Standing in the lobby of the pristine Columbus Dispatch, Bill marveled over his prized Linotype machine. With his handiwork, skill and dedication, he had managed to preserve and craft an original model of one of the first machines that revolutionized newspaper printing. Watching in awe as he explained the many levers and buttons on the marvelous contraption, I could sense his ambition and love for what he did during his 44 years of employment for the company. Feeling like an ant lost in a giant picnic basket, I was given a personalized tour of The Dispatch and was able to see the grand scale of operation that goes on within its doors. The humongous printing presses laid at a standstill on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. Stories tall and cooling fans humming, I could feel the importance lingering in the air of the paper that spans to hundreds of thousands of families. It was Bill’s job to keep these monstrous machines (and much more) up and running throughout the years.
Walking through the dimly lit hallway into security in The Dispatch, I passed several important newspapers that had been published over the years. Front pages involving JFK’s assassination, the D-day storm into Germany, the twin tower bombings, and even OSU’s victory over the Gators for the National Championship were pasted to the walls as a preservation of our nation’s history. It was up to The Dispatch to keep the people informed and aware of what was happening around them. What if the printers had been malfunctioning the day the troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, how would the public know? It was Bill’s job to keep everything up and running so important events like this wouldn’t go unnoticed.
Family tradition played a big part in how Bill acquired his job. He said, “…when I was 17 I got a job at The Dispatch. My father was superintendent of the press room, and he wanted to know if I wanted to make a little extra money for Christmas. So he needed what they call a ‘flyboy’, a couple extra ‘flyboys’ for the holiday season in press room. So I, I worked there for which I thought was going to be part time for a couple weeks and it ended up being 44 years.” Over the years he was growing up, Bill’s father spoke of nothing but The Dispatch and his exciting job employed there. Day in and day out he heard Dispatch this and Dispatch that, it was instrumental on how he grew up. Following his father’s footsteps Bill decided to take a stroll down the same path, but ended up somewhere a little different than planned. “You had to wait for an apprenticeship…an apprenticeship up in the composing room opened up; a linotype machinist. And since I worked on cars all the time and I was mechanical, I decided I’d go up and apply for that apprenticeship in the composing room. Well I did, and I got that position”, Bill recalled. Today family tradition is dying out, family-run businesses are slowly declining, and big corporations are taking over. Bill is one of the few holding on to this tradition, and says he still has cousins and uncles working in The Dispatch this very day.
One of the most interesting things Bill experienced during his time at The Dispatch was the transformational shifts of technology. He got to experience firsthand the growth and development of electrical systems and computers. At first this was great for the newspaper companies, they were able to print faster and cheaper, but nowadays that doesn’t really matter anymore. Because of the growth and advancements of technology people can acquire their news by simple flipping on their television or computer at home. He says, “(Back in the day) everybody got their news out of the newspaper. But now it’s the internet 24/7 you got cable TV 24/7. It’s the younger generation; you’re not in tune with the newspapers like people were.”
Years ago newspapers were printed line by line, now robots run half of the production by themselves, and newspapers are printed in extremely large numbers at a time by supercomputers. While this is also a good thing, it also is the downfall of the companies. Small-town newspapers are completely dying out, and the larger ones are slowly losing their subscribers. According to Bill, “I remember the Sunday circulation was like 419,000, I think was the top, maybe 430,000 was the most. And the Sunday circulation now is down to 240,000. So it’s almost cut in half. It’s just a dying art form, yeah know? You can carry your phone around and get the news instantly on your phone, it’s just instantaneous. You can Google anything you want to Google, yeah know, back then, you didn’t have that option.”
The downsizing The Dispatch went through was one of the reasons Bill retired from his much loved job. He is extremely proud that he is holding on to something society is slowly growing away from, but he accepts it. Bill exclaims, “It’s sad but I can see, it’s just one of the things (that disappears). When I was growin’ up we had milk men and bread men bring milk and bread to the door. And now it’s just something that’s a part of evolution.”
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