Standard-Examiner Housekeeping Notes: Charlie Trentelman’s Departure Opens Way for Two New Columnists

Added bonus: A little bit of consolation for devoted  Charlie Trentelman fans who are "going cold turkey" after Charlie's "retirement"

Standard-Examiner managing editor Andy Howell provides an interesting column this morning concerning certain "readjustments" which S-E management is making upon the departure of the "irreplaceable" "Wasatch Rambler" warhorse Charles Trentelman from the Standard's "blue ribbon" journalistic stable.

Here's the new S-E player roster, in bullet-point form:

• Beginning next week, Mark Saal will take over Charlie's slot; and his new column will run on Tuesdays and Sundays in the Top of Utah/Davis local section, where his contributions will no longer be confined to his trademark gut-busting humor.
• The venerable former Editorial Page Editor Don Porter will be dragged out of  retirement to replace Saul with a Sunday feature column in the Life section, although it's unclear from the story whether he'll be trying his hand at Saal-style boffo humor.

Here's Andy's full column, for those who'd like to read up:

• Charlie Trentelman’s departure opens way for two new columnists

Andy says that "Mark has built his reputation on his humorous take on subjects, but he won’t be limited to that approach." It'll be therefore interesting, wethinks, to see if Saul, who's even funnier than Dave Berry, wethinks, will succeed at "straight" journalism... even once. 

As for Mr. Porter, who's publicly demonstrated little in the way of rib-tickling humor over the years, your blogmeister, (just like all the rest of those faithful S-E readers who pore over the Standard-Examiner every day from the front page to the back every morning) will be sitting on the edge of  his seat eagerly awaiting a first glimpse of the style and tone of Mr. Porter's upcoming S-E columns. And howbout you?

Added bonus: And here's the part the Standard left out... a little bit of consolation for the many devoted  Charlie Trentelman fans who are surely  "going cold turkey" after Charlie's newspaper "game changing" retirement:  Charlie hasn't put himself out to pasture; nor will he spend his "golden" retirement years tilting back and forth in a squeaky rocking chair.  In that connection, we're pleased to publicly announce that Charlie has just this week entered the field of post-retirement citizen journalism with a nifty new blog, where he's been posting in something of a frenzy over the past day or two, in classic Trentelman form:

• The Retired Rambler

For our readers" convenience, by the way, we've also added a  link to Charlie's blog within our right sidebar.

That's it for now, O Gentle Ones.

We'll soon find out, whether these housekeeping moves on the S-E's part represent a stabilization or improvement in the S-E's existing journalistic product, or merely amount to "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic," we guess.