It’s a new era at the Kingfisher Times & Free Press.

For a newspaper that is in its 134th year, new eras are…well… nothing new.

There was, once upon a time, the Kingfisher Times and the Kingfisher Free Press.

Eventually, they became one.

There ’ s been different ownership through the decades.

The one most of you are most familiar with was Gary Reid coming to town in 1979 and purchasing it from the Hubbards.

In January 2013, Gary’s son, Barry Reid, purchased the newspaper and maintains that ownership today.

All of those moves brought about change in at least one form or fashion.

Change took place again as the new year turned the calendar.

As you read in the last edition, longtime Senior Editor Christine Reid has resigned her role.

She returned to a life she previously experienced outside the newspaper world and took a position with the district attorney’s office in Garfield County.

It brings to a close - maybe* - a newspaper career that has included the Times & Free Press in one way or another most years since 1986.

That’s included being editor since 2007.

She was named senior editor in 2015 when I returned and took on the title of managing editor.

Now, the title, the role, the task of being the editor of the Times & Free Press falls to yours truly.

••• As far as awards, honors and recognition go, 2022 was about as good as it gets for me.

You had to read - ad nauseam - on these pages early in the year as I was blessed to be named Citizen of the Year at the Kingfisher Chamber of Commerce Banquet.

Later came the honor of being named an Editor Extraordinaire from Editor & Publisher magazine.

Then came an OSSAA Media Excellence Award.

Now, you might think I listed those accomplishments just to toot my own horn one more time… toot toot. While most of you are aware of the honors, what you might not have known is the fact Christine nominated me for two of them.

I learned it was Christine and Morgan Winters who put my name in the citizen of the year hat.

It was Christine who wrote a glowing recommendation for the E&P award.

Once I received notice via email that I was a recipient, I chastised Christine in a text message (I was covering a school board meeting at the moment).

The string of good fortune for myself had become almost embarrassing. No matter what you’ve done, you never truly feel deserving of such accolades.

I certainly didn’t. Christine felt otherwise. “I just want people to realize what we have to offer at our newspaper,” she told me. “Especially one of our size.”

So she did her best to promote that.

She put together excellent front pages.

She kept people informed of breaking news in print and online.

She helped transition us into the digital age.

She created and maintained our social media presence and built it into a great asset.

She wrote stirring feature stories.

She hammered out timely indepth series.

She wrote what I called all of the “smart people” stories where there was a lot of legalese involved.

And she did it as well or better - than anyone else could.

I told people all the time that she was a better writer than me, which is somewhat disheartening because I’m a writer…and she’s a lawyer.

Here’s proof. For many reasons, we’ve often opted to bypass submitting entries for the annual Oklahoma Press Association Better Newspaper Contest.

But last year I took it upon myself to submit a couple of entries in sports, but also one of Christine’s feature stories.

She received first place in her division. I got third in mine.

Go figure. But that’s her gift…the one of many talents.

Now she’s off to show off another in that long list.

So what does that mean for the Times & Free Press?

We’ll keep plugging away in our 134th year.

As I’ve stated, I’m now the singular editor at the paper.

It’s not a job title - or a job - that I take lightly.

There’s a certain pride that comes with being the editor at the state’s oldest continuously- published newspaper.

I’ll continue my duties as “the sports guy” and I’ll handle all of the layout you see on the inside of the paper (minus the editorial, legal and classified pages).

It also means I take over the layout of the front page.

Another of Christine’s plethora of talents was her ability to imagine and then create eye-catching pages.

There’s an art involved. I don’t necessarily have that gift.

Wordy, I am. Artsy, I’m not.

So there will be a learning curve in that respect.

I will try, but I’m not Christine.

But I’m here and excited about the future.

And still here is Robin Johnston, who you can call for all your advertising needs.

And Cati Killman (a newbie we’re breaking in) who can handle your legal publication and circulation questions.

And Jeremy Ingle, who is our utility knife at the office.

And Brenda Slater (well, sort of…she thinks she should be able to be fully retired).

And Barry Reid, our publisher who does everything from sign my checks to cover Rotary Club meetings to build ads to carry out the trash.

And there’s Gary, whose editorial pages are still among the most widely- read of any in the state.

Then there’s Twila Adams.

We’re going to slowly incorporate Twila into more roles at the paper.

She made the mistake of proving to be extremely capable, talented and not afraid of hard work when she joined our ranks.

That’s led to her taking on many tasks here and her days are filled with a variety of roles.

(The adage around here, as well as many other places I’m sure, is that if you’re foolish enough to do a job once, it’s yours forever.)

The work you often see is Twila’s ability to produce wonderful feature stories (including in this very edition).

Her ability shown as a writer gives us the belief she can help out in our news department as well. And maybe even some layout.

But we’re not going to thrust her into that role just yet. We want to ease into that transition.

We’ll also make some other changes, additions, improvements and the like in the way we do things around here.

Some you may notice; others you may not.

While we have a solid online product, it can be better and we’ll make efforts to keep improving it.

Social media is obviously very prevalant.

Again, we have a tremendous following and presence in the Facebook world, but will continue to evolve how we deliver news through that medium.

(Note: If you haven’t noticed, the broadcasts of the Kingfisher High School basketball games are not only seen on my website - kingfishersports.tv - but also on the Times & Free Press Facebook page….live and free.)

Most importantly, we’ll be there.

We’ll be at Rotary and Lions and the basketball games and the graduation and the county meetings, the city meetings, the school board meetings, the Senior Tea and so much more.

The joy. The pain. The triumph. The heartache.

The news. We’ll document it. We’ll be at - quite literally - hundreds of events a year and bring that news to you.

And when we can’t, we have a great network of people who help ensure you get to read - and see what’s happening in our great county.

So good luck, Christine. Thank you for being willing once again to take on the important career path you’ve chosen.

Thank you for promoting me. Thank you for promoting us.

Thank you for promoting Kingfisher and the county as a whole.

Thank you for your years - nay, decades - of service to this newspaper.

It was a better product because of you, but you also ensured it will be a tremendous asset in our community for many years to come.

Just keep those recommendation letters to yourself for now.