George \u201cScoop\u201d Sample, owner and CEO of Sample News Group based in Huntingdon, Pa., which The Owego Pennysaver is a part of, was honored recently as the 2022 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Pennsylvania News Media Association. The prestigious award was presented at PNA\u2019s annual dinner meeting.<\/p>\n
Sample\u2019s name will be familiar to many in the Valley as publisher of the Evening Times for several years in the 1980s before he and his wife, Marlene, purchased the Huntingdon Daily News and began to expand their Sample News Group (SNG). In 2008, that expansion included the Morning Times, joined by Kelly Luvison.<\/p>\n
PNA\u2019s Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes exceptional service and outstanding accomplishments spanning a career in journalism. Sample\u2019s media career has spanned more than 50 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a great and humbling honor to be in the company of so many great Pennsylvania newspaper giants,\u201d said Sample. \u201cThis award has marked an enjoyable 50 years with some of the best colleagues you could imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sample\u2019s professional newspaper career began at the Punxsutawney Spirit after college in 1973, but his knowledge of the industry goes deeper than that.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up in Corry, Pennsylvania, I started out stuffing papers when I was six or seven years old. By 13 or 14 years old, I was writing news,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sample was general manager of the Punxsutawney newspaper before he was 21 years old.<\/p>\n
Sample learned the industry from one of the best \u2014 his father, George R. Sample Jr., longtime publisher of the Corry Journal.<\/p>\n
Sample moved up through the ranks of the American Publishing Company chain before he and his family founded Sample News Group in 1991, and with the purchase of the Huntingdon newspaper and The Daily Herald in Tyrone. Since then he has acquired more than 70 publications in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont.<\/p>\n
\u201cSample News Group really started in Huntingdon in 1991 when Joe Biddle selected me to succeed his family,\u201d said Sample. \u201cJoe wanted to sell to another family, not a chain \u2014 someone who would care about Huntingdon County. I think we have met his wishes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since then, SNG has grown to a five-state, 500-employee media company that thrives on serving small-town America.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis award is for all of the 500 people who work diligently every day to produce a good local newspaper,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In their nominating letter, Luvison, Bedford Gazette publisher Joseph Beegle and Gettysburg Times publisher Harry Hartman wrote, \u201cScoop reminds us each day with his phone calls that start at 6 a.m. that we have built the \u2018biggest small-town newspaper company\u2019 through hard work and by caring about our small towns and trying to make them a better place to live and work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy decision in 2008 to join Scoop and Sissie Sample \u2013 to return to the private-family newspaper space \u2013 was undoubtedly the best career and life decision I ever made,\u201d said Luvison. \u201cPrecious few people will ever question Scoop\u2019s sense of fairness or compassion, his passion for hometown newspapers, or his sincere desire to provide opportunities for the people on our team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luvison, who serves as president of Sample News Group\u2019s northern division, presented the lifetime achievement award to Sample in Harrisburg with more than 20 SNG managers on hand, along with and some 100 fellow Pennsylvania newspaper colleagues and executives.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the changes I have seen have been monumental, starting with linotypes in my first two newspapers, the camaraderie of people who have loved this business has been unparalleled,\u201d said Sample. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of fun, done a lot of hard work, and hopefully we\u2019ve made our communities better. We know the work we do each day is important to a bright future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sample, a graduate of Denison University in Granville, Ohio, served as Daily News publisher until 2015, and now continues as owner and CEO of Sample News Group. Marlene Sample, meanwhile, is publisher of State College Magazine, a Sample News Group publication.<\/p>\n
The Samples, along with their daughter Morgan and her son McKinley, reside in Huntingdon and also enjoy time at a home in Florida.<\/p>\n
Sample News Group includes newspapers in six states, including 13 dailies. The stable of publications also includes weekly newspapers, shopping guides and magazine products.<\/p>\n
Despite 50 years, and many changes in the newspaper industry, Sample said the mission remains unchanged.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love small town journalism and the positive effect we have on communities,\u201d said Sample. \u201cOur mission is the same \u2014 to be the community square, to discuss issues and be a place where people can turn for respected news.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" George \u201cScoop\u201d Sample, owner and CEO of Sample News Group based in Huntingdon, Pa., which The Owego Pennysaver is a part of, was honored recently…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":93003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n