By Arkansas Press Association Staff

Upon the recent sale of the Fordyce News-Advocate, a more than 60-year career in community journalism came to a close for Bill Whitehead, Jr.

The weekly newspaper in South Arkansas had been in his family since his father, Bill Whitehead, Sr., acquired the publication in 1955. The new owner is veteran journalist Roby Brock, also owner of weekly newspapers in England, Hazen and Waldron and host of Talk Business & Politics and Capitol View.

The Whitehead family moved to Fordyce from Magnolia, where Bill Sr. was general manager of the Banner-News, owned at the time by C.E. Palmer, grandfather of Walter E. Hussman, Jr., chairman of the board of WEHCO Media, Inc. Whitehead earlier worked at another Palmer newspaper, the El Dorado Times-News.

Bill Jr. graduated from high school in Fordyce in 1967 and attended both Arkansas A&M in Monticello and Henderson State in Arkadelphia. In 1969, his father purchased the Malvern Daily News, along with Ray Kimball of De Queen, who also was his partner in the Fordyce newspaper. Bill Stilwell later became an additional partner and served as general manager at the newspaper for several years. 

The younger Whitehead moved to Malvern in 1971 and went to work as sports editor at the Daily News. He had begun writing sports stories for his family publication in Fordyce as a ninth grader and, as was the case for “newspaper kids” during that era. worked in the mailroom and other similar duties from an early age.

The Daily Record was sold to the Harte-Hanks group in 1978 and Whitehead remained in Malvern as managing editor for a couple of years before returning to his hometown as owner and publisher, where he remained for more than 45 years. His father died in 1987 and his mother, Maurine (who served as society editor at the newspaper), died in 1993.

Whitehead noted that Kimball was especially interested in new technology and the Malvern and Fordyce newspapers were among the first in the state to incorporate computers into the production cycle.

“I grew up around the News-Advocate selling and stuffing newspapers, except for about 10 years at the Malvern Daily Record,” Whitehead said. “At a weekly newspaper you have to wear a lot of hats, from news to advertising.

“You get a lot of thank you comments and an occasional complaint. It’s a great help to have a good staff like we have had and also a great small community like Fordyce. I want to thank the loyal readers and advertisers, and I wish Roby Brock success in the future.”

The Fordyce News-Advocate and earlier versions date back to 1884, making it a 141-year-old newspaper, one of the oldest existing enterprises in the state. The newspaper has been located since 1946 at an office a block from downtown in a building constructed by previous owner, C.A. Verbeck, who had successfully merged the Fordyce Weekly News and the Fordyce Advocate.

Whitehead at one point purchased a three-unit News King press and printed the News-Advocate in-house, along with neighboring newspapers in Rison and Hampton. “We did that until the press died,” he said. “We brought technicians in from News King, and they couldn’t figure out how to get it going.” Since that time, the newspaper has been printed at Monticello.

“I covered all types of sports over the years until my mid 40s,” Whitehead said. “I began all types of news writing in high school and then on up.”  He started “cutting back” in his time spent at the newspaper until he fully retired about five years ago. “After that time, I pretty much limited my involvement to going into the office once or twice a week.”

Whitehead’s wife, Rebecca, was a language arts teacher for about 30 years. They have two children and two grandchildren. Their son, Aaron, lives in Fordyce and works for Drake Waterfowl Co. Their daughter, Wesley Whitehead Morgan, works for Methodist Family Health and lives in Hot Springs.

The newspaper has benefitted from the consistency of a long-term staff, including current managing editor Seymore Weathers, who started his career at the News-Advocate about 40 years ago. Pam Waldrop, who began her career as a typist and production assistant, has worked there some 55 years, and advertising manager Ann Mathews has been on staff for more than 20 years.  

The newspaper regularly printed 16 to 20 pages in earlier years and produced numerous special sections, including one related to the community’s annual April festival, Fordyce on the Cotton Belt.

Whitehead’s newspaper career included coverage of many important news events, but none as serious as the mass shooting that occurred at the local supermarket in June of 2024. 

Whitehead was home at the time of the shooting and responded to the event, which was covered in detail by the News-Advocate, as well as media nationwide.

The Fordyce area always has been known for its importance in the timber industry of Arkansas, and Whitehead said that remains true today. He noted the population of the community has declined since its high point of more than 5,000 in the 1980s, but it remains a residential and business hub for the area. It is the seat of Dallas County.

The most famous person ever to come from Fordyce was legendary University of Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. He played football for the Fordyce Redbugs and then went on to become an All-American standout at Alabama. Whitehead remembers Bryant often arriving in Fordyce on a university plane to visit friends and family in the area.

“Community newspapers remain important as they are most people’s only source of local, area or regional news,” Whitehead said. “I got my personal satisfaction striving for accuracy and giving local and area news priority.”

“I loved it,” Whitehead said of his lifetime in the newspaper business, “It’s not something to go into if you want to make a lot of money, but you can make a decent living.”