Those reading the Juneau Empire in print have Caleb Comas and Luke Warman in part to thank for it.
The Empire’s two newest employees are integral in the print process, as Comas is the Marketing and Circulation Manager and Warman is the Press Room Manager, overseeing where the paper is printed.
Comas began his job May 1, and is already enjoying it more than his previous financial advisor job. A large part of that is the thrill of being responsible for the papers getting to their destinations.
“If anybody has a physical paper in their hand, I had something to do with that,” Comas said, “whether they got it from home delivery or they got it from a rack or they got it from a store or they got it mailed to them. That circulation, it all comes through here.”
The Florida native has been in Juneau for a year and a half, and his wife Shandra — the Multimedia Advertising Representative — alerted him to the fact that the Empire’s previous Circulation Manager Brian Naplachowski was moving up to the General Manager position at the beginning of May. Comas applied for the job and got it, hitting the ground running.
Though financial advising grew old for him after a while, Comas did like one aspect of the profession that he can expand on at the Empire.
“The marketing part sounded really interesting to me, the opportunity to learn more about that,” Comas said. “A lot of financial advising, essentially, is marketing and sales, so it’s somewhat related in that way, but this is a little bigger company-wise instead of personal, instead of just marketing yourself.”
While Comas is brand new to the Empire, Warman’s career path actually began at the Empire. Warman’s first time seeing and working with a printing press was at the Empire 20 years ago. On Monday morning, he was back, standing in the press room as his first day as Press Room Manager.
Warman briefly lived in Juneau about 20 years ago, and spent one of those years working in the press room at the Empire. He then moved to Washington before settling in Ketchikan for the next 17 years, working both at the Ketchikan Daily News press room and as a commercial fisherman.
Various changes have taken place at the Empire since his days there, as the printing press itself has updated and even a few features of the room are different. When he worked there before, there was a small putting area set up in the back. Warman smiled as he was asked whether he’ll look to bring the putting area back.
“We’ll see. I’ve got to figure out exactly what I’m doing there next,” Warman said, gesturing at the printing press. “It’s a lot bigger deal.”
The press at the Empire runs in reverse to the press at the Daily News, Warman said. Some parts of the job will be a little bit easier, though, as the Empire has an inserting machine that puts fliers into the paper while the Daily News staff had to put them in manually.
One of the biggest reasons Warman came back to town was to help care for an family member in poor health, as he and his brother are both in town now and able to make time to be available if needed.
After just one day in Juneau, Warman said it was clear he was in a much larger city. There are a few downsides to that, as he can’t merely step outside his house and set up a bonfire like he could in Ketchikan. The city does have its perks, though.
“I’m excited about having more choices about where I can eat,” Warman said, laughing.
