Meyer Communications acquires Parent |amp| Family

Meyer Communications published the first issue of Spring-field Parent & Family under its ownership in September after acquiring the monthly publication from Springfield Business Journal Publisher Dianne Eliza-beth in July.

Randy Dale, editor and general manager of Springfield Par-ent & Family, said he has a lot of new ideas for the publication, which debuted under the leadership of publisher Ken Meyer.

"We'd like to have a baby section, on a regular monthly basis, that's more geared toward newborns," Dale said. "We'd like ... maybe a grandparent's page and a teens and in-betweens page as well, for the older kids."

He added that dedicating specific pages to particular age groups will allow the editorial and advertising content to meet those groups' needs.

"It's hard to be everything to everybody, but we'd kind of like to be able to have a niche for those," Dale said.

The Parent & Family staff as listed in the staff box are Meyer, Executive Manager Dan Vaughn, Dale, advertising staff Jim Glazebrook and Kathy Smith, and production/design staff Monica Cayocca and Douglas A. Switzer.

Dale also uses the work of contributing writers from the community.

Parent & Family is printed at Kopco Printing in Caney, Kan.

Dale said with the first issue 21,000 copies were printed. The publication now is distributed in Springfield schools, Logan-Rogersville schools and at area McDonald's restaurants.

Dale said the circulation for the free magazine will grow as the paper extends its presence into Ozark, Nixa, Republic and Willard school districts. It also will expand into the Strafford schools.

"We're going to kind of go to almost a Springfield-metro Par-ent & Family," Dale said.

Meyer Communications owns KTXR, KWTO, KBFL and JOCK 98.7 radio stations.

In addition to the Springfield Parent & Family publication, Meyer Communications owns two others: Family Market-place, a mailed publication with coupons that is geared toward shoppers, and Campus Express.