By Staff
Lumina News publisher/editor Pat Bradford has turned the weekly newspaper’s publishing and ownership over to news director Terry Lane. Bradford, 63, founded Lumina News in May 2002.
The Feb. 16-22 issue is Bradford’s last as publisher, with Lane taking over the publisher/owner role for print and online editions immediately.
Lumina News has been a consistent top award winner in its North Carolina Press Association newspaper category, including nine new awards for 2016, which will be awarded in Raleigh on March 9.
“I am excited and pleased by this passing of the torch. Lumina News is an outstanding community paper and I am confident Terry has everything it takes to make it thrive in this new age we are in. He loves the paper and he loves this community,” Bradford said Thursday, Feb. 9, when the news was broken on social media.
Lane, 41, holds a journalism degree from the University of Florida and has more than 20 years’ communications experience. He became news director in July 2015.
“I’ve promised Pat that I will put every effort into preserving and growing the distinguished legacy she built at Lumina News,” he said. “It will be a challenge, but one I enthusiastically accept.”
Bradford said she is proud of the status Lumina News enjoys in Wrightsville Beach, the greater Wilmington community and beyond.
“When I went to Raleigh in years past to join the fight against legislation that negatively impacted newspapers, one of the heartwarming eye-openers was how widely read Lumina News was by state legislators, including those who do not even represent this district,” she said.
Lumina News has mentored notable interns who have gone on to great heights, including reporter Nash Jenkins, currently a staff writer in Time Magazine’s Hong Kong bureau; Cullen Lea, now in front of the camera reporting news at WCIV in Charleston; and Henry Burnett, whereabouts unknown.
“We have had fun times over these many years,” Bradford said. “So many great journalists: Crystal Walton, Jules Norwood, Marimar McNaughton to name a few. And then of course Emmy Errante, who began taking social photos, became a staff writer and photographer, and is now at grad school in England.”
Bradford said she will focus more of her attention on Wrightsville Beach Magazine, the award-winning monthly publication she co-founded in the fall of 2000.
“The magazine has never been more exceptional,” she said. “It blesses me mightily to hear readers repeatedly express their increasing delight in the quality of Wrightsville Beach Magazine. Over our 17-year history, I never dreamed we would reach so many people with stories of such importance. It is time for me to bring Wrightsville Beach Magazine to its fullest potential, which I couldn’t do wearing twin hats.”
Bradford, a Wrightsville resident of 19 years, also stated she would be filing for Wrightsville Beach’s Board of Aldermen in the coming weeks.
Lane first crossed Bradford’s radar when he entered a local standup paddleboard race held in brutal conditions. Lane, with no experience and on a borrowed board, completed the race.
“That was no easy feat,” Bradford said.
Lane made the pages of Lumina News that day.
“When I interviewed him, I was impressed. Lesser folks would have caved, but not Lane,” she said.
Wilmington is Lane’s late father’s hometown and he has family in the city. He resides in Wrightsville Sound, off Summer Rest, and can be see biking around the beach and surfing the waves in Wrightsville Beach.
“I came to Wrightsville Beach on an impulse and wound up falling in love with it here. I’m humbled and honored to have this opportunity to deliver the news and stories about this wonderful place,” Lane said.
