I am proud of the work my staff at The Record does on a daily basis.

They work hard, they juggle a lot, and they have come a long way in the past two years as we transitioned to a multi-platform, Digital First philosophy for producing content.

In addition to their print responsibilities, they routinely shoot and edit video, live blog from events, post story updates directly to www.troyrecord.com, interact with their audience on a variety of platforms, send out text messages with breaking news alerts directly to your phones, partner with local organizations to sponsor events that benefit this community, etc.

It can be exhausting, but it's also been an exhilarating two years.

Having said all that, it's particularly nice when others salute their work.

In Metroland's "Best of the Capital Region 2012" edition, City Editor Jim Franco and Bob Goepfert, content coordinator for weekender, our weekly entertainment product, are recognized in the media category.

Jim is named "Best Print Columnist," while Bob gets the nod for "Best Print Arts Writer."

As many of you know, Jim writes our popular, political column "Talespin," which appears in our print edition on Mondays and is updated daily on our website. He is also the recipient of various awards from the Associated Press and the New York News Publishers Association.

In recognition of Jim's efforts, Metroland writes:
"We find ourselves getting a lot of enjoyment (and gleaning much useful info) from James V. Franco's Talespin column. Troy politics are endlessly entertaining, and Franco helps us keep up."

Bob, who headed up Albany's Palace Theatre for many years and who has written for The Record's entertainment products for several decades, took on content coordinating responsibilities for our arts coverage a few years ago following the death of our longtime features editor Doug deLisle. In addition, Bob writes "The Arts Whisperer" blog on our website and is an award-winning theater director.


About Bob, Metroland writes:
"Bob Goepfert's interviews and profiles get at the heart of the subject at hand, and his theater criticism is excellent. He has a lot of ground to cover, and he covers it well. A must read."

Congratulations gentlemen, and thanks Metroland for recognizing their efforts!

Record reporter Danielle Sanzone was recently selected to participate in the 2011 Video Boot Camp sponsored by our parent company, Journal Register Company.

The camp, which will be held Aug. 16 and 17 at JRC headquarters in Yardley, Pa., is expected to be an intensive session to improve video technical and storytelling abilities, and to prepare individuals to train their newsroom colleagues.

Training leader will be Chet Rhodes, former assistant managing editor of news video for The Washington Post.

Record website regulars are already familiar with Danielle's video work. Since JRC adopted its "Digital First" philosophy in covering the news on its various platforms, Danielle has easily integrated the use of video to tell the various stories she uncovers on her beat here at The Record.

All boot camp attendees were chosen based on demonstrated skill and enthusiasm, so I am particularly pleased that Danielle's efforts are being recognized by JRC.

We at The Record recently recognized Danielle for producing the most videos during our newsroom video competition.

Congratulations Danielle!

Since our parent company, Journal Register Company, adopted its "Digital First" strategy almost a year and a half ago, producing videos for troyrecord.com has been a high priority for The Record staff.
It only stands to reason that producing videos should be a priority for our newspapers: Adding a video to a story enhances the experience for our readers.
While we can tell you all about a local high school team's jubilation at winning a championship game through words, seeing the emotion for yourself through video adds a whole level to our coverage.
After a recent dip in the numbers of videos produced by the staff, we decided to get the competitive juices going and launched an in-house competition for the most videos produced by a staffer in a single month.
While no blood was shed, it was a spirited competition among the staff. News reporter Danielle Sanzone was the winner, having produced 40 videos during the month, while sports reporter Andrew Santillo was a close second.
For her efforts, Danielle gets dinner and a movie on us.
Check out one of Danielle's videos below -- an interview with the superintendent of schools for the Enlarged City School District of Troy who recently announced that he is stepping down at the end of the school year.







Here are some links to a few more of Danielle's efforts on The Record's website:

Statewide tour stops in Troy; shows how budget cuts impact students http://bit.ly/kAqInO

Troy Board of Education will wait to draw final redistricting lines http://bit.ly/jHU2yn

Capital Region's district attorneys cite benefits of video recording interrogations http://bit.ly/iYzSrA

I am proud of the staff's efforts, and I have to say I think even Steven Spielberg would be jealous of their production this month.

On Wednesday night, we hosted a "soft opening" for The Record's new Community Media Lab.

Guests of honor at the event were people many of you have come to know: Our community bloggers.

The program, which was organized by Tom Caprood, The Record's digital specialist, included some light refreshments and two videos, one featuring some of our bloggers, the other Record employees talking about the newspaper's "digital first" philosophy and its impact on our news cycle.
You can check out both of these videos on our website.

Probably the best part of the evening was the conversation we started with our bloggers. It was a good exchange of ideas and blogging tips, a discussion about how we can all support each other and work together, and ways we all can do a better job serving this community.

I personally enjoyed meeting some of our bloggers for the first time, and I look forward to many more conversations with them in the future.


My thanks to Tina Urzan, who writes "The Way It Is," Sean Wilkes, "Fishing Out Loud"; Peggy "The Dart Lady" Kownack, "Unique Perspective"; Rod Aldrich, "Shamrock Road"; Vito Ciccarelli, "Community Thoughts" and Marcie Prey, "Hellions of Troy Roller Derby," for taking the time to get together with us Wednesday night.

Kudos to Tom for putting together the videos and leading the discussions with me.
By the way, stay tune for details about the official grand opening of our Community Media Lab. We hope it will be a place to be for this community.