CONFOCAL COMMUNICATIONS

The Curtis ROBINSON backstory

After a 20-year journalism career that including editing newspapers in five states and working with the legendary Hunter S. Thompson, Curtis Robinson moved from Colorado to Washington D.C. to become Vice President of Media Relations in the grassroots division of the giant Burson-Marsteller communications company. There, he worked on grassroots media projects for issues ranging from stem cell research to Internet policy.

From Burson, he became a partner at Qorvis Communications, at that time the largest independent public affairs firm in D.C. (since acquired).

But in 2006, Curtis’ wife of 18 years and mother of their 2-year-old son died of a very fast-moving skin cancer. Suddenly a single father, Curtis left D.C. to follow a dream of launching a string of free daily newspapers modeled on the Aspen Daily News, which he had edited while living in Colorado (he had also been startup editor of the Summit Daily News, also in Colorado and a free daily in Ventura, California).

The first of a planned five newspapers launched in Portland, Maine in February of 2009 – just as the economy crashed. That newspaper, the Portland Daily Sun, continued until 2015 when it merged with the Portland Phoenix, the sole surviving member of the legendary Boston Phoenix newspaper group. He remains a partial owner and Editorial Director of the Portland Phoenix.

While the free-daily network never moved beyond Portland, Curtis, he did find a home in Maine and married native Mainer Michelle Morel, owner of Morel Communications, in 2011. He still maintains connections with issues-based firms in D.C. while participating in a variety of media creation efforts.