KEVIN THORNBURG REJOINS THE DALLAS OBSERVER
March 7, 2019 — Voice Media Group announced today that Kevin Thornburg has returned to his former role as publisher of the Dallas Observer. Thornburg helmed the Observer for several years earlier this decade before leaving to join CBS Radio in Dallas in 2012.
Thornburg’s new mandate will include the continued development of the sales and marketing teams, driving sales, creating and maintaining customer relationships, and introducing local businesses to the wide suite of products offered by VMG’s fast-growing digital marketing agency, V Digital Services. He’ll also be reunited with his old Observer partner, editor-in-chief Patrick Williams.
Thornburg originally joined VMG’s predecessor company, Village Voice Media Holdings, in 2000. He quickly rose through the ranks of the operation, holding nearly every job on the business side including publishing roles in Miami, St. Louis and Dallas. After leaving the Observer, Thornburg spent three years with CBS before moving on to serve as the senior regional sales director for Belo Media Group, working as a member of a five-person senior management team at the Dallas Morning News.
Thornburg’s years of expertise and experience in the Dallas market made VMG determined to get him back, said group publisher Stuart Folb.
“Kevin is a strategic thinker who has driven revenue in every position he’s held,” noted Folb, who also serves as VMG’s executive vice president of digital sales. “I know his deep relationships and knowledge of the Dallas market are going to allow him to integrate quickly and help us build even more momentum at the Observer.”
“I’m excited to come back home and get to work,” said Thornburg, “especially now that the Observer has so much more to offer. Thanks to VDS, a whole array of cutting-edge digital services allows us to be more customer-centric than ever.”
About the Dallas Observer
Since its founding in 1980, the Observer has grown from a small weekly newspaper to a major force in Dallas, known for its hard-edged investigative stories about government, politics and business, as well as its pointed and provocative coverage of food, sports, music and the arts. Today, dallasobserver.com draws more than 1 million monthly active users.
Along the way, the Observer has collected numerous journalism awards, including three first-place finishes in the 2017 Association for Alternative Newsmedia Awards, as well as honors from the James Beard Journalism Awards and the Livingston Awards for Young Journalists.
And the Observer has rolled out some of the city’s best live events, including Tacolandia, Dallas’s largest taco festival, along with the massively popular Dallas Observer Brewfest, where thousands of attendees sample more than 400 beers from around the globe as well as live music and food from local vendors.
About Voice Media Group
Voice Media Group is a diversified media and technology company specializing in serving advertisers, business owners and readers across the country as the digital heir to one of America’s most successful media organizations.
The Denver-based company’s digital agency advertising business, V Digital Services, has seen double-digit growth since its inception in 2013 and now has twelve regional offices in the United States along with a growing presence in international markets. VDS’s digital expertise dovetails with VMG’s iconic media properties, which today include the Dallas Observer, Phoenix New Times, Denver Westword, Miami New Times and the Houston Press.