Hi Joe -- thanks for your testimony and your sad account of what has happened in Norfolk. I will try to keep up this column and appreciate your feedback.
Once again, you've stirred up memories of things I had forgotten. Along with that some newer ones that I'd rather forget. I remember walking through the newsroom of the paper I worked for and there was always a buzz. Over 100 reporters working on stories, pitching stories and all the normal chaos. I came to know and respect a good many of them. We were located in a building just outside of the downtown of Norfolk in a building that had housed the paper for 112 years. Like New Haven, we had a morning edition and an evening edition. The paper was growing then. We were adding another building in Virginia Beach. We started renovating the space designed to hold 125 people. This would be our largest bureau. Then it seemed overnight, Montgomery Ward closed. We lost two million in advertising. Then another large regional store closed and with it another 1.5 million in advertising. Car dealers kept us afloat for some time. I remember at the morning meeting the advertising director showed the front page with a sticky note ad. I can still remember the horror on the news editor's face. Then came the first round of layoffs. The bureau that was supposed to hold 125 people never held more than 12. Then the second round of layoffs. The building that was bursting at the seams was now spacious. I never had to look for a parking space in the lot. There were always some. Then the third round of layoffs.
Today the building that stood so proudly for over 100 years is just a bunch of condo's. I wonder if anyone living there knows of the history that was recorded in that building.
We were finally purchased by the same company that purchased the New Haven Register. That was just after I left the company as my position was cut. I still subscribe to that newspaper. I start every morning reading it. I have to say it's easier to hold since the web width was reduced. Until a few months ago I also subscribed to the Register because that's my home newspaper. I let it go because it just seemed to be more and more expensive and less and less news.
I do enjoy reading your stories and will continue to do so for as long as you publish. Thanks.
I have read you since the beginning. Thank you for all of it.
Re: the irrelevance of the current iteration of the“New Haven “ Register….today’s article on page 8A of the Business Section “Starbucks starts 2024 with store openings in 3 CT cities” by staff writer Paul Schott, apparently out of lower Fairfield County. He mentions a new store in Stamford, and 2 in New Haven County -West Haven and Orange. I tried to contact Mr. Schott via the Register’s website to update him, but apparently one can only reach him via X, which I decline to use.
While I personally care not where Starbucks opens, I do care that my local paper (which I pay dearly for despite its degraded status) appears unaware that there is also a new Starbucks appearing suddenly on I-95S in the Madison rest area. The Register and its affiliates routinely ignore almost all relevant local news, and if they report it at all, it is not timely and oftentimes not accurate.
I remember that building on Orange and that rickety elevator when my mom had to drop off her news on Sundays. I also remember the vending machines just off that elevator. We begged mom for soup from the machine. It was way too hot and absolutely horrible. It was all part of the trip to New Haven. Great memories!
So true, and so sad. I continue to subscribe to hard copy and am amazed at how they go about their daily coverage attempts.
Hi Joe -- thanks for your testimony and your sad account of what has happened in Norfolk. I will try to keep up this column and appreciate your feedback.
Once again, you've stirred up memories of things I had forgotten. Along with that some newer ones that I'd rather forget. I remember walking through the newsroom of the paper I worked for and there was always a buzz. Over 100 reporters working on stories, pitching stories and all the normal chaos. I came to know and respect a good many of them. We were located in a building just outside of the downtown of Norfolk in a building that had housed the paper for 112 years. Like New Haven, we had a morning edition and an evening edition. The paper was growing then. We were adding another building in Virginia Beach. We started renovating the space designed to hold 125 people. This would be our largest bureau. Then it seemed overnight, Montgomery Ward closed. We lost two million in advertising. Then another large regional store closed and with it another 1.5 million in advertising. Car dealers kept us afloat for some time. I remember at the morning meeting the advertising director showed the front page with a sticky note ad. I can still remember the horror on the news editor's face. Then came the first round of layoffs. The bureau that was supposed to hold 125 people never held more than 12. Then the second round of layoffs. The building that was bursting at the seams was now spacious. I never had to look for a parking space in the lot. There were always some. Then the third round of layoffs.
Today the building that stood so proudly for over 100 years is just a bunch of condo's. I wonder if anyone living there knows of the history that was recorded in that building.
We were finally purchased by the same company that purchased the New Haven Register. That was just after I left the company as my position was cut. I still subscribe to that newspaper. I start every morning reading it. I have to say it's easier to hold since the web width was reduced. Until a few months ago I also subscribed to the Register because that's my home newspaper. I let it go because it just seemed to be more and more expensive and less and less news.
I do enjoy reading your stories and will continue to do so for as long as you publish. Thanks.
I have fond memories of that office, and the people I met there. Thanks for writing about it, Randy - end of an era.
I have read you since the beginning. Thank you for all of it.
Re: the irrelevance of the current iteration of the“New Haven “ Register….today’s article on page 8A of the Business Section “Starbucks starts 2024 with store openings in 3 CT cities” by staff writer Paul Schott, apparently out of lower Fairfield County. He mentions a new store in Stamford, and 2 in New Haven County -West Haven and Orange. I tried to contact Mr. Schott via the Register’s website to update him, but apparently one can only reach him via X, which I decline to use.
While I personally care not where Starbucks opens, I do care that my local paper (which I pay dearly for despite its degraded status) appears unaware that there is also a new Starbucks appearing suddenly on I-95S in the Madison rest area. The Register and its affiliates routinely ignore almost all relevant local news, and if they report it at all, it is not timely and oftentimes not accurate.
I remember that building on Orange and that rickety elevator when my mom had to drop off her news on Sundays. I also remember the vending machines just off that elevator. We begged mom for soup from the machine. It was way too hot and absolutely horrible. It was all part of the trip to New Haven. Great memories!