Bobby Burton leads Daily Record into newspaper’s 100th year
October 6-12, 2025
Arkansas Press Association
This year, the Daily Record in Little Rock is celebrating its 100th anniversary as a major source for real estate, legal and business information in Central Arkansas.
Bobby Burton serves as the chief operating officer and publisher for the newspaper, which features legal notices and extensive business news on a weekly basis.
The Daily Record cites itself as “the number one source for public notice and business data… offering the most comprehensive information on the courts, real estate, and local business activity, all gathered each day from public records.” This data includes lawsuits, court actions, business licenses, tax liens, corporate charters, building permits, deeds, foreclosures, bankruptcies and more.
Subscribers include the Pulaski County Bar Association, the Little Rock Realtors Association, the Benton/Bryant Realtors Association, the Faulkner County Board of Realtors, members of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Alumni Association and the alumni of the UALR William H. Bowen School of Law. Delivered by mail to a “highly educated and affluent cross section of Central Arkansas leaders,” the newspaper is also available on newsstands across the region.
“We are more than a public notice newspaper,” Burton said. “Each week our consistently award-winning journalists and photographers produce in-depth profiles of Central Arkansas professional peers and their endeavors. These articles, in turn, provide a comprehensive view of local business news and trends.”
A native of Memphis, Burton left the food industry in 2002 to accept a position with the Daily Record. Don Bona (Arkansas Press Association president in 2011-12), the newspaper’s managing partner at the time, gave Burton a job handling legal notices.
“It was a difficult transition moving to a new city, and going from a physical job to one that required sitting in a chair most of the day,” Burton said.
Eventually, Burton worked his way into handling orders for the firm’s other division, Foreclosures in Tennessee, NKA Public Notice Agency. He continued to learn the data side of the operation, as well as subscriptions, and eventually made his way into dealing with new technology.
“About a month after I took over the technology, in 2015, we had a major server crash that almost cost us the business,” Burton said. “Through the hard work of several people, we were able to salvage a lot of it and build a new system using cloud-based systems. Once that change happened, it was the beginning of me becoming a key part of the business.”
In 2016, Mark Nichols became the sole owner after previously having been in a partnership with Bona and Bill Rector. That same year Burton was given the opportunity to begin running the business.
“It has been a road full of many trials and errors, but I’ve learned a lot from the owners, previous and current, and have been blessed to have many amazing employees over the years.”
Burton said Foreclosure Payment Services, formed in 2002 and handling only one client, was the original name of the operating agency. The agency gained another major client in 2006 and established Foreclosures in Tennessee. The two branches were consolidated in 2009 into Public Notice Agency, Inc., working with law firms and newspapers in the publication of legal notices.
“It works out very well since I have a newspaper background and we’re able to simplify the process between law firms and newspapers,’ Burton said. “Sometimes our processes seem like a lot, but most newspapers do not understand the financial liabilities that come along with a lot of the notices.”
The firm presently operates in more than 20 states. “The goal is to become nationwide,” Burton said. “It’s become quite a challenge to form a system that keeps up with the number of newspapers that we deal with.”
Burton said the company primarily publishes foreclosures. “But if any of our clients need something published, we make it happen. Business is business. Most notices have remained the same and the only constant change usually comes from legislation.”
In addition to the public notices, each issue of the Daily Record contains a solid array of articles on business-related topics.
“Jay and Kathy Edwards manage our editorial content,” Burton said. “They do a wonderful job and are a blessing to work with. Christine Meador works remotely to handle our legal notices. Amy Sherrill is referred to as our ‘Data Queen.’ She has also been with the company for a very long time.”
Burton recognizes the challenges for newspapers in retaining public notices in Arkansas and other states. He believes newspapers must be adequately prepared to meet those challenges and a key factor is keeping up with technological changes and advancements.
“I personally feel like print will continue to be around for a while in most states because there usually is not a good enough reason to make such a drastic change,” Burton said. “Obviously, it’s a threat every session in a lot of states. It’s more important than ever for newspapers to learn to embrace new technologies to keep up with the world.
“You’d be surprised how many subscribe to, ‘This is the way we’ve always done it.’ That kind of thinking has an expiration date. In most cases, there are not many restrictions on what you can do with technology, so learning how to incorporate that into your workflows creates all kinds of efficiencies. The more modern newspapers are, I feel the better the chance we have to defend our products.”
Burton is concerned about the future for newspapers in the sense that publications often develop important and powerful enemies with their editorial positions.
“This might ruffle some feathers, but unbiased news is important to give to the public,” he said. “The news is being weaponized because they don’t like political opponents or whatever does not do the industry any favors.
Away from work, Burton has a particular interest in photography. “I love being out in nature and taking photos is a way to share some of the stuff I see. It also gives me an outlet that does not involve the stupid computer. I love to play basketball, bowling and Sudoku as well.”
In relating the importance of his family, Burton said, “First comes my amazing wife, Brandi. We got married in 2016 outside of Moab, Utah. She has helped me grow in countless ways, and I would do anything in the world for her.”
His parents are Kay and the late Lance Burton. “My mother married Don Bona many years ago, and he has been such a blessing to my life. They live happily in Little Rock and are working on moving to Memphis to be closer to the grandkids. I have two sisters, April and Amy, and I have a brother named David. I’m very proud of them all.”
Burton feels he has grown personally and professionally in his tenure at the company. Concerning personal satisfactions, he noted, “On a professional level, this is a tough one because I am not a pat myself on the back type of person to a fault. My wife gets on to me for not celebrating my successes at times.
“If I had to pick, I’d simply say helping people is most satisfying. We get a lot of attorneys who are new that need help. We have a lot of people trying to do things on their own without much help from the courthouse that we’re able to gently guide, while letting them know we’re not giving them legal advice.”
Burton and his mother, Kay Bona, also have a good-natured competition regarding the APA Media Directory, for which photographers submit work to be considered for the cover. Burton’s photograph graces the cover of this year’s directory.
“I have more APA Media Directory covers (winning photos) than my mom,” he laughed. “She’ll get a kick out of that statement.”
Photo Captions:
1. Bobby Burton
2. Bobby Burton and wife Brandi love the outdoors in the western United States
