I was there
I am reflecting on my brief but memorable newspaper career.
22 years ago the San Antonio Light closed and was merged with the Express-News in San Antonio. This happened all over the country. Sad, really, because it meant the end of vigorous competition. Sure, newspapers still have other competition for news. Competition from the 24-hour news cycles of electronic media and the Internet is so fierce that the very existence of newspapers is threatened. Still, newspapers have survived and I'm happy about that.
But those were the days. When I worked for the Houston Chronicle we had eight editions a day. Eight! Our competition then was the Houston Post. We would send runners to grab their editions as they came off the press, so we could see what we missed and catch up. The Post did the same. It was awesome. Really kept us sharp. We wanted to be the first with every story. That front-page byline meant everything to us, especially if we got more and better information than the competition or, better yet, an exclusive. Those were the days.
Later I had the privilege of working on the desk for the Express-News at the time when we were combining the two newspapers into one. I don’t mean the Light and the Express-News. I mean the Express and the News, which were somewhat different papers – one morning and one afternoon – that were run out of the same shop. I was on the cleanup end, with mundane issues such as how to keep ALL the comics from both papers, plus TWO bridge columns, two crossword puzzles, both Dear Abby AND Ann Landers... I learned what readers really cared about. We could cut the report on a City Council meeting down to a one-inch brief and no one complained, but God forbid we leave out someone's crossword puzzle! That was the beginning of my loss of faith in mankind ... Hahaha
At the Express-News, I worked under the meanest SOB in the business: Burt Wise. Unconfirmed story was that Burt was bitter because he had been stuck managing the night desk for 30 years. Then, one day he grabbed an opportunity. Rupert Murdock’s Chicago paper was union and their newsroom was on strike. So, Burt took his crew up there and helped break the strike. After that, Burt had carte blanche over the news side of the house in San Antonio. And he was an arbitrary SOB. Even the publisher didn’t mess with him. One day I had a sweet 8-5 job editing the Sunday paper, and the next day he’d have me working the midnight to 8 a.m. desk. It sucked. The building we worked in must have had 200 bulletin boards throughout. Burt would post a tiny note on any one of them, and we would all be responsible for whatever was on that note. Crazy times.
Back then the Express and the News were two distinct newspapers. We shared some reporters, but different editors. The Express came out in the morning, and the News was the afternoon paper. We did everything we could to make them different. The Express was everyone’s morning paper with a cup of coffee, so it was polite and newsy. The News was yellow journalism at its best (or worst). We did everything with layout, headlines and story selection to make it a sensationalist rag that people would buy off the streets. Our screaming headlines and corner newsboys told people they couldn’t afford to miss what was inside. The guys on the desk competed to write the most outrageous headlines. It got worse and worse until, predictably, someone got fired. Wish I could remember what that headline was. It was pretty bad.
The image I've included here is from Texas Monthly archives. It's not exactly how I remember the layout, but we were always changing it. This gives you an idea of what it was like. And Paul Thompson! OMG, that's a story for another time, but I was part of that newsroom back in the day when Thompson owned that back corner, with his big cigar and powerful personality. I was so in awe of him. Those were the days.
22 years ago the San Antonio Light closed and was merged with the Express-News in San Antonio. This happened all over the country. Sad, really, because it meant the end of vigorous competition. Sure, newspapers still have other competition for news. Competition from the 24-hour news cycles of electronic media and the Internet is so fierce that the very existence of newspapers is threatened. Still, newspapers have survived and I'm happy about that.
But those were the days. When I worked for the Houston Chronicle we had eight editions a day. Eight! Our competition then was the Houston Post. We would send runners to grab their editions as they came off the press, so we could see what we missed and catch up. The Post did the same. It was awesome. Really kept us sharp. We wanted to be the first with every story. That front-page byline meant everything to us, especially if we got more and better information than the competition or, better yet, an exclusive. Those were the days.
Later I had the privilege of working on the desk for the Express-News at the time when we were combining the two newspapers into one. I don’t mean the Light and the Express-News. I mean the Express and the News, which were somewhat different papers – one morning and one afternoon – that were run out of the same shop. I was on the cleanup end, with mundane issues such as how to keep ALL the comics from both papers, plus TWO bridge columns, two crossword puzzles, both Dear Abby AND Ann Landers... I learned what readers really cared about. We could cut the report on a City Council meeting down to a one-inch brief and no one complained, but God forbid we leave out someone's crossword puzzle! That was the beginning of my loss of faith in mankind ... Hahaha
At the Express-News, I worked under the meanest SOB in the business: Burt Wise. Unconfirmed story was that Burt was bitter because he had been stuck managing the night desk for 30 years. Then, one day he grabbed an opportunity. Rupert Murdock’s Chicago paper was union and their newsroom was on strike. So, Burt took his crew up there and helped break the strike. After that, Burt had carte blanche over the news side of the house in San Antonio. And he was an arbitrary SOB. Even the publisher didn’t mess with him. One day I had a sweet 8-5 job editing the Sunday paper, and the next day he’d have me working the midnight to 8 a.m. desk. It sucked. The building we worked in must have had 200 bulletin boards throughout. Burt would post a tiny note on any one of them, and we would all be responsible for whatever was on that note. Crazy times.
Back then the Express and the News were two distinct newspapers. We shared some reporters, but different editors. The Express came out in the morning, and the News was the afternoon paper. We did everything we could to make them different. The Express was everyone’s morning paper with a cup of coffee, so it was polite and newsy. The News was yellow journalism at its best (or worst). We did everything with layout, headlines and story selection to make it a sensationalist rag that people would buy off the streets. Our screaming headlines and corner newsboys told people they couldn’t afford to miss what was inside. The guys on the desk competed to write the most outrageous headlines. It got worse and worse until, predictably, someone got fired. Wish I could remember what that headline was. It was pretty bad.
The image I've included here is from Texas Monthly archives. It's not exactly how I remember the layout, but we were always changing it. This gives you an idea of what it was like. And Paul Thompson! OMG, that's a story for another time, but I was part of that newsroom back in the day when Thompson owned that back corner, with his big cigar and powerful personality. I was so in awe of him. Those were the days.