Discussion

By Gordon Pritchard on Apr 26, 2024

Just a little sidebar: This may have been the first newspaper to use a MAC and laser printer to produce the camera ready art for a newspaper.
In 1985 I set up the prepress production department for a 28 page weekly newspaper "Prince Rupert This Week" by using a combination of Manhattan Graphics Inc.'s Ready, Set, Go! page layout program (later acquired by Letraset), Cricket Draw to handle the special graphics, and an Apple LaserWriter to generate the camera-ready artwork. Using the LaserWriter output for camera-ready art meant that the type smoothed out enough to eliminate the low resolution "jaggies." It also meant that the publisher did not have to purchase the significantly more expensive traditional option of a Linotype machine or a laser filmsetter.
In fact, if it wasn't for the introduction of the Mac and LaserWriter combination, the newspaper would never have been financially feasible to publish in the first place.

By Alvaro Mantilla on Apr 26, 2024

The history of newspapers is fascinating. When I was a kid, I used to walk into the typesetting room of a newspaper to get my name printed into a Lynotype piece of metal. A few years later, I remember the photo typesetters just as Frank mentions in the video... and also as Gordon says on the previous comment, around 1985 I remember the newspaper using Macs for journalists to write the articles and designers to build the pages. Then they will send the pages to laser printers to print out the letter size (8.5 x 11") parts of the newspaper pages... and then those composed into large pages to be photographed into film to create the plates... that same paper in 1992 was the first one to have a page on the internet... Following the news from newsroom, to design, to pre-press, to press was the "daily miracle" of putting the edition...

By Mark Vruno on Apr 26, 2024

Great print history lesson, Frank! Thanks for the refresher. I remember using some type of wax machine when "pasting up" galleys of my college's student newspaper back in the day.

By Scott Cornish on Apr 26, 2024

Thank you Frank for bringing back many great memories of my early career in printing. I was on the startup team of USA TODAY as their first color scanner operator. I made the color separations for the front page photos using a Crosfield 540 contact screen scanner. I went on to work in quality assurance where we developed the print quality evaluation program to ensure consistent color reproduction across their thirty plus printing sites. Later I led the installation and startup of their Scitex color prepress system. I left for The New York Times for the transition of the 'Old Gray Lady' to color. The timing was fortunate because I got the opportunity to listen to many of the production leaders who were involved in the hot to cold type transition. The experiences they told were incredible.

By Bryan Gordon on Apr 27, 2024

Frank: I love your stories about the history of newspapers. Please keep them coming as I am hooked on your stories. My childhood dream was to own a newspaper in the early 1960's and I did realize that dream, publishing a "knock off" of the USA Today on clean white offset paper in four color process. The USA Today gave the rest of the newspapers in the country something to emulate as they moved to color pictures and litho printing. My first job, in the industry was as a hand compositor with Gutenberg types. When I graduated to a model 5 Lino with an automatic quader I thought I had arrived. Little did I know how many more machines and methods I would be learning during my career in the printing industry. You keep on keeping on.

By Joe Treacy on Apr 30, 2024

Frank, in addition to your inspiring newspaper stories, I’m enjoying how you’ve drawn out these great reminiscences from your readers.

Thanks for all the details, Frank and everyone.

It’s all fascinating to hear about what galvanized you to follow your dreams of innovation and make them a reality.

Newspapers, their typography, page design and production, and how readers interact with newspapers have endlessly inspired me.

Joe Treacy
Treacyfaces.com