AKRON'S DAILY MIRACLE LOOKS AT BJ HISTORY

 

Whew! Lot of “Daily Miracle”s out there!

“Akron’s Daily Miracle” is the title of a book compiled from essays by those who worked at the Akron Beacon Journal by Stuart Warner and Debbie Van Tassel.

The title came from an unpublished memoir by the late BJ managing editor Dale Allen.

But you have to be careful that you order the BJ book about “The Daily Miracle.”

I found at least two other books about journalism with “Daily Miracle” in the title:

“The Daily Miracle: An Introduction to Journalism” by William Conley, who did his work in the United Kingdom.

“The Daily Miracle- A Memoir of Newspapering” by C. Frazier Smith, a Baltimore Sun reporter who has a Pulitzer nomination in his history.

The BJ Warners’ title, “Akron Daily Miracle,” is a sort of tribute to Dale Allen, who wrote:

We called our newspaper “the daily miracle,” and there was good reason for that description, even if some of our readers thought otherwise.

They had other names for what we produced.

Some used generic terms, such as rag or yellow sheet or scandal sheet or lining for the bird cage.

Others gave special names to papers serving their communities. In my home town of Joplin, Mo., folks called the morning newspaper “the morning liar” and the evening paper “the evening apology.”

In Raleigh, N.C., readers called the News & Observer “the News & Disturber.”

In Cleveland, when readers wrote about their Plain Dealer they labeled it “the Pee Dee.”

In Kent, Ohio, The Record Courier became “the Wretched Courier.”

And in Akron folks had another name for the Beacon Journal: “The Leaking Urinal.”

(Another one that Dale didn't mention: "The Canton Suppository.")

"But, in my view “daily miracle” still seems an apt description.

Name another business in which a brand new product is put on the assembly line every day, pumped out during our peak years by the hundreds of thousands, then delivered to customers. And not just Monday through Friday, but every day of the week, 365 days a year.

Even after witnessing the miracle firsthand for 40-plus years, my mind still boggles at what we did, in part because of the myriad tasks required to put that newspaper on a subscriber's porch or in their newspaper box each day.

And to do it for a minimal charge of ten cents or a quarter a copy back a few years ago. Even with all the new technology we brought to the table in the latter years of the 20^th century, the work to produce the daily newspaper remains a wonder to behold. 

That's the end of Dale's epic description.

The Warners’ “Akron Daily Miracle” may be purchased at the University of  Akron Press website - -https://blogs.uakron.edu/uapress/product/akrons-daily-miracle/

-- and on Amazon.com for $24.95. 

On the UA Press site former BJ employees can get a 30 percent discount by using the promo code UAP30 and pressing on Apply. 

The book is or soon will be available at Barnes and Noble in Akron.  

As retired BJ columnist Bob Dyer, never at a loss for words (thus his zillion annual designations as Ohio Columnist of the Year), put it:

“Akron's Daily Miracle provides an inside look at the operation of the Beacon Journal from the time John S. Knight (in John Olesky’s view the greatest newspaper owner in American history) died in 1981 to our move into a new building in 2019.

“Twenty-eight Beacon Journal veterans, mostly retired, have contributed, ranging from former Publisher Jim Crutchfield to Your Favorite Columnist, who was asked to write a chapter about how he put together his 2014 investigative series on televangelist Ernest Angley.

“Longtime readers will recognize the names of many of the 28 contributors, including former headliners Regina Brett, Michael Douglas, Mary Ethridge, Glenn Gamboa, Steve Love, Charlene Nevada, Bill O'Connor, Marla Ridenour, Jane Snow and Thrity Umrigar.

“Another local household name, Mark Williamson, penned a chapter about the painful demise of Akron TV station WAKC (Channel 23), and radio reporter-turned-Beacon reporter Jim Carney described the glory days at news station WHLO (640-AM).

“The perfect cover illustration was contributed by Chuck Ayers, a former ABJ cartoonist best known for his work on the comic strips Crankshaft and "Funky Winkerbean.”

So, have at it. But be sure you get the right Daily Miracle.

Not the one involving the loaves and fishes. Lot of miracles floating around in history.