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| If there's a story to be told somewhere on Chicago's North Side, you can bet that someone from Inside Publications is looking for it. And it just might be the paper's founder and publisher Ron Roenigk—a long-time journalist and self-professed "news junkie" who has the gift of gab and keeps an ear to the floor for leads. In a city obsessed with news, Lincoln Square is home to its own weekly newspaper that covers local stories and community information with a focus on the North Side of Chicago. Since 1986, Ron has published Inside Publications from an office in Lincoln Square that he has shared with another well-known community paper, The Greek Star. |
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| Ron's idea for founding Inside Publications began when he was 22 and fresh out of journalism school at Ohio State University. When he moved to Chicago, he was hired by North Community Bank to work in their public relations and marketing department. At the time, the bank was publishing small community-oriented newspapers to promote new branches, featuring several ads for North Community Bank. Ron was responsible for writing and producing these newspapers, which were delivered all around the neighborhood surrounding the new bank location. "Sometimes we published these two or three times before the bank actually opened," recalls Ron. "People were really curious about them and they would ask me what they were all about." |
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| Witnessing the success of these community newspapers inspired Ron with the idea to sell ads to other local merchants and business owners. He continued working for North Community until he had the idea to strike out on his own. So in 1982, he left the bank and founded Inside Lincoln Park, which is still published today from the Inside Publications office. Building on the relationships he had formed with local advertisers, Ron followed the same principals that had made the North Community-sponsored newspapers a success: include news about the community paired with ads from local businesses appealing to both long-time and new residents seeking free information. At first, necessity called for Ron to do everything himself. He wrote, designed, edited and delivered a 24 page issue of Inside Lincoln Park every single week. As the newspaper increased its profits, he hired other people to help him as soon as he could afford to pay them a salary. "The first position I hired for was distribution," says Ron. "I did it myself every time, which made for some rough mornings after hitting my deadline on Tuesday and then going out to do 4am distributions the next day." |
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 After four years of publishing from an office in Lincoln Park, Ron had the opportunity to merge operations with another small community paper, The Good News Weekly, which had published in Lincoln Square since 1968. At the time, Nick Phillippidis was the editor of both The Good News Weekly and The Greek Star, in addition to a respected leader of the community and the Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce. As you can guess from its name, The Good News Weekly published only good news from its second floor office on Western, where GreatBank is located now. Ron shared not only the office, but also many of the Good News Weekly employees, who went on to work for Inside Publications. A few people still work for Ron since the merge. "Eleanor Jones came with the company," says Ron. "She recently passed away, but she sold ads with us for 30 years." Maria Bappert, who was the Executive Director for the Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce for 16 years, also worked for Inside Publications and still works for The Greek Star. As a testament to the relationships Ron built, many of his original advertisers followed him to Lincoln Square and continue to advertise in Inside Publications. You'll find ads for Glascott's Saloon, Kincaid's and the annual Park West Antique Show in Inside Publications editions published this month. "It's a real sign of goodwill," says Ron's wife Peggy Jo Roenigk, who is Inside's co-publisher. "These people have said they will advertise forever." She's been married to him since 1986 and has experienced the newspaper's evolution first hand. |
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| More than 20 years later, Ron still publishes Inside Lincoln Park and Inside Publications on alternating weeks. Inside Publications has grown into a community newspaper with a circulation of 49,000, covering all the neighborhoods from the Loop to Peterson Avenue, where approximately one million people live. They publish special editions distributed to up to 100,000 readers, such as the Annual Summer Activity Guide which covers events, neighborhood festivals, dining spots and outdoor activities going on throughout the summer. |
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| Ron describes Inside Publications as, "your friendly neighborhood newspaper. All the news that fits, we'll print," he quips. "We make a decision about what's the most pertinent story, the best news to cover," says Ron. Just because they're a community paper doesn't mean that they avoid controversy, either. Through the years, Inside Publications has broken a number of big stories before any other newspapers. They were responsible for calling attention to the controversial story about a mysterious book disposal at the Sulzer Library. "Studs Terkel called me personally after that story hit," recalls Ron, "He wanted to find out what was going on down at the library." Recently, the Cubs General Manager and Vice President of Community Affairs contacted Ron with a lead on a story about the Wrigley Field expansion before they contacted the Tribune or the Sun-Times. Even though big newspapers pretend they don't exist, community newspapers like Inside Publications often provide news from a more impartial perspective, since they don't have close ties with big business. |
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| He's come a long way from being the writer, editor, distributor and publisher. Today, Ron and Peggy Jo run Inside Publications with a staff of great people. Jim Sterne is the News Editor and Mary Corrado is the Associate Editor, while a number of staff and freelance writers contribute to the paper. Inside Publications also has an Office Manager, a Graphic Artist and a full staff of Account Executives who sell ad space. Although he doesn't do it all anymore, Ron remains involved with both papers, suggesting stories, offering critiques and passing on leads. |
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 When Ron graduated from Ohio State, a better job climate drew him to Chicago to get his start in a city known for its roll-up-their-sleeves journalists. A self-professed news junkie, Ron likes hard news best. Every day he reads an impressive list of newspapers and news websites, including the Tribune, Sun-Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Drudge Report and others. "If I'm not able to read a paper at work, I'll read it when I get home," says Ron. "I love news and I love my job. It always brings something new every day." He's also a compulsive viewer of television news, ranging from Nightline, to the MacNeil Lehrer NewsHour and C-SPAN. He admires Ted Koppel as a newsman who "knows how to ask good questions." Ron particularly appreciated Koppel's field coverage of the recent war with Iraq, especially that Koppel, "admitted that being out there made all the difference in the world in reporting the story." Ron, too, gets a lot of his stories just by getting out there and talking to people. "When people see a newspaper person," he says, "they often approach him to get information and really end up giving him information. Your best asset as a journalist is often just to listen." |
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| In addition to his duties as publisher, Ron stays involved with the Lincoln Square community, as well as with the Chamber of Commerce. You'll always find him volunteering his time and sponsoring events such as the Applefest in the fall. When he's not working, he loves to hike, ski, fish and boat—often with Peggy at their Michigan cottage. "He's what you call a sophisticated outdoorsman," says Peggy with a smile. |
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| Look for the next issue of Inside Publications each Wednesday at your neighborhood businesses, or right in front of the Inside Publications office at 4710 North Lincoln Avenue. To find out more information about advertising or placing a classified ad, call 773.878.7333. You can also call to find out the nearest location that carries copies of the newspaper each week. |
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Inside Publications
4159 North Western Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618
773.313.2000
www.insideonline.com |
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| Read more profiles in the Member of the Month Archives |
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