Effective Jan. 1, Chris Ferrell will take over as publisher of Nashville Scene, replacing founding publisher Albie Del Favero, who announced his retirement in July. "I hoped we could find [a successor] who was passionate not only about this paper but also about this community," says Del Favero, calling Ferrell "the ideal person for the job." Ferrell is a Nashville businessman and former Metro Council member. His hire comes on the heels of Pacific Sun's announcement regarding the appointment of another former politician, Sam Chapman, as that paper's new publisher. Chapman was chief of staff to U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and a former member of the Napa County Board of Supervisors. He succeeds Steve McNamara, who recently sold the Sun after owning and operating the paper since 1966. "[Chapman] has an extraordinary varied background in journalism, law and politics, plus a longtime attachment to Marin County," says McNamara.
Owner, publisher and editor of the Sun since 1966, Steve McNamara addresses his sale of the paper to Embarcadero Publishing in this message to his readers. He writes, "Being editor and publisher of the Sun has been a dream job, way better than working the oars at the dailies in North Carolina, Miami and San Francisco where I started out." And he's leaving his legacy in good hands. About the paper's new owners, McNamara says, "In the newspaper business there are some real egomaniacs and general nut cases, but these guys are at the other end of the scale."
Two AAN newspapers serving different parts of the San Francisco Bay Area became part of the same organization today as the owner of the Palo Alto Weekly, Bill Johnson, purchased the Pacific Sun of Marin County. The sale coincides with the 70th birthday of Sun owner, publisher and editor Steve McNamara, who purchased the paper in 1966 and grew it into an award-winning newsweekly. McNamara said, "Once the decision [to sell the Sun] was made, it seemed natural to pass the responsibility to my old friend Bill Johnson and his associates at the Palo Alto Weekly." Said Johnson, "Steve and I have known each other and shared our challenges and ideas with each other for the last 25 years, and this seems like a natural outcome of that relationship."
