The newspaper business -- 6-21-2021
From the time I was a little kid, I enjoyed writing, particularly about sports. I would often play imaginary baseball, football or basketball games and then write up short summaries about them. In fact, when I was in high school I wanted to be a sports writer.
My love for journalism continued, and in the high school years I wrote for "The Beaver Chatter" (our high school newspaper) and then was co-editor of the yearbook my junior and senior years. Journalism was my obvious career choice, and South Dakota State University was where I wanted to go to learn about it. The old saying is to "Do something you love and you'll never work a day in your life." Well, I felt that way. I loved the journalism curriculum at SDSU, and was guided by some great instructors, including DJ Cline -- my favorite instructor in all my school years. DJ was my freshman and sophomore advisor, and she took a real interest in her students. I think that her passion for teaching and her caring helped fuel my interest in journalism as well. In my senior year I even had an article published in the Brookings Daily Register about the exodus of faculty from SDSU.
A four-year Army commitment delayed my entry into the journalism profession. I attended SDSU on a four-year ROTC scholarship, and so the Army took precedence. But after those four years I went looking for journalism jobs. I preferred writing for weeklies, and my first job was as a general assignment writer for The Redfield (SD) Press. I can only describe Redfield as kind of a desolate place, not close to any big town (between Huron on the south and Aberdeen on the north). But I got to do mostly general news reporting and photography.
My first boss was Roger Matz. Roger was a good editor and I learned a lot of journalistic tips from him. But, as a person, I didn't like him. I thought he was kind of a jerk. I only stayed at the Press for about a year and then accepted a job as editor of The Stewart (MN) Tribune. Stewart is a small town (about 600 population) about 2 hours southwest of the Twin Cities. The paper was under the ownership of the bank, so my boss was John Lipke. John didn't know much about the newspaper business but just wanted to keep the newspaper afloat, so I had pretty much free reign to run it as I saw fit. I had one staff writer (Julie) and a bookkeeper, so I got to cover all sorts of general news, features and sports events. Lots of photography and dark room work, taking the papers to print (in Hutchinson, where Kristina and Andrea were born), and mailing them. I loved the work.
But the newspaper was eventually sold about a year later, and I found a job writing for The Fairfax (MN) Standard. Again, I got to cover news, sports, etc., help lay out the newspaper, take it to print (also in Hutchinson) and then deliver it to the post office. I worked with Steve Palmer, just a year older than me and also a great journalist. The Standard won several awards at the annual Minnesota Newspaper Association contest. I won one award for a column entitled "Building a Better Mouse Trap." We got to attend a ceremony in the Twin Cities for that one.
Then in 1987 I bought the Alexandria Herald and Emery Enterprise. This was my life's dream -- to own and operate my own newspapers. It was truly a labor of love as I got to do it all with only a staff of three. I wrote the articles (news, features and sports), edited submitted copy, set type, proofread, took photos, developed film and printed pictures, laid out the pages, wrote headlines, boxed up the proofs and took them to print at the Madison Daily Leader, supervised as the newspapers were printed, and then hauled them back to the post offices for delivery. I also sold ads, occasionally designed an ad and addressed subscription cards.
Weeks were a continuous cycle that began on Thursday, which was pretty slow and mostly going through mail and some typesetting after the papers had been printed on Wednesday for Thursday distribution. Fridays picked up with ad calls -- usually in and around Alex and Emery, and Mitchell as well. I had a few faithful advertisers in Mitchell who saw the value of advertising in small, area newspapers. Saturdays were usually half-days, with typesetting and working around the office. Sunday was a day of rest, and then Monday on the road between Emery and Alex, finalizing stories, attending meetings, developing film and printing pictures. Tuesday was the day it all came together. The morning was spent finishing typesetting and proofreading, and afternoon was laying out the newspapers. It got to be quite stressful at times, sometimes lasting from late afternoon to almost midnight. Poor Millie (Wenande), who helped with the typesetting, proofreading and layout. She went through many stressful Tuesdays with me, putting everything together. Wednesday morning it was time to load up the proofs, drive to Madison and then supervise as the newspapers were printed. That was usually about a three-hour process. Then back home to take the newspapers to the post office.
Although I owned and operated the newspapers, Millie was truly the face of the Herald. She had worked for Bob and Ginger Braden long before I purchased them, and people would come in to ask for Millie to handle their news. Kathy Hoffman did the bookkeeping, and Kariena did the job printing. The job printing was really the money maker as the newspapers hardly broke even. If it weren't for the legal advertising received from both cities and Hanson County, we wouldn't have been able to make it.
My marriage fell apart during these years, and so the newspapers were sold in 1987. It was a huge blessing that I fell right into a job working as a unit administrator for my Army Reserve unit. That started my new career in the federal government.
