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Bluegrass Newsmedia announced on Monday that Jeff Kuerzi has been appointed president and publisher of Bluegrass Newsmedia and LocalDigitalKY.

Bluegrass Newsmedia consists of the Danville Advocate Messenger, Winchester Sun, Stanford Interior Journal, Jessamine Journal, Harlan Enterprise and Middlesboro News, all in Kentucky and the Claiborne Progress in Tazwell, Tennessee.   LocalDigitalKY, newly launched in 2022, provides digital marketing services to small businesses and enterprise customers alike, focused primarily in central and eastern Kentucky.

“Jeff will have top leadership responsibility for all print and digital endeavors, including our new LocalDigitalKY.com digital services agency. He and his leadership team have my full confidence as they continue work to grow both our print and digital business as well as ensure high-quality editorial coverage and successful commercial printing operations,“ said Steve Stewart, the eastern group senior vice-president of Boone Newsmedia, parent company of Bluegrass Newsmedia.

Kuerzi is excited about his new role.

“I am honored to lead Bluegrass News Media and commit to continuing and improving the important news coverage in each of our markets,” he said. “Local news media play a vital role in our society, especially in our small markets, and that’s why I’m especially excited to have LocalDigitalKY.com to provide world-class digital marketing services to under-served SMB’s that are outside the major metro areas.

Digital marketing’s growth is not new, but what is new is the fact that local owners and companies can now turn to us as a trusted local provider instead of some digital-only, out of state or big city firm that knows nothing about the local market.  We partner with the same technology providers that the largest media firms in the world use, so from a tech perspective, there is no capability gap.  We already partner with the community for events, sponsorships and the like, it makes great sense to use us for digital marketing so we can strengthen our investment in the community.

We just ask for a chance to speak with local businesses so we can understand their goals and explore a good fit. The results we provide will speak for themselves.”

Prior to joining Bluegrass Newsmedia as Regional Advertising Director in 2022, Kuerzi held various sales and marketing leadership roles with Gray Television, Gannett, Basis Technologies and McClatchy, publisher of the Lexington Herald-Leader.