Blade newspaper in Toledo appoints new president

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Block Communications Inc. has named a new president for The Blade newspaper in Toledo.

The media company said today that William Southern will be the newspaper’s president and general manager as well as vice president of newspaper operations for Block Communications.

Block Communications owns both The Blade and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspapers along with several television stations and internet and cable TV providers.

Southern began his new role today. He has been The Blade’s director of finance since 2009 and later began overseeing its information technology. He’s been in the newspaper industry more than 25 years.

Southern takes over for Joseph Zerbey, who is retiring but will stay on as a consultant for the company.