Let’s just say it for the record: Themed magazine issues represent some of the low-hanging fruit in this industry, and so I despise them. As such, it is with more than just a bit of irony that we bring you the Spring edition of The Ocalan, one which actually has a theme to it.
No, we have not plastered “Spring Has Sprung!” everywhere while shoveling stories your way about gardening and pastels or anything else you already know and have read about a thousand times. Nor are we putting in “Modern Mothers” or priority lists of Spring-Cleaning chores of which you need not be reminded.
Nonetheless, we have stumbled upon a theme in this issue, which has nothing to do with Spring or rejuvenation. In fact, one might say the theme quite the opposite and closer to a requiem than a celebration: Remembering the daily newspaper, once the gathering place of an entire community, but now more a relic today straining to maintain even a small part of its former relevance.
I’ve made no secret in these pages before that at heart I am a newspaper man. I started stringing for the Ocala Star-Banner when I was 17 years old, and my first full-time job was as a sportswriter for that paper. So, when Buddy Martin penned a column lamenting the recent scrapping of sports sections at The New York Times and Washington Post, I found myself faced with the reality that those special times tearing through section C first thing in the morning and later helping to produce those editions, were over for good.
With Buddy’s column, I figured a perfect Conversation segment in the next issue of The Ocalan would be one of my former bosses at the Banner, from the 1990s when that office was humming with excitement and talent. We could discuss the business in its heyday and talk about the present and future of the industry. Also, I figured a feature story on some of my colleagues to talk about “the good ole days” and all the changes in Ocala they had seen, covered and photographed would fit the bill.
Then, I reminded Buddy Martin of an old anecdote he shared with me years ago about his time as Sports Editor of the Ocala Star-Banner back in the 1960s when he placed a classified ad in the paper trying to attract some young stringers to his department. Those who answered that ad went on to make their mark in the industry nationally for years to come. What a great “Ocala Stories” segment that would make!
Hence, the theme was on and there was no going back. But I forgot one thing about newspapers I hadn’t figured: Whereas the powers that be are quick to dive into other peoples’ business, they hate it when the tables are turned on them – the newspaper is not the subject, only the narrator. This became clear as editor after editor either refused to be included in this edition or was given advice from their colleagues not to participate.
This put the Conversation segment in jeopardy and completely blew up the feature story I had in mind. So, we shifted gears while staying committed to the theme. What you see before you is the final product, thanks to Tom McNiff, who was an ace reporter at the Star-Banner back in my days there in the 1990s, and who would rise the editorial ladder there before taking over as Executive Editor of the Leesburg Daily Commercial. Tom did not disappoint.
With the feature story idea getting no traction, I decided I would try my hand at short story telling: A night in the newsroom of the Ocala Star-Banner back in the 1990s. Those were the halcyon days and that office was full of interesting characters and people passionate about the newspaper.
The thought of writing about a night when all hell broke loose, a night that pushed boundaries and maybe even cost some reporters or editors their jobs seemed a bit cliché or at least over the top. No, almost any night in the newsroom picked at random could convey the usual flavor of the place, and that was my intention: Bring the reader into that world as it really was, not in some overly dramatic cinema.
The other intention was to write something perhaps in homage to my former colleagues at the Star-Banner, all who I miss dearly and most who I have not kept up with over the years. I picked a night in which there was a little bit of tension – perhaps not as much as written here – where all the news from that edition is real. The stories that ran in that edition were exactly as this tale reveals and those of you who were around back in the day will recognize some of the names and stories that were discussed. The newspaper characters are loosely based on real editors and writers from the day, and the dialogue is close proximity at best, but the vibe and the personalities are real.
For the readers, I hope you can indulge me for this one issue of theming it out for the daily newspaper. I hope you enjoy this small peek behind the curtain, and I hope you enjoy the short story within. I also hope my former colleagues and friends accept this story as a small gift to them, a reminder of what a great time it was to be in the belly of that beast, the daily newspaper.