In his 39 years in newspapers, Ron Mix has worn a variety of hats, the latest being general manager of The Union Daily Times.
Mix was introduced to The Times staff Wednesday by Joe Craig, regional manager of Heartland Publications’ Carolina Division. Craig said Mix will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of The Times and will report to Denny Koenders, group publisher of Heartland’s South Carolina newspapers. He said Mix, who began work Wednesday, also will serve as advertising manager for the company’s South Carolina group.
“I am pleased to join Heartland Publications as general manager of the newspaper in Union,” Mix said. “I look forward to working with the staff and people of the community to continue to produce a quality newspaper.”
Mix, a native of Charleston, Mo., began his newspaper career as a teenager when the publisher of the local Enterprise-Courier, tossed him a camera and gave him his first assignment.
“I was 15 when I started working for my hometown weekly,” Ron Mix said. “The publisher threw me a camera and said start shooting, it was basketball season. I pretty much wrote weekly sports through high school. Then I worked at that same weekly all three summers during college. I wrote news. I pretty much covered everything.”
Mix received his Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri and since graduation has worked as an editor, advertising manager and publisher for a number of newspapers including weeklies and dailies in California, Illinois and Missouri. During the course of his career, Mix has held management positions with McClatchy Newspapers, Cox Target Media, USMedia Group, the Journal-Register Company and Smith Newspapers.
Before going to California, Mix owned a newspaper with a circulation of 3,000 readers in his wife Cindy’s hometown of Chaffee, Mo. After selling the publication, he went to California in 1996 where he served as publisher of three daily newspapers.
Mix later went to work as general manager for Cox Target Media in Sacramento, Ca. and then as sales manager for San Francisco Bay area publications owned by Media News Group. Mix said he sees the job in Union as a return to his small-town roots. He said he is looking forward to working to make The Union Daily Times the best daily newspaper of its size in South Carolina and beyond.
“For me, this is a great job,” Mix said. “I’m returning to my roots. I like the fact that I’ve done a little bit of everything. These days in community journalism everybody has got to do more. I like the fact that I can be part of sales, but also be involved in news, my first love. For me it’s an ideal situation.
“I just want The Union Daily Times to be the best community daily newspaper in the state, in the country,” he said. “It needs leadership and I’m proud to provide it and for the newspaper to provide leadership to the community.”
Mix and his wife will move from California to the Union area in the near future. The couple has two daughters, Morgan, 29, of Chicago, Ill. and Ashleigh, 27, of Columbia, Mo.
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