Zucco the barbarian is leaving the Times
August 13, 2008 at 2:58 pm by Wayne GarciaSad day in Tampa Bay journalism; longtime St. Pete Times reporter Tom Zucco is taking the buyout offer and leaving the business news section, according to the Talking Biz News blog.
Here’s the dish from former Timesman Chris Roush:
The business news desks at two of Florida’s best newspapers — the St. Petersburg Times and the Palm Beach Post — are seeing their staffs sliced due to buyouts and other moves.
At the Times, business writer Tom Zucco, whose main assignment is writing about insurance, is taking the buyout offer. (Talking Biz News previously reported that personal finance editor Helen Huntley had also taken the buyout.) Zucco has been at the paper for more than two decades, and previously held spots as a sports writer, sports columnist and a feature writer for the Floridian section.
“I have no plans to tell my wife,” says Zucco, who is known for his wit. “I will leave for work at the same time I always do. But instead of the Times, I will go to the local diner, barber shop and cigar store. That should take me to 5 p.m., when it will be time for the three-block commute home. She never asked much about what I do anyway. I could easily make it to 65, which is 10 years from now. I have no plans other than that. Which is both foolish and thrilling.”
The Times previously lost two business reporting positions due to downsizing. Scott Barancik was let go and Maddie Bora was assigned to a bureau in north Tampa as a general assignment reporter, but rather than go there, she quit at the end of her maternity leave.
Barancik is trying to get a new business up and running as a tip sheet on court actions in the Tampa Bay area. Meanwhile, Scott Long, who was business news editor, left on his own accord to launch a new business at http://www.anteupmagazine.com/.
Business editor Robert Trigaux will step down from that spot and return to writing a column three times a week. Deputy business editor Jeff Harrington is in the running to replace him.
The good news for the remaining business reporters — Mark Albright, Steve Huettel, Asjylyn Loder and Jim Thorner plus Trigaux as columnist — will have more than enough work covering the Tampa Bay business community.
Kris Hundley just transferred last week to a new assignment doing investigative reporting, so she’ll still be at the Times, but not under the business news department.
