“We’re going forward,” Taylor said. “We plan to do it.”
The Dayton Daily News has occupied three floors of the former NCR Corp. building since spring 2007. Currently, there are about 600 employees in the 243,000-square-foot center.
Bringing television and radio staffs from their 1414 Wilmington Ave. studios and offices will put about another 150 employees in the Cox Media Center, Taylor said. The Wilmington Avenue building has been home to WHIO since the 1950s.
The goal is not just achieving operating efficiencies but investing in the local Cox media operations, Taylor said. For readers, viewers and listeners, the goal is also to maintain and strengthen local news coverage, he added.
“We’re going to begin collaborating and working together to make our clients happier and our community more informed than ever before,” Taylor said in a note to Cox Media Group employees. “A big part of working together is being physically located together.”
He expects separate news-gathering efforts to be maintained, although there may be opportunities for collaboration. “The goal of our company is to provide the best journalism as possible,” he said.
John Morton, owner and founder of Silver Spring, Md.-based Morton Group, a national media consultant, said the move makes sense.
“Everybody is trying to save money, and this of course is one way to do it,” Morton said. “Even though they say the national recession has ended and the recovery has begun, it certainly hasn’t affected favorably the media industry.”
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