When “60 Minutes” called Scott Creech, owner of the Newton Domino’s Pizza, they told him they’d make him a star if they interviewed him for their piece on Newton, Iowa. Creech agreed, but not because he wanted notoriety. He just wants business to improve, both for his Newton Domino’s location and for the community as a whole.
“I don’t want to be a star,’” Creech said he thought to himself. “I just want the phones to ring.”
This morning the phones are ringing off the hook as people from all over the country are calling after watching the piece on Sunday evening.
“They’re concerned, and I’m concerned, and I wish I could have painted a rosier picture, but that’s the facts,” Creech said.
The long-running CBS news magazine followed Creech and his family around — along with numerous other Newton community members — in an effort to study the effects of the recession on small-town America. The story aired on Sunday night — a 12-minute segment that largely dwelt on the challenges Newton has faced in the wake of Maytag’s departure in 2007.
Newton residents and officials were still absorbing the story this morning with several indicating they wanted to think about the story before responding to it.
“I thought it did a good job of capturing the challenges, especially at the personal level for families in the community, but I thought it was incomplete in showing the ongoing efforts (for economic development),” Community Development Director Bryan Friedman said. “We are working hard every day to rebound from these deep challenges.”
Like Creech, Newton’s Mayor Chaz Allen was interviewed for the story. He simply said this morning, “it was real,” but also noted how much national publicity Newton received from the segment, which could lead to some positive developments.
“It’s $100,000 to advertise for 30 seconds on ‘60 Minutes’ and we were on for 12 and a half minutes so that’s $2.4 or $2.5 million,” Allen said.
Already this morning, a little over 12 hours after the piece aired, local development officials were fielding calls from prospective businesses and people from all over the nation.
“I’ve gotten a lot of phone calls from around the country, people looking at Newton and wanting to help,” Allen said. “Start-up businesses are calling. Professors are calling. It’s created a lot of opportunity.”
Friedman has had his share of calls this morning, too, and was sifting through legitimate offers. Whether any actual business leads come out of the calls is uncertain at this point.
“It’s too early to say,” Friedman said.
One thing is for certain, Creech definitely got his wish from the story: phone calls galore.