Rick Kennedy — Managing Editor
LAKEPORT — Christine Hammers, a 16-year veteran in newspaper advertising, has been named Advertising Director of the Lake County Record-Bee.
Hammers comes to Lakeport from Willows, where she served as Advertising Manager for Tri-County Newspapers, a division of Morris Multimedia, Inc. since August 2002.
“Lake County is a beautiful county, and it struck us as a very cool place, and a great place for our family. The Record-Bee brings me back into a daily newspaper environment. And Lake County has so much opportunity for growth, so I consider this to be both a good career move and family move,” she said.
“Christine has more than 16 years of experience in the newspaper advertising field, more than half of those in a management capacity,” Record-Bee Publisher Gregg McConnell said in announcing her appointment, “As a result she brings with her a wealth of marketing experience that should help us provide our clients with better marketing strategies and messages.”
Earlier in 2002, Hammers was an account executive for the Franklin Favorite in Kentucky, and from 1997 to 1999, she was an account executive of the Butler County Banner in Morgantown, Kentucky. She also had two previous stints as an Advertising Manager in California over the 1990s, first for Leader Publications in Hesperia, and later, the Turlock Journal in Turlock.
“During her first week here it is apparent her professional approach to advertising sales and her enthusiasm about being part of Lake County will make her a valuable member of our evolving management team. We”re lucky to have her, McConnell said.
Hammers cites her love for advertising and meeting people as the key to her enthusiasm and successes in the newspaper industry.
“If you are in advertising in a small town, then you are never a stranger for long. I love the contact with the people. I love meeting new people. It still excites me to go out on sales calls ? even cold calls ? to meet people and tell them about the services that the newspaper has to offer,” she said.
Hammers feels at home dealing with small businesses and local owners. She was a small business owner with her husband, Dan, operating the Huntsville General Store in Kentucky, and for nearly two and a half years of the family”s seven-year ownership, she was running the store.
“I have a pretty good idea about what goes into running a small business. I did a little bit of everything when I was there, even serving sandwiches. I ordered supplies, kept inventory, and did the bookkeeping,” she said.
Hammers described the business as an authentic old-style general store, selling everything from feed to tires, and even had a deli inside.
“The General Store was just about the only business there. We even had the in-store Post Office, so it was the real hub of the place. My son Robby practically grew up in there,” she said.
Hammers, however, migrated back to her first love, advertising in 2002, and returned to California.
“I even love the deadlines,” she notes, “And, I really have fun going out on the calls, and I believe in newspapers as the best local advertising medium.”
Hammers attended College of the Desert in Palm Desert, and Moorpark College in Moorpark. She is married to Dan Hammers, and they have a son, Robby, who plans to attend high school in Lakeport in the fall.
