For as long as I can remember, newspapers have played a major role in my life’s story.
One of my earliest memories – and for various reasons, I don’t have many – is trying to learn to read. One way I did so was to scour the comics section of the now-defunct Pittsburgh Press in search of a familiar word or two. I must have been about 6, and having not attended kindergarten, I was mostly clueless.
The comic strip I can specifically remember landing on was “Nancy.” It featured the title character – a young girl shaped like a fire hydrant with a football helmet hairstyle – and her friend Sluggo. I have zero recollection what they did; all I know is their speech bubbles had very few words. It was the perfect first step on the road to reading – a road that wound to a lifelong love of writing.
That was roughly 65 years ago, give or take. From that point on, I developed what some might consider an unhealthy attachment to the newspaper. From “Nancy” I branched out into the realm of circulation – helping my brother with his old Press paper route. Then it was reading actual stories – specifically the Press sports section, where I inhaled copy produced by the likes of such luminaries as Phil Musick, Bob Smizik, Dan Donovan and Bill Christine. These were god-like men who spun real-life tales of all my sports heroes of the mid- to late-1960s and early ‘70s. At some point, my fascination with the paper shifted from reading to writing. For a wannabe sportswriter, the Press was the best education a quarter – or whatever the cost of the paper was back in those days – could buy.
After devouring that sports section daily for years, I became convinced that I, too, could become an actual sports journalist, which I did – at least until my two children were born. At that point, my wife at the time “suggested” that I find a day job; my 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. shifts on The Modesto Bee sports desk – including weekends – took me out of the child rearing line of fire for way too much of the time to suit her. So I talked my way into moving from sports to news, where a 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. work week was much more conducive to having a real family life. Yes, my journey to become the next Jim Murray was short-circuited for good. But in retrospect it was the best move I ever made, as it gave me quality time to spend with my children that I never would have gotten had I remained in the sports department.
Now, nearly 40 years later, after a lengthy detour in higher education, I find myself a partner in a new(ish) online news outlet, one whose roots stretch back to the 1890s. Trying to explain how I got from Northern California to the West Hills Gazette would take far too long. The USA Today version is that I wound up back in Pennsylvania to teach journalism at Gannon University in Erie, and two years ago or so was given an opportunity to help resuscitate the former Gazette in online form.
I jumped at the chance, in part because the old McKees Rocks Gazette, which later became the Suburban Gazette and still later Gazette 2.0, was the first place I ever saw my name in print. When I was in eighth grade, someone – I never found out who – wrote a story about Holy Trinity’s basketball team. I saw my name in the story and it made me feel proud to be part of something that was worthy of being reported in a “real” newspaper. Four years later, my name appeared again – this time in a small writeup about Montour High School’s first hockey team. A year after that, during my freshman year at what was then Point Park College, I went from being written about to actually doing the writing, as I served as the Gazette’s sports editor, putting together the sports pages on a weekly basis in the old back shop at 421 Locust St. in McKees Rocks. There, I wrote a weekly sports column that my boss at the time – a young guy named Scott Davis – titled “Frankie SF.” I thought it was because of my ever-present San Francisco Giants hat. But Scott said the “S” stood for “silly” and the “F” stood for something else. Use your imagination.
Anyway, it’s been 15 months or so since West Hills Gazette began publishing. I couldn’t be happier. Well, maybe I’d be happier if we actually had a revenue stream that flowed stronger than a trickle. While I entered this venture without any hopes of earning an actual living, I did hope we would take in enough money to fairly compensate any freelance writers and photographers we were lucky enough to attract.
That hasn’t really happened. Through the grace of God – literally – we’ve received two generous donations to help keep us afloat. And we were fortunate enough to be one of six local businesses featured in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ “Going to Bat for Small Businesses” program last summer. That provided a much-needed grant and some marketing juice we never could have paid for ourselves.
But if we want to keep providing news, sports and entertainment on a daily basis for readers of the dozen or so West Hills communities we cover, we need you to step up. We’re not asking for outright donations, although heaven knows we’d gladly take them. What we are asking is that if you’re a local business owner who would like to reach the 110,000 potential readers in our area, consider advertising that business with the Gazette.
We don’t need much, but the more we can generate, the more we can put back into the product. Right now, much of our readership area isn’t covered on a regular basis simply because we don’t have the funds to pay writers. One main reason I agreed to take this plunge is because the West Hills area had essentially become a news desert. Yes, you’d see some of the bigger papers in the area helicopter in for a story now and then. And some smaller outlets would occasionally cover our communities. I’m not knocking social media and the information that can be found there. But this area, which boasts a population of 110,000 – and that’s a conservative estimate – needs real journalists producing real journalism.
So, as we head into the holiday season, if you’re looking for gift ideas, consider looking our way. We’re not asking for much – a dollar or two per month as a Gazette subscriber would go a long way toward helping us continue to provide the news, sports and entertainment coverage you need. And, as mentioned earlier, a monthly advertisement would be another major boost.
Give this some thought. Until the internet came along, quality journalism was never free. It shouldn’t be free now. Donate.
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