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University Daily Kansan, October 5, 1982
Kansan writes its own history
By STEVE CUSICK Staff Reporter
A newspaper writes its own history. Each edition is a new link in the chain that binds the paper to the tattered, yellow pages that mark its beginning.
A trip into the Kansan past, via the microfilm in Watson Library, reveals that the Kansan over the years has had many faces.
That chain has been growing at the University Daily Kansan since Jan. 16, 1912, when the paper first started rolling off the press daily. And only the reader can judge whether it has been a good or bad paper since then.
FROM THE news-crammed six-column front pages at its birth to the tabloid years of the forties and the hard times of today, the Kansan has changed.
But, to know a paper, one must begin with its roots.
The Kansan came from a line of papers that dotted KU's campus in the 1960s.
IN 1878-79, when KU's enrollment was about 400, three folios were printed on campus, according to the book, The Years on Mount Oread by Robert Taft. The book was printed in 1955 by the University of Kansas Press.
The Semi-Weekly Kansan began coming out in 1904. It evolved into the Kansan in 1905, according to the book, and The University Kansan, the second to last evolutionary stage, came in 1910. It came the University Daily Kansan
According to The University of Kansas: A History, by Clifford S. Griffin, former KU Chancellor Frank Strong and the University's faculty
gave the paper official support in 1904.
gave the paper imperial support in 1842. The early-day Kansans, even on a microfilm screen, navy can be air on board and can also be bred by papers of the early 1900s, with large pages, small headlines and nearly divided six columns.
BESIDES major news stories, the front page was crammed with human figures.
A Jan. 18, 1912. story told of an
Each weekday morning, personnel of the University Printing Service play a vital, behind-the-scenes role in the production of the University Daily Kansan and the continuation of a 70-year newspaper tradition. National Newspaper Week provides an opportunity to recognize these early-morning workers and to recount the history of the Kansan.
accident and the headline read:
"Hammer Blow Breaks Nose."
The one-paragraph story read:
"While working in Fowler Shops yesterday afternoon, Austin Wallack, a freshman engineer, struck a glancing blow with his hammer and it rebounded, fracturing the bridge of his nose."
The top of page one wasn't always devoted to news either.
*Wanted: A Dog to Lick Stamps, Job Temporary, sat at stop two columns in the
THE STORY was about a dog that licked labels that went on bottles, but the dog got sick from the glucose and
other chemicals on the back of the labels, the article said.
The canine became bedridden and could no longer lick the labels.
Description was not lackling in many early articles. The story described the label-licking dog as "a bribe ball—that is, a hard object understood and uglet败 faced."
In its early years, the paper was delivered to students living in the student district near campus, but there also was a subscription price. The old Kansans were dotted with advertisements notifying readers of subscription deadlines. The paper also came out in the afternoon.
THE KANSAN later changed to a tablid, and KU football battles often were plastered across the front page with bold headlines spanning the page.
"Jayhawk-Aggie Civil War Nears," read the head atop page one in a Nov. 14, 1941, headline before a KU-Kansas State University game.
And, "Gloom of Defeat Shrugs Mt. Oread," in a Nov. 24, 1929, Kansan tells of a KU gridron loss to the University of Missouri.
CALDER Pickett, professor of journalism, said that besides sports on the front page, the papers of that era also carried news of the latest sorority gathering or concert on the front page. The news was soft, but that was to
But, he said, he didn't object to the sports news that used to run on page one, especially if there was a choice of non-campanion news or sports on the front.
Sports did not always dominate the top of the page, either. During World War II, news of the war often made headlines. "US Declares War on Axis,"
said the page one headline of the Dec. 11, 1941, Kansan.
And the Kanssan staff worked overtime to produce more than one edition on June 6, 1944, D-Day. "Allies Sweep Island," the front page headline read with a New York dateline told of the latest Allied landings on the French coast.
THE KANSAN D-Day extra hit the streets at 5:48 a.m. and staff members handed on the paper on the streets of Kansas City according to an article on page one.
The Kansan later moved from a tabloid back to a larger size paper, he said, and the emphasis kept shifting toward the printing of hard news.
"The President is Dead," said the Nov. 22, 1963, headline. The next day a special Saturday edition gave further detail of President John F. Kennedy's visit to South Africa, the cancelation of classes and a memorial ceremony for the next Monday.
A UNITED Press International story text of a national day of mourning for the victims of 1972.
The first paragraph said, "The humble and the mighty joined a grieving widow and family today in mourning the death of martyr John Larkin. The event will be given a hero's burial Monday in Arlington National Cemetery."
The news was brought closer to KU during a tense few days spring of 1970 when the Kansas Union burned. The Kansan ran several articles after the fire. A two word headline told it all: "Union Burps."
More headlines have come and gone since. And the history isn't yet complete. The next edition, that newest link comes out tomorrow.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
The first edition of the University Daily Kansan now hangs in the hall outside the newsroom in newly remodeled Flint Hall as a reminder of the heritage of the Kansan. Prior to this edition, the Kansan was published semi-weekly.
Crew races to print paper during wee morning hours
By BONAR MENNINGER Staff Reporter
While students and faculty were relishing those last, fleeting hours of sleep this morning, a small group of students assembled a story- brick building west of campus.
The final touches were being put on another issue of the University Daily Kansan, and when the presses finally rolled just shortly after 8 a.m., a process involving hard work by a number of people was nearly complete.
THIS YEAR, the stories in the Kansas are being produced entirely by computer. They travel from the reporters' keyboards, through the editors' terminals, and to the print shop via a maze of electronic gadgetry and finally emerge from a computerized typewriter at the University Printing Services.
At 5 a.m. Friday, Lawrence Sinks, a printer at the University Printing Service, was alone in the building at 15th Street and Crestline Drive.
Working from layout dummies of the Kansan's pages, Sinks made sure that each story was in the computer system before he sent copy through the composing machine. The machine converts electronic signals into type and prints it on special photographic paper. After developing these images, Sinks carried the headlines and stories to the paste-up area in the next room.
ON WELL-LIT drafting tables, 16 pieces of heavy paper that would become Kanis page places were placed in a glued cloth and advertising already had been glued on.
One veteran proofreader reflected.
The new, computerized system has removed several steps and jobs in the newspaper production process, mainly proofreading and typesetting.
"Proofreading was high pressure stuff. I'd come up here and read like a maniac," said former copy reader Belinda Holmes as she prepared for a more sedate day of proofreading. She didn't want to deflect the demise of the Kansan, but it's been going great. I'm really impressed."
AS 6 A.M. approached, the head man on the make-up team, Bill Thomas, arrived.
All the stories had been set and developed, and Thomas, an energetic man, began to rapidly trim excess paper around the stories with an Exaco knife. Next, he ran the paper through a waxer to make it sticky. Whistling as he worked from the dummy sheets, Thomas glued the stories down in their appropriate places on the pages.
His help soon arrived in the persons of Mary Anne Stewart, printing service employee, and two KU journalism students, Eileen Markey, Clayton, Mo. senior, and Jim Bole, Camp Zama, Japan, junior.
SOON ALL were quickly cutting, trimming straightening and pasting
It was 6:50 a.m. as Gene George, El
Daniel senior and editor of the paper,
wrote in response.
"I just oversee the operation. The people who work out here in the backpack do all the make-up," George said as he made a hurried, early
morning phone call to a sports editor who was late for work. "Whenever they come up against a problem someone has to make a decision."
George said he was responsible for checking the stories one last time to make sure there were no major errors, but he did not see any faults, such as the page number and date.
"IT IS VERY embarrassing for the paper to say it is the wrong day,"
In a little over two hours, the silence of one man working grew into a bustle of activity as the newspaper app approached the final, hectic stages of production.
Paul Jess, journalism professor and news adviser to the Kansan, was checking the headlines for libel. He found only a misplaced modifier in one of the front page headlines, and the problem was soon corrected.
At 7:33 a.m. the layout stage of production was complete, and the 16 pages of the paper were ready to be photographed and printed.
From the layout area the pages were carried to the photo room, where Wally Hollingshead slapped them on a camera, photographed them, and sent the negatives to another room where they were transferred onto an aluminum plate by exposing them to a high intensity light.
Nearby, Ron Shore, assistant pressroom supervisor, was getting the mammoth Goss printing press ready to roll. Shore carried the metal page into a box and slipped them onto the rollers of the press. It was a little before 8 a.m.
"That's not bad for a 16," Jess said, glancing at the clock.
HUGE ROLLS of newspaper were stacked nearby. As forklinks busted past, Shore checked and rechecked the top and ink fountains on the four-unit press.
WITH ALL THE plates in place, the giant press groaned into life like a long freight train pulling out of the yards. The air was thick and the threw levers and checked switches as a
ribbon of paper slowly began to slide up, down and across the rollers of the printer.
Blank copies and copies ameased with black strokes emerged at the far end of the table.
"It takes a couple of thousand copies before everything is smoother out." She smiles.
Then the first clean papers came rolling off as the press picked up speed. They were stacked on a dolly nearby.
BEFORE LONG good copies of the paper were shooting out of the end of the press, folded and stacked. The press now was rolling close to full thickness, and forth, checking tension and inking. The white river of paper roared along.
Mel Smith, who delivers the Kansas on campus, loaded papers into his old
Motorcyclist hurt in accident
Thomas F. Anderson II, 22, 1042 Wellington Road, was reported in stable condition at Lawrence Memorial Hospital last night after he was struck by a bicycle accident at 11:30 a.m. yesterday, Lawrence police said.
Anderson was injured when a car and his Suzuki motorcycle collided as he was driving east on Sixth Street. The car, driven by Marilyn Gaynor, was struck while making a left turn onto Sixth Street from the School Employee's Credit
He would deliver the 15,000 copies of the Kansas across the university in less than a month.
Union, 1015 W. Sixth St., and collided with the motorcycle, police said.
No citations were issued to either driver, police said.
Anderson's father, Thomas Anderson, director of KU Facilities Operations, said his son's shoulder was broken and he might have internal injuries.
Anderson was on his way to catch an airplane for Northford, Va., when the accident occurred, his father announced that Anderson was employed in the Navy.
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BEWARE OF THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE!
FRESHMEN
On Oct. 6 & 7 VOTE
Independent!!
President
Mark Curran Vice-President James Pierce
Remember-bring your KIDS!
Here's your chance to be counted.
Paid for by the students for Curran & Pierce.
From 6pm to 10pm at GSP, Oliver and Lewis (on October 6 only).
VOTE
in your Freshmen Class elections. Held on:
ATTENTION FRESHMAN
From 9am to 4pm at booths in front of Fraser, Wescoe, Robinson and the Union.
OCTOBER 6.7
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Two Free Tokens When Ordering
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Iffer Expires Oct. 10, 1982
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(5) In the event a leak is detected anywhere outside of a building notify the gas company immediately and describe the location and approximate level of the odor—a quick check of the mold made to determine the problem and correct action needed.
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