Los Angeles Times cutting 74 positions

[dixiehack]

My official “stop the presses” moment came in Valdosta. The printing plant was actually a mile or two down the road, so I nights when I was the sports slot it fell to me to go by and check what was coming off the presses. Somehow the type blew out on a caption and the letters formed a crescent moon pattern. The foreman stopped the presses as requested, and then his assistant immediately fired them back up to get some papers for early carriers because “nobody reads the pictures anyway.”

 

[MileHigh]

I haven't seen a printed version yet, but reading the online version, there have been a fewer color pages inside. They also flipped the comics. There was a page with advice, bridge, horoscope, and puzzles with a half dozen black and white comics followed by a full-color comics page. Now the color comics come first. Not a big deal, but there are obviously fewer color positions with the new press run.

Plus there was this typo Tuesday on the Sports cover, unless Tyler Glasnow changed his name.

View attachment 17255

Just looked at the past couple of days online and yikes, a ton less color.

 

[Azrael]

I miss the way the whole building hummed and shook when they started the press run downstairs.

I am one thousand years old.

 

[swingline]

Then I’m one thousand and one.

Hearing the press crank up and then grabbing a paper off the line to get that fresh ink on your hands was the daily affirmation of our love story with the paper. Too bad it never loved us back.

 

[Typist Clerk]

There were some Saturday nights when sports was the last live copy and I was the sports designer that I'd have that duty. The last news-side editor would leave maybe 20 minutes earlier. We'd finish layout – cold-type paste-up – and OK the page and the back shop would work their magic. It was usually less than 15 minutes before the presses ran. Ah, that magic sound. Meanwhile, I'd monitor the AP wire and listen to the all-news station while waiting to inspect the first copies. I could stop the presses if there was a page error in the live sections – a page upside down or copy falling across an ad – or if the president or pope died in that short time. Everything else could wait for Monday morning. (Late Saturday night to about 9 a.m. Sunday was the only time our newsroom was unmanned.) Never had to tell the foreman anything but "good job."

 

[BTExpress]

Then I’m one thousand and one.

Hearing the press crank up and then grabbing a paper off the line to get that fresh ink on your hands was the daily affirmation of our love story with the paper. Too bad it never loved us back.

In Fort Lauderdale in about 1987 we went to this state of the art "flexo" kind of press. And we literally advertised to our readers, "No ink stains on your hands!"

 

[goalmouth]

Long ago I worked for porn publisher Carl Ruderman's company on a mainstream music mag as part of the company's product diverisification. Seems newsstand sales of High Society, Juggs and other titles never moved much from 200k copies a month. In a meeting just prior to going to press we were told the music mag was struggling to attract sufficient subscribers.

"Stop the presses!" Ruderman exclaimed and smirking, looked around the room to gauge reaction.

EDIT: Now I see he recently got five years in prison for securities fraud.

 

[JBHawkEye]

Our pressroom guys loved me because I usually got them pages early. So if I ever needed to stop to correct a mistake, they would do it and not complain.

I admired them when they gave the ultimate middle finger to GateHouse when the company shut down our pressroom. On the last night there was a mysterious electrical issue with our press that just couldn't be fixed, so they had to transfer our print operations to the new site an hour and a half away, forcing those guys to work OT because they weren't expecting us, plus there was cost of having to go get those papers. The subtle grins from our pressroom guys told me this was no accident.

But yeah, I do miss hearing the presses roll.

 

[HanSenSE]

There was one night when the newsroom got everything out on time, but there was some problem with the press and the run would be starting later than usual. The news editor told the press foreman "Unless we missed the words '**** you' in 72-point type, let it roll" and we adjourned to a local all-night restaurant.

 

[Azrael]

That smell.

 

[dixiehack]

There was one night when the newsroom got everything out on time, but there was some problem with the press and the run would be starting later than usual. The news editor told the press foreman "Unless we missed the words '**** you' in 72-point type, let it roll" and we adjourned to a local all-night restaurant.

Midnight Applebees runs with the night shift gang might be all that kept me sane at one stop. Even if you didn’t get along with someone, you left it back at the office while Drinking Good In The Neighborhood.

 

[SixToe]

That smell.

The smell of this around you.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I miss the way the whole building hummed and shook when they started the press run downstairs.

I am one thousand years old.

This thread is reminding me of the 1994 Ron Howard film "The Paper." It has a brief scene in Robert Duvall's office where the water in a glass starts vibrating, a signal that the presses have started up. One of the screenplay writers, one of the Koepp brothers, lifted that image from his days as a journalist at the Waukesha Freeman, where the aging building had the shakes.

Of course there's the climactic scene where Michael Keaton trades fisticuffs with Glenn Close while trying to Stop The Presses.

 

[Azrael]

This thread is reminding me of the 1994 Ron Howard film "The Paper." It has a brief scene in Robert Duvall's office where the water in a glass starts vibrating, a signal that the presses have started up. One of the screenplay writers, one of the Koepp brothers, lifted that image from his days as a journalist at the Waukesha Freeman, where the aging building had the shakes.

Of course there's the climactic scene where Michael Keaton trades fisticuffs with Glenn Close while trying to Stop The Presses.

I'm sure you remember this. The 1957 opening sequence from "Sweet Smell of Success," with the loading docks of the New York Times doubling for those of the New York Globe (which was a real paper, but had merged with the NY Sun in 1923). A personal favorite.

Go With The GLOBE
Read
J. J. Hunsecker

The Eyes of Broadway

 

[wicked]

I will likely be alive the day the presses roll for the final time, and I will shed tears for that happening.

 

[I Should Coco]

Midnight Applebees runs with the night shift gang might be all that kept me sane at one stop. Even if you didn’t get along with someone, you left it back at the office while Drinking Good In The Neighborhood.

The Applebee's located in the town of my previous shop was, (1) the only place serving food and drinks that was open after midnight, and (2) would have deals on Long Island Ice Teas. A fine combination!

 

[dixiehack]

The Applebee's located in the town of my previous shop was, (1) the only place serving food and drinks that was open after midnight, and (2) would have deals on Long Island Ice Teas. A fine combination!

Pretty much our setup. And those conditions also made it a favored gathering spot for the local Class A baseball team, which made it feel a bit like The Aces in Slap Shot.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I'm sure you remember this. The 1957 opening sequence from "Sweet Smell of Success," with the loading docks of the New York Times doubling for those of the New York Globe (which was a real paper, but had merged with the NY Sun in 1923). A personal favorite.

Go With The GLOBE
Read
J. J. Hunsecker

The Eyes of Broadway

Great cast in that pic. Great writers too.

 

[Deskgrunt50]

This thread is reminding me of the 1994 Ron Howard film "The Paper." It has a brief scene in Robert Duvall's office where the water in a glass starts vibrating, a signal that the presses have started up. One of the screenplay writers, one of the Koepp brothers, lifted that image from his days as a journalist at the Waukesha Freeman, where the aging building had the shakes.

Of course there's the climactic scene where Michael Keaton trades fisticuffs with Glenn Close while trying to Stop The Presses.

Such a great flick. Really captures the feel of that era at big city paper.

Though, a NYC tabloid having an 8 p.m. deadline in 1994 is one of my quibbles. Also, you'd think they'd want to replate to get the parking commissioner shooting the paper's managing editor in a bar somewhere on the cover too.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Such a great flick. Really captures the feel of that era at big city paper.

Though, a NYC tabloid having an 8 p.m. deadline in 1994 is one of my quibbles. Also, you'd think they'd want to replate to get the parking commissioner shooting the paper's managing editor in a bar somewhere on the cover too.

Probably my favorite vignette is when Keaton starts rewriting some of Clint Howard's copy, who winces, saying, "don't ... Oh! that's good!"