Honoring Print, Embracing Progress

At our house, I am usually the first one up in the morning. On Sunday mornings, my routine is to fetch the Sunday (Cleveland) Plain Dealer from our driveway’s apron (soapbox moment: when I delivered the newspaper as kid I had to place it on customers’ doorsteps!).

Yes, I still enjoy grabbing a cup of coffee and leafing through the print version of our region’s largest newspaper. Whether it is reading breaking news, sports, arts or commentaries, my interest in newspapers goes back to my days as a paperboy. I delivered the News Sun throughout my neighborhood on Thursday mornings. When I finished my route I would read the newspaper, from cover story to the last page. Reading newspaper articles sparked a curiosity in me that (with a few detours) led me to pursue a career in journalism, first working for a chain of weekly newspapers in Columbus, Ohio, and at PCT the last 27 years.

During my time at PCT, it’s been fun and rewarding writing news and feature stories and connecting with the many great and interesting men and women in the pest control industry. For this month’s issue I caught up with Black Ownership Matters (BOM) President Joe Campbell for a review of the organization and what it has planned for the coming year. I also interviewed NPMA Senior Director of Public Policy Megan Striegel, who provided important updates on local sticky trap bans in California and the possibility of Congress finalizing a Farm Bill in 2026. The Farm Bill is important to the pest control industry because it includes a provision to codify the role of state lead agencies as co-regulators of pesticides.

Our staff also worked hard to identify experts in the field and in academia to contribute articles for this month’s Annual Termite Control Issue. Included is a look at Reticulitermes rusti, a termite that University of California, Riverside, researchers found hiding in plain sight within Southern California’s soils, and Cryptotermes mobydicki, which is distinguished by its whale-like features. Kristen Stevens explores how termite soldiers are armed for battle using specialized defenses to protect their colonies and what those behaviors mean for effective control strategies. We also shine a spotlight on the people on the frontlines, examining how termite work has evolved and what it’s really like to be a termite technician today.

Like many of our readers, I remain loyal to print newspapers, but I also love how news coverage has evolved, and I too visit websites associated with newspapers and magazines. PCT Online is a great example of how both traditional print and new media work together to provide readers with an awesome multi-sensory experience. Our staff works to provide the latest news and resources PCOs need to run their businesses. One of the ways we do so is by creating compelling content with video interviews, including those conducted at industry events and via Zoom. We also share pest control-related videos sent to us by readers. In the past year, PCT posted 100 videos to our website! To make these videos even more easily accessible to our readers, our website (www.pctonline.com) recently completed a mini redesign highlighted by a new video menu on our homepage. Let us know what you think about our redesign and video coverage.

The author is editor of PCT magazine.