Two Bits – 13 May 2016

I am so proud of my Wordsmiths team I will shout it to the heavens. Wordsmiths is our company that produces The North Coast Courier, Get It magazine, Ballito Vibe and Fast Finder.
In the last couple of months, everyone has stepped up a gear to meet the challenging business environment that is all to evident all around us. Let’s face it, it’s tough out there!
In addition to the exacting task of producing the North Coast Courier every week, we’ve launched two new products designed to meet the needs of a changing market. First there’s Ballito Vibe, the A4-sized, colourful and vibrant little publication that has been appearing in everybody’s postbox for the past month.
It’s designed to be a kick-back-and-relax easy read. No news, so it’s not a newspaper, and it’s not a magazine in the traditional sense, so it’s a vibe-zine. What’s new, what’s hot, what’s exciting on the Ballito home front, from design to cooking to pet care.
The North Coast Courier is a very well-established to well-read publication that covers the North Coast from Umdloti to Mandeni. Importantly, our team of journalists write the news of the whole region, in the paper and online. That kind of operation is costly and often places regular advertising out of the reach of the smaller operator.
Enter Ballito Vibe. The Vibe is intended to meet that market. With a print run of 10 000 copies every fortnight (compared to the Courier’s 40 000 copies a week), it is designed to allow the smaller advertiser (but not limited to them) a platform for their advertising that is affordable and, very importantly, delivered to every household that we can reach every two weeks in the Ballito/Salt Rock/Sheffield area.
Look out for Ballito Vibe, edited by Elana Geist and designed by Jenna Hight. I promise you will love it!
Then, our Get It magazine celebrated their 10th birthday last month with a slap-up reader event at the Beverly Hills Hotel where celebrity chef Sarah Graham was the guest of honour before 100 of our most loyal readers. Editor Leah Shone had nursed and nurtured Get It for all that time, from small beginnings to today where it occupies a “must read” spot throughout the North Coast and Umhlanga.
This month saw the launch of a Get It Active feature magazine, concentrating on all those health and fitness conscious peeps who have chosen to make this particular piece of heaven their home. The first edition brought you interviews with fitness and health devotees Andene Horne, Jenna Ward, Rosie Carey, Adrian Mann, Phindi Gule and more, looking at how they stay in top condition. Leah and her team slaved to bring you a wonderful magazine that – like the Get It Kids issues – will appear twice a year.
With the Ballito Pro international surf contest only six weeks away, other members of the Wordsmiths team – especially designers Jenna Hight, Kim Pascoal and writer Jacqui Herbst – are hard at work on the contest magazine. Last year’s programme won praise from the organisers, contestants and spectators for its great looks and readability, and this year we’re aiming even higher.
My wife and business partner of the past 30 years, Rose, has decided to step back from the everyday office and devote more time to her home and grandson. But she is only a phone call away when I need some sage advice.
Our daughter, Lesley, and her husband, Pieter Naudé, who serve as our news editor and general manager respectively, have been elected directors of the Wordsmiths board and Rose and I welcome them and – most importantly-their youthful energy.
I know that Wordsmiths is in good hands to be able to continue to serve North Coast residents with the very best in news and entertainment, in print and online, for many years to come.
Long live youthful energy – long live!
* * *
A man goes to see the Rabbi. “Rabbi, something terrible is happening and I have to talk to you about it.”
The Rabbi asked, “What’s wrong?”
The man replied, “My wife is poisoning me.”
The Rabbi, very surprised by this, asks, “How can that be?”
The man then pleads, “I’m telling you, I’m certain she’s poisoning me, what should I do?”
The Rabbi then offers, “Tell you what. Let me talk to her, I’ll see what I can find out and I’ll let you know.”
A week later the Rabbi calls the man and says, “Well, I spoke to your wife. She kept me on the phone for three hours. You want my advice?”
The man said yes and the Rabbi replied, “Take the poison.”