The San Diego Business Journal, a local weekly business newspaper, has expanded its editorial staff to six full-time personnel with the addition of former TV news producer and reporter Jennifer Kastner as a reporter.
Kastner, with 17 years of experience in TV news, spent the past five years as an investigative reporter for KGTV ABC 10News in San Diego.
“I was ready for a new challenge and I’ve always taken an interest in the print world,” Kastner told Times of San Diego. “I miss my talented group of former TV colleagues who hustle so hard every single day to deliver high-quality, fair and accurate news. But, I don’t miss, it’s laughable, but I don’t miss doing my on-air hair and makeup.”
A native San Diegan and graduate of the University of Colorado’s School of Journalism, Kastner’s TV career began as an intern at KUSA in Denver in 2006. She also has worked at KION in Salinas, Calif. (2006), KVOA in Tucson, Ariz. (2006-2009), KWES in Midland, Tex. (2011-2013) and KTNV in Las Vegas (2013-2015). Prior to joining KGTV in 2017, she was a general assignment reporter for two years (2015-2017) at two Los Angeles-area CBS News affiliates, KCBS and KCAL.
“I’m a huge supporter of local broadcast news so the decision to try print journalism was not taken lightly,” Kastner said. “Using a visual medium to tell stories can be incredibly powerful. Many of us learn with our eyes, so seeing a story or watching an interview can have a profound impact on a viewer.
“The broadcast business can also be quite exciting. Within hours or sometimes minutes, TV journalists have to find people who will speak on-camera, write a script, edit video and go `live’ from a scene, post the story online and also update social media platforms. The deadlines are tight and there can be technical issues, but the rewards are great.”
SDBJ’s editorial staff includes editor-in-chief George Lurie, managing editors and reporters Brad Graves and Jeff Clemetson and reporters Ray Huard, Karen Pearlman and Kastner. Prior to Kastner, Pearlman was the newspaper’s most recent editorial addition. Pearlman joined in January 2022 after spending 25 years writing for The San Diego Union-Tribune.
“Everyone at the Business Journal has been helpful in easing my transition into print journalism,” said Kastner. “The print medium allows us journalists to tell much longer and more comprehensive stories. We can add tons of rich context. We have the space to dive deeper into our content, something that I couldn’t always do in TV because of the on-air time constraints. I’ve already had the pleasure of interviewing some of these leaders and I’m thrilled to be sharing their stories.”
The San Diego Business Journal is owned by CBJ LP, which also operates the Los Angeles Business Journal, Orange County Business Journal and San Fernando Valley Business Journal.
Nuffer Smith Tucker Partners With San Diego Literacy Council
Nuffer, Smith, Tucker, considered San Diego’s oldest operating public relations agency, has launched its “Make Things Better” initiative, a year-long effort to provide a nonprofit with donations of time, talent and treasure, including pro bono publicity and marketing services.
The agency said its initiative will allow team members to make a difference in areas that matter to them with company-matched donations and paid time-off to volunteer. A new nonprofit will be selected every year, the agency said.
For this year’s inaugural initiative, the agency said it will provide services to the San Diego Council on Literacy, a nonprofit selected by Nuffer, Smith, Tucker employees who were asked to provide ideas on causes that resonated with them and aligned with the company’s purpose to better ourselves, our partners and the world around us.
The agency said it will support the council through a multi-faceted partnership that includes support to a minimum of four events, along with year-round efforts to raise awareness and funds for literacy.
One of the events is the San Diego Council on Literacy’s Financial Literacy Superheroes Competition that invites local children to submit graphic art entries that are comic-book themed and include a financial literacy or money-management message. Deadline for entries is Friday, March 31. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on Saturday, April 22 at the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park. For information, visit www.literacysandiego.org.
“Our ‘Make Things Better’ initiative was developed to align with our company’s purposes, to better ourselves, our partners and the world around us,” Teresa Siles, president and partner of the agency, told Times of San Diego.
“And the issue of literacy is a skill that is core to our industry that also has the ability to transform an individual’s life and contribute positively to our overall community. It’s about creating opportunities for individuals and societies to learn, express themselves and be better. It’s about fostering creativity and exploration. It’s about opening doors and possibilities, and our staff is excited about having the opportunity to dive deeper within our community.”
Although 2023 is the first year for its “Make Things Better” initiative, Nuffer, Smith, Tucker, which opened on April 1, 1974, has provided an array of services to many nonprofits over its nearly 49-year history. They include Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego, The Conrad Prebys Foundation, The San Diego Foundation, American Red Cross of San Diego, United Way of San Diego and 2-1-1 San Diego.
The agency was founded by Dave Nuffer and Bob Smith, both deceased. In 2020, three long-time employees, including Siles, Mary Correia-Moreno and Price Adams, acquired the agency.
Mightier 1090 Airing ESPN Sunday Night MLB Games
Southern California sports-talk radio station XEPRS 1090-AM, The Mightier 1090 ESPN Radio, reports it will air ESPN Radio’s national coverage of the 2023 Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season games played on Sunday nights. The first Sunday night game is April 2 during opening weekend of the 2023 season.
MLB’s Sunday night regular season schedule currently includes three San Diego Padres games on April 9, May 4 and July 15.
In addition, XEPRS, an ESPN affiliate since January 2022, will air MLB playoff and World Series games played at the end of the 2023 regular season.
“ESPN Radio is always all-in on MLB, from our expansive regular season schedule to broadcasting every pitch of the playoffs and World Series,” said Peter Ciccone, program director, ESPN Radio. “We are excited to further expand that offering with The Mightier 1090 ESPN Radio in 2023.”
“We had a tremendous response having the MLB Playoffs on 1090 in 2022,” said XEPRS station operator, Bill Hagen. “The Padres’ deep playoff run was a definite big time highlight for our station last year. We hope the Padres make it happen again this year and all the way to the World Series. We will have all the MLB playoffs and World Series on 1090 once again as well.”
Hagen led the August 2020 re-launch of the 50,000-watt sports-talk station after it had been off the air since April 2019.
San Diego AMA to Host Sports Marketing Discussion
The American Marketing Association’s San Diego chapter, will host “Brands and Sports, How All-Star Marketers Do It,” a panel-discussion program on how brands are leveraging the sports world, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 28, at Maverick’s Beach Club, 860 Garnet Avenue.
Speakers will include: Gracie Pulgiese, director of marketing and public relations for Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego; Dave Mullins, senior vice president of client development, rEvolution Marketing, a Chicago-based entertainment and event marketing agency. Both speakers have extensive experience in sports and entertainment marketing and communications, AMA said.
Cost to attend is $35 for members, $45 for nonmembers. Cost includes one drink ticket and all-you-can-eat taco buffet. For more information, send an email to info@sdama.org or visit sdama.org.
Rick Griffin is a San Diego-based public relations and marketing consultant. His MarketInk column appears weekly on Mondays in Times of San Diego.