Okay, so this week we start our 25th year of publishing the Times. What started out as a very, very small neighborhood newspaper, has grown to one of the largest, independent weekly papers in the State.
Regardless of the naysayers, the art/business of the newspaper is not dying, but it has undergone some mighty significant changes in the past quarter century.
When we began, type was set on big, clunky typesetters using film and an assortment of yucky chemicals. Stories were cut up, waxed and arranged on grid sheets, with red opaque cut-outs where pictures hopefully would go. Several typists were needed to prepare stories, there were few faxes, no internet and everything had to be reset. (no scanning!) Pieces of stories and ads would fall off the grid sheets, a waxer would occasionally eat a piece of type and machinery would always break down at the most inopportune times.
Deadlines were probably responsible for the deaths of more editors than could be counted, and breaking stories played havoc with the whole process.
After deadline was met, we physically drove the finished pages down to a printing plant where a huge camera shot negatives. The negatives were exposed on metal plates and placed on a press, where hopefully, a good image would appear. There was a great deal of waste, hours and anxious moments until the first copies came of the press.
Nowadays, everything is input and designed on computers at our home office. Many of the stories that were once hand typed are simply scanned and transferred to a computer screen. Once layout is finished, buttons are pushed and the whole paper is electronically transferred to a large printing plant in Greece, NY.
No more negatives, everything is computerized. Even the actual “printers” control the process from a separate room. Waste is held down to a minimum and the entire job is finished in a flash.
Instead of a Times crew running a mailing machine out of our kitchen, (then later out of our heated garage after we moved), the entire addressing is done at the printing plant and delivered to us only hours after we have finished composing the weekly paper.
Way back then, we decided to take a hard stance against crime. That has caused much grief, a whole bunch of threats, lost friends and neighbors. On the other side of the coin, I still see many of the same family names crop up generation after generation in the Law & Order section.
Very often we get angry calls from Law & Order people who begin by yelling and telling me I have the “facts” wrong. I do not put up with yelling, often tell the caller to go have sex with themselves, then hang up. Usually they call back in a more appropriate tone and the conversation is more civil.
There are no plans to change our reporting style. We have, however, given in to the possibility of ‘inserts’ in paper, although they will be limited in number.
There are no plans to charge for obituaries, although placing an obituary picture in the paper will have a cost. They, the obits and pictures, are put online for no charge.
We still take pot shots at politicians on both sides of the aisle and criticize when we feel criticism is called for.
We increased the number of sections, pages and page sizes to stay competitive and plan more increases in the future.
We were the first newspaper to go digital with our pictures, even beating out the dailies. Early on I saw digital as the way to go and saved over $1500 in film and developing costs the first year.
Ironically, the first digital camera was a joint venture between Apple and…Kodak, who thought digital would take decades to surpass film. Yeah, how did that work out?
We were also the first paper to offer a website and online subscriptions and have grown to the point where the website garners many more than 10,000 unique visitors per week.
With the addition of state and federal news services, syndicates, as well as joint news partnering with 13 WHAM TV, we hope to keep our readers reading for many years to come.
The family business now includes a new partner, as Son Devin moved from sales and internet to 1/3 ownership in the Times. He has brought some needed change and drive to the old bones and has implemented many great changes, with more to come.
The number of people receiving the paper through the mail has decreased slightly, in favor of those who subscribe to the paper digitally. We fully expect this trend to continue for the years to come. Remember, if you are a paid subscriber receiving the paper through the mail, you can also access the full computer/tablet digital editions, as well as the Archives. If you have a question on this, please call Wife Patti at (315) 986-4300.
We have invested in the latest computer systems, software and assorted equipment to keep the Times on the cutting edge. We continue to increase our coverage of Wayne County and supply our readers with all the news they need to keep informed on the local, regional and world stage.