BJ dinosaurs bond with BJ young pups

Those dinosaurs among us who worked at the BJ when John Knight walked into his corner office every year, after he went to the Kentucky Derby horserace the first Saturday in May and until winter was near and he skeddaled to his Miami Herald office on Biscayne Bay, enjoyed the Golden Era of newspapers with the best newspaper owner in America history.

But we also feel a kinship with those who are at the BJ today, even though it no longer it as 44 E. Exchange Street but in a former Goodrich factory. We know fool well that they have a much tougher task than we did when there were 250 in the newsroom compared to maybe 50 or less today. But we feel a bond because they, as we were, are dedicated journalists.

Retired BJ copy editor Charles Montague, referred to as Chasm by his fellow dinosaurs during our time together at Ol’ Blue Walls, and I have exchanged thoughts about those days and these days. I thought you might appreciate our insight.

Chasm began this exchange when he emailed this to me:

I see from the first column by the new media critic of The New York Times, in which he comments on The Times’ rebirth from its struggles in 2014 to the colossus it is today, that the current starting salary for most reporters is $104,600.
Serious money.

(OLESKY NOTE: Not if you’ve living in New York City where $104,600 is about like $50,000 in Akron).

Back in the day, John S Knight and Ben Maidenburg weren’t exactly lavish with pay for new people, but they knew that if they were going to put out a paper better than the Plain Dealer and Cleveland Press, they had to pay better than the bigger papers.

To mildly toot my horn a little, Maidenburg looked over my 22 months of clips from the Elyria Chronicle Telegram and started me at $10 a week above Guild scale, big money in April 1970 for a 23-year-old with a wife and 9-month-old baby boy at home.

And I never forgot it.

And worked my butt off.

Later editors did same — for their own reasons.

Paul Poorman was a notorious cheap guy, but he liked being able to lord it over the guys at Detroit that his Beacon Journal was winning journalism awards and they weren’t, and he fought like hell to limit raises, but then gave in.

Mark Etheridge, when he arrived, discovered that some the best newsroom people were active in Guild and on negotiating committee. The Guild lawyer told us that he had been informed by back channels that Etheridge wanted new Guild contract settled quickly because he wanted those people back doing daily newspapering and not tied up in pay talks.

I think things started to go in dumper when McMillion was big boss. One of his people told the Guild lawyer that he didn’t like not being able to cut a person’s pay. Said he found it good way to get rid of people he didn’t like.

My point is newspapers get what they pay for.

Had chance a few weeks ago to pay surprise visit to new BJ in AES Building. The great Katie Byard was kind enough to show me around on what was my first time back since I took buyout and left on 10/09/08. The great Mark Price had not come in yet, but I got to say hello to some folks I worked with who still make BJ great — Jim McKinnon, Stephanie Warsmith and Darren Werbeck, among others. The dynamo Phil Masturzo also had not come in yet.

My reply to Chuck’s email:

Chasm:

When I was interviewed for a job at the BJ, after being fired by union-hating Cox Newspapers' Dayton Daily News (Maidenburg knew it was for union activities and said, because I had there 13 years, that "I was their fault" and brought managing editor Dan Warner into Ben's office and told him to negotiate a salary with me).

Dan offered me top Guild minimum but I said living costs were higher in Akron than in Dayton so he gave me $25 more than the Guild minimum. My late brother-in-law said I was the only person he knew who could be out of work for 5 weeks and blackballed by Editor Jim Fain letters to everyone who inquired about me when I applied elsewhere that would demand a pay raise!

When I began at the BJ, Pat Englehart was called into Maidenburg's office. Pat came out, walked over to me and said, "You are the assistant State Desk editor," so I immediately got another 10% bump in my weekly paycheck. When I checked the Guild list I was #14 in salary among Guild members.

Maidenburg was the best thing that ever happened to me because he was hellbent on reclamation projects, which included me. His only advice to me was, "Pick a side and stick with it." So I chose management side because of Maidenburg and crossed the Guild picket line during a strike.

But when Giles and Fitzpatrick in later years called me into Giles' office after they broke up the State Desk and suggested that I might be happier working somewhere else I applied for Guild membership. I'm sure Giles and Fitzpatrick were following Ethridge's orders, but that broke the covenant I made with Maidenburg.

So I applied for Guild membership, and was accepted, over Jim Ricci's strenuous objections, and became an ardent and active Guild supporter, as you know. After all, I was on a union picket line before I was born because my pregnant mother stood in a line alongside my father while coal company goons on horseback, including our neighbor across the street, tried to intimidate United Mine Workers.

By the way, my father, a United Mine Workers coal miner and check weighman, also was fired for his union activities. It's a badge of honor in my family. My father's transgression was that when the coal in a coal car was weighed and dumped and the company hack said 50 tons my father as the union checkweighman would say 70 tons. They would settle for 60 tons, costing Consolidation Coal Company a lot of money during the years my father was the union checkweighman.

So when my father was covered up in a coal cave-in (his 2nd and he survived both even though fellow miners had to remove FOUR FEET of coal to get to any part of his body) and was hospitalized, Consol removed him from the payroll, glad to get ride of a union troublemaker. When my father returned to work 9 months later he had to find another mine to risk his life to feed and clothe me. My father is a hero to me.

Later, when I was shuffled off to Makeup Editor by management as part of the breakup of the State Desk and the loyalty and power than Englehart engendered, printers Terry Dray and Red Reeves told me, when I explained my precarious job situation, “Don’t worry; we’ll take care of you.”

Did they! When I was Makeup Editor on Saturday night for the Sunday BJ the paper NEVER went in late. When I would NOT be Makeup Editor for the Sunday paper (vacations, etc.), the paper would go in late. Giles and Fitzpatrick, unaware of my support group, months later called me into Giles’ office again and said, “You were a round peg in a square hole.” No more threats of shoving me out the door. I will be in debt to Terry and Red, both no longer with us, till the day I die.

Old farts like you and me have some great stories to tell about life at the BJ. Keep them coming.

And, can I use any of your email in the BJ Alums blog, along with my tale about my entrance into the BJ?

Stay healthy and keep fighting the good fight for unions and your family and friends. I still do, every day.

John O.

After my response, Chasm emailed:

Darren also introduced me to a couple of young people who started at the BJ since I left, some quite recently. Gosh, they look so young — because they are. It was another reminder that I have gotten older — not old. They have the same bright eyes and enthusiasm that I did as a 23-year-old in April 1970.

My point is this. To my fellow newspeople of the past: Yes, today’s BJ is not the paper we put out. But the whole business has changed.

Realize, though, that even though 44 E. Exchange is no more, even though our once-hated competitor the PD handles circulation and classified ads and even though the paper is printed in, of all places, Canton at the Rep, it is still the BJ, with a few cagey veterans and more great young people working hard every day to put out a paper that I think JSK and Ben M would be proud of.

I know I am proud of them and the paper.

Charles S. Montague
BJ. 4/20/70 to 10/09/08
refall50@hotmail.com  
330-524-3231

I am proud of the work they do, too, Chasm. Under circumstances far more difficult than we had. Having BJ in your resume makes you part of the brotherhood/sisterhood of a special group.

Oh, I see the obvious errors in spelling and grammar because there’s no Hal Fry, the genius on the Copy Desk, to make sure everything is in the King’s English. But when you’re on a speeding treadmill it’s not easy to see clearly and speedily. Particularly when a handful of people in Austin, Texas are calling the shots.

So, BJ whippersnappers, remember: Even when the dinosaurs talk about the good ol’ days it’s not a slam on your work. We admire what you do with what little weapons are left compared to the howitzers we had. We’re in this together, trying to help democracy by keeping the BJ readers informed.

Also, Chasm was a formidable force of the Guild when it came to contract negotiations with BJ management. I supported the Guild in every way I could but people like Chasm, Jane Snow, the late Terry Oblander and the late Harry Liggett, who rattled the windows slamming a door so hard after one session that management called Knight headquarters in Miami and the Guild got a much better deal, had a much greater impact than me.

And, as Chasm indicated, McMillion began the deterioration of relations between the Guild and management. His reaction to double time for Sunday, “Sunday is just another day,” set the tone for his ripping into workers’ benefits.

McMillion certainly was no Ben Maidenburg when it came to caring about those who worked at 44 E. Exchange Street.

But those at 388 S. Main Street can be assured that the dinosaurs at 44 E. Exchange Street care about you.