OD vs Daily News

[Clipper]

We were typing at the same time Dave. In answer to your post about the press at the OD, it IS the press that was installed when the addition was built onto the building where National Auto used to be. It is an ancient Goss, 7 unit press, and it was quite old when it was brought to Utica and "refurbished". It is worn out. Press issues are a daily thing.

I also know nothing about Gatehouse, other than the fact that their stock is nothing but scrap paper anymore. I do know that the OD has problems that are not being repaired or addressed, but rather ignored. The press is a MAJOR player in putting out a newspaper. It should have been replaced years ago, but was not. Our local paper here in Bristol is the same size and the same circulation as the OD. The Herald Courier belongs to Media General. It is an up and coming printed paper, believe it or not. They built a brand new press facility and distribution site a couple of years ago, outside of town in an industrial park. At that time, they purchased a brand new, super high speed, electronically controlled, German press. The in-town offices still handle advertising, sales, and circulation customer service issues. All the administration is still housed downtown.

The OD was kicking that idea around when I worked there. We actually drafted plans and proposals for distribution points in order to hasten the process of getting the papers to the carriers and stores. A new press has always been out of the question. Without a new press, they can't move to improve their customer service.

The only difference that I must concede would affect such things is the fact that Bristol is growing while Utica is declining. THAT alone is a major factor, but a press is not an optional item. It is a necessity. If the Utica office were to close, I am sure that Gatehouse has other outlets that would benefit from obtaining the press.

One thing that is keeping the OD alive, is the fact that they have taken on the pennysaver or whatever the weekly shopper is, that they have taken on. That and job shop printing is another source of income for a dwindling newspaper arena. I would hate to see the paper fail, but they damn sure need to change the way they report the news, and they damn sure need to improve their production equipment. I know the poor pressman that work there. They come in mid-evening to set up the press. They finish the run in the early hours of morning, if there are no problems. If there ARE problems, some of those same people have to stay through the day, and make sure that the old monster is ready to go to print the following nights run. For those that are unaware of the size of a printing press, the OD's press, counting the paper roll feed in the basement, is two and a half stories tall and about 80+ feet long.

In closing, YES, Dave you are correct. Much of my disdain for the OD is personal. It is very difficult to give your all to an organization, while corporate management starves you for budget dollars, and expects undying dedication FOR FREE. Every job I have ever held, I have given my undivided attention and undying dedication. You can only be taken advantage of for just so long before you decide you efforts are unappreciated, and futile. My logistics background was unappreciated, and scoffed at by the old school circulation folks, with their feet planted firmly in the past. I finally just gave up and moved on, and YES, I do have resentments, and very little sympathy for the OD management.

[dgriffin]

Hard to believe that's the same press my father and his co-workers installed before he retired in 1974! I remember him telling me that the company had unwittingly bought a used lemon. He got so frustrated, he retired a couple of years earlier than he had planned, but part of that was his heart breaking over the exit from letterpress. "Just doesn't smell the same around there," he used to say. He missed everything about hot type, actually stereotype of course. I have a good friend whose father was a linotype operator for the Daily News in New York, and I'm amazed at the conversations we have about newspaper composition and press work, based solely on what we remember our fathers telling us when we were kids. Of course, I've maintained in interest in letterpress. His excuse is he has an almost photographic memory. His career was similar to Corner's, but his great life's avocation has been history and I've never won an argument with him yet. Some of his creative work is on More Stories! (An Arrival, El Cid.)

[Clipper]

Mom and Dad had a childhood friend that worked at the OD as a linotype operator, or type setter. I am sure you may have heard his name in some of your Dad's conversation, or may remember him yourself. His name was Bob Trask. He spent his entire career in the production department at the OD. He only recently died (within the last year).

[dgriffin]

I certainly do remember Bob Trask. My Dad thought highly of him. He was also quite a machinist, if I remember correctly. He must have been quite old when he died. I seem to remember him in father's age range, born in 1911, but maybe not.
My father went to work for the OD in the mailroom ... you know where that is ... in 1927. He left to join the UFD some years later, where he was the Tillerman on the back of the ladder truck at No. 2. He then became a fire inspector, didn't care for job due to internal political reasons, including getting in trouble for telling Ed Hanna's father (I think, or uncle) to clean up his building on Oneida and the Parkway (later Wittig's). He rejoined the OD and entered the pressman apprentice program and stayed until his retirement in 1974. He loved the newspaper business and he was a pretty good photographer. He was shooting 8 mm film in the '30s as a hobby, before it became popular.
We were close, buy maybe not so much toward the end, for which I will always be lesser.
Of my stories about him (all true), one is fun:
www.windsweptpress.com/longway.htm
Another is not so loving, maybe:
www.windsweptpress.com/jackfam.htm
And another is loving:
www.windsweptpress.com/perfection.htm

[Clipper]

Yeah Dave. He was quite old when he died. My dad was born in 1924. He was older than his wife, my mom, and my dad. They used to double date, as Bob's wife was a high school girlfriend of my mom's.

His wife, Lois died about three years ago, and when I had taken my dad up North to see his cousins and friends after Mom died, I had taken him to see Bob and Bob's wife. She was on her death bed at St Lukes, and died shortly thereafter. His son Richard lives in Abingdon Virginia, about 20 miles from here. I really do need to look him up. He is quite a bit younger than I.

I think Bob died within the last year, but it could have been longer than that. I have to think that Bob was born around 1918 or 1920. Yes, he was a great machinist, and I remember that he always smoked a pipe when he was younger. I can picture them coming to our house in an old studebaker with the bullet grille. How is that for an old memory, haha.

[Ralph]

Not for nothing, but the OD is getting "smaller", much thinner than it was, and it is now more expensive.

Only a matter of time until they have to start throwing dirt in the hole to cover that and the rest of the stink as well.

[jamesbreadfrombond]

My Dad worked @ the OD for many years as a typesetter/linotype op. I spent many saturdays there watching the lead melt !!! He left shortly after the new press came. He mostly worked nights. Guys I remember: Harold Walker, Fritz DeLafleur, Red Foley, Joe Longo, Joe Soldano, Al Chiffy. My Dad was Ray Bonavita.

[Clipper]

Gee, I had forgotten that your dad worked at the OD james. That was in the heyday, when they still printed two papers a day, and the city was 70-80 thousand people. It is disappointing to see it falling into the shape it is.

I have hopes that the new Utica Daily News site is going to bring us a new and refreshing slant on local affairs and editorial opinion. We just put a banner at the bottom of our page, that if clicked on, will link you directly to the news.

[dgriffin]

James, I remember your dad's name and some of the others you mentioned. My dad was a pressman and retired in 1974, just after the "new" press was installed. His name was Jack Griffin. Some of the other pressman I remember were Dave Evans (the foreman), Don Stern, Joe Rettig, Solly Hoffman, Lee Hughes ... now I'm drawing a blank.

By the way, Clip, the city's population was 100,000 in the 1950's.
Boyd Golder (Sr.) was the mayor.

[Clipper]

You are right Dave. When did Frank Dulan come into office? In the 60's? I had forgotten that the population had been as high as 100,000.

[dgriffin]

Frank Dulan took office while I was in high school, if I remember correctly. Downtown at UCA, so probably around '59 or '60 at the latest.

Whooppp! 1960. Just did a search. Here's the list of Utica mayors at:

tinyurl.com/cntp5o

Ya gotta wonder how a guy named German got elected in 1944!

[clarencebunsen]

Dave has an impact!

Not only did UDN switch to the "in lieu of" construction he suggested but they kept the same usage in today's story concerning teenage thieves. Sadly, the OD got it wrong in both stories.

[dgriffin]

But I didn't invent "in lieu of." It's a standard news phrase, and in fact its absence was a bit conspicuous, causing me to wonder if the writer had a news background. I even wondered if the WKTV news kid had moved over to UDN. Too bad Nancy Ford didn't answer my request to post her response to my Letter To The Editor, a carbon copy of my post #14, above. It was interesting reading and quite reasonable. Perhaps she was annoyed with me when I tried to butter her up by telling her I liked her photography better than Joe's. (You're not listening, are you Joe?)