SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — John Yewell, soon to be a former resident of North Carolina, has been named as Editor of Salt Lake City Weekly. Yewell takes over on November 27, 2002 and replaces Christopher Smart who recently returned to daily journalism at the Salt Lake Tribune.

Since the late 1980’s, Yewell has worked in a number of capacities at a variety of AAN newspapers, dailies, and magazines stretching to both coasts. Among his AAN tenures were stints at the Twin Cities Reader (Minneapolis, MN), Metro Santa Cruz (CA), and The Independent Weekly (Durham, NC).

“Salt Lake City is a nice fit for Yewell. His cerebral and collegial attributes are sure to confound just about everyone out here. He learned our craft from some of the best, including David Carr and Claude Peck, so we don’t expect anything but good things under his leadership,” says Salt Lake City Weekly Publisher, John Saltas.

At 60,000 weekly circulation, Salt Lake City Weekly is the dominant alternative and independent voice in the region. The addition of Yewell marks the fourth former AAN-ite to relocate to Salt Lake City in the past two years.

“As Ebby Calvin LaLoosh (Tim Robbins’ character in ‘Bull Durham’) once said, I’m just happy to be here and hope I can help the ballclub. I just want to give it my best shot, and good Lord willing, things’ll work out,” says Yewell.

“I assure you,” adds Saltas, “that Yewell will not lack for good story ideas around here, Lord willing or not. Our editorial staff really liked him and they are all looking forward to working with him.”

Besides naming Yewell as Editor, longtime Associate Editor Ben Fulton, has also been promoted to Managing Editor for Salt Lake City Weekly. Available at nearly 2,000 newsrack locations, Salt Lake City Weekly is online at www.slweekly.com.

Contact: John Saltas
(801)575-7003
john@slweekly.com