got her first glimpse of the ins and outs of the printing business, and then-publisher Dick Manville jumped at the chance to bring in the fresh-faced young woman with a passion for printing.
Now, nearly 49 years later, after more changes in role and responsibility than one can count, Lori is still working at the community newspaper company she started with as a teenager. Her official title is Circulation Director and Production Coordinator, but she could probably be better described as the glue that holds the company together – the person who knows each detail of what it takes to churn out a newspaper each week and put it in the hands of readers.
Many of her duties never came to her as a part of any job description – she simply saw a need and took the responsibility. When she saw that the photos in Eagle’s five weekly newspapers were running a little too dark, she jumped in and began color correcting each one before it went to press. When the editorial department was spread too thin to get to some community events, she grabbed her camera and started shooting. She is the last person to see the newspapers before they are sent to the printer, and the first one to see them when they return. In corporate terms, she is production, distribution and quality control, all wrapped up into one person.
A typical day is anything but typical. Almost every day, there’s a publication that needs to be sent to press. There are commercial printing customers that need their newsletters and publications designed. There are racks of Syracuse Woman Magazines in grocery stores all over Central New York that need to be stocked or restocked. There are readers who call to renew their subscription and get her familiar voice, a van that needs to be serviced, a community event that needs to be covered, etc., etc. etc.
Why is she still working in community news after all this time?
“I like the variety – that was the biggest thing. They always gave me variety back in the early years,” she said, recalling how she would fly the press, design the newspapers, and work with commercial printing customers. Despite having the opportunity to take on more singularly-focused roles, she’s always gravitated to jobs that break up the day. And in nearly half a century in the industry, she has had a front row seat for the transformation of the industry from primarily a manual process to a digital one, requiring her to constantly evolve and learn new platforms and techniques.
And that need for variety is witnessed in her interests outside of newspapering as well. Through a previous relationship, she fell in love with auto racing and spent more than two decades deeply involved in the sport. She became the newsletter editor for the Central New York region of the Sports Car Club of America, twice winning first place in national competitions for her publication, and eventually became executive of the region. She worked the flagging and communications and the tower at Watkins Glen, both for regional races and when professional organizations like NASCAR and IMSA came to the Glen. And she spent a lot of time behind the wheel as well, competing – and often winning – races at regional tracks around Central New York.
As her time at the racetracks wound down, she began using her free time to get more involved in the local music scene. It started at Syracuse WinterFest, where she saw a band that she enjoyed and then quickly started going to live music events all over the area. Soon, several nights a week, she was shooting photographs and videos of local bands from a variety of music genres, posting them on social media to help with their publicity. Her efforts in this arena were recognized in 2024 by the Syracuse Area Music Awards, which awarded her the Jack O. Bocchino Spirit of SAMMYs award for her devotion to the local music scene.
Like with most things in her life, it’s the variety of the local music scene she enjoys.
“I want to go see new places and new bands more than anything else,” she said. “When I first submerged myself into it, it was nothing for me to go to three places in one night.”
It’s no particular genre of music that brings her to a show, but each show attracts a different audience, many of whom she now calls friends. “If I go to blues, I know I’m going to see certain people, and if I go to country, I’m going to see a different group of people,” she said. “I have groups of people I know I’m going to see if I go out, which makes it more fun, because you may not see them again for a couple of years.”
As her reputation as a videographer grew, she was offered another new role as a videographer for PAC-B, the public access television station serving her hometown of Baldwinsville. So if she’s not heading out to see a local band play, she’ll often be behind a video camera at a local municipal government meeting, documenting the comings and goings of local government. She also is the official photographer for Syracuse WinterFest, something she started doing three years ago.
When you look at the calendar on the wall of Lori’s office, there is something highlighted most evenings and weekends: a village board meeting for PAC-B, a band that she wants to see, a community event that needs to be covered. It’s the documentation of a mind that has an insatiable need to keep busy, keep moving, do different things.
“Oh yeah. This is my life,” she said when asked about the calendar. “I just want to do something different. I just like variety. I can’t just live for music. That’s not me. And I can’t just live for racing, or anything. I gotta have variety.”
Although she has thought about plans for retirement, there’s nothing set in stone right now.
“They sometimes say when you get to the point where you think you may want to retire, you know you want to retire,” she said, adding that she has projects she’d like to tackle at her home and looks forward to travelling to places she is unable to with her job and other commitments. Whenever that day comes, though, although she may slow down, Lori will never stop seeking out the new things, new places and new experiences that pique her interest. It’s the spice of life that she craves.
ellementor.com
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