Rhett Long, former publisher and president of The Spectrum in St. George and Spectrum Media, has been appointed as the new publisher of the Daily Herald.

Long will replace Bob Williams, who will be retiring at the end of July.

Long said he looks forward to working at the Daily Herald and with the community.

“I believe that a community newspaper has to define itself,” he said. “I know that this newspaper has a great history, and that as our readership evolves we have to continue to find the voice for the different types of readers.”

“I’m also a firm believer in building relationships with the advertisers because advertisers love great content. The more local we can make the content the better off we are,” he added.

Long said the Nutting family, who own Ogden Newspapers Inc., and their history in the industry was a big part of what attracted him to Provo and the Daily Herald.

Ogden Newspapers Inc. purchased the Daily Herald in August 2016 from former owner Lee Enterprises.

“They really sold me on the fact that the Provo Daily Herald could be a lot of fun, and I believe it can be,” Long said.

During his time at Spectrum Media, Long oversaw not only the Spectrum in St. George, but also the Daily News in Cedar City and the Desert Valley Times in Mesquite, Nevada.

Prior to that, Long worked at Gannett on its digital side of operations and helped develop a series of travel, health and community magazines in several markets. He has also previously worked in gaming in northern Nevada.

Long, who was born in Richfield, said he still has ties to Provo and Utah Valley through friends and business connections.

“I was away from Utah for about 20 years and it’s been nice to be back in St. George and in southern Utah,” he said.

Williams, who has been with the Daily Herald for more than three years and in the newspaper industry for 38 years, said he is pleased with the position and the role the Daily Herald serves in the community.

“The most rewarding part has been as we’ve positioned the Daily Herald as Utah Valley’s primary source of news and information,” he said. “That’s probably what I’m most proud of is the foundation we’ve built for a local newspaper. It’s really about local news.”

“I think we’ve got a great foundation and especially with today’s environment we’ve got more people than ever before reading the paper and reading the news, although it may be in a different format,” Williams added.

Going forward, Williams feels the newspaper is in a good position.

“I’ve really enjoyed my time here at the Daily Herald and I know they are in good hands with both the staff and with Rhett, who has a history of understanding the culture of Utah Valley,” Williams said.