A long-serving regional newspaper editor in North Wales has retired after 36 years with the same company.

Steve Rogers, 60, joined NWN Media in 1976 as a sub-editor with the Evening Leader.

He went on to become news editor and deputy editor and played a major role in the company’s switch to on screen publishing at its new headquarters in Mold in 1988.

Steve was then appointed editor of the Journal at Rhyl in 1995 and set up the Coastal Group in 2004 taking on the editorship of the Journal’s sister titles the North Wales Pioneer and North Wales Chronicle.

In 2010 Steve returned to NWN Media’s Mold headquarters as associate editor with responsibility for all of the company’s titles.

Said Steve: “My journey through NWN has been full of challenges none more so than the move to new technology. It transformed journalism and has gathered pace with the advent of the internet.

“But the joy of the job has been the adrenalin filled task of handling news stories and working with such dedicated colleagues whether in editorial or advertising.

“Chief among a host of highlights has to be the Journal winning the Newspaper Society’s Best Free Newspaper in Wales and the West in 1997. That really was a team effort and something of which I am very proud.”

Steve from Pembrokeshire trained at the Western Telegraph after leaving school in 1970. He is married with two sons.

NWN Media editorial director Barrie Jones said: “Steve is an excellent editor who brought enthusiasm to everything he did. He was outstanding during his period as news editor when the Leader was an evening title and later his experience was brought to bear as an editor of several of our weekly titles.

“A combination of old school attention to detail and a zest for producing punchy copy made his style of journalism particularly impressive. We all wish him a very happy retirement.”

The Coastal titles, including the Journal, are now being run by editorial manager Andrew Martin who joined NWN Media six years ago.