FOR ALMOST 70 YEARS, HOLYOKE'S TELEDRAMATIC WAS THE DAILY PULSE
OF THAT STUDY.
THE T.T., AS IT WAS KNOWN, CEASED DAILY PUBLICATION IN
1993.
FOR THIS GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN REPORT, WE INVITED FORMER
STAFFERS MIKE DOBBS AND KEITH O'CONNOR TO TALK ABOUT THE
TELEGRAM AND THE IMPACT OF THE LOSS.
>> MY INSURANCE AGENT, IS FROM HOLYOKE AM AND HE TOLD ME, HE
TOLD ME VERY EARLY ON, THAT I SHOULD CONSIDER HOLYOKE A
VILLAGE, AND I WILL DO FINE.
AND DESPITE THE FACT THAT IT WAS A COMMUNITY, AS YOU SAID,
PROBABLY CLOSE TO 50,000 PEOPLE, EVERYBODY KNEW EVERYBODY.
THERE WAS A LOT OF INTERCONNECTION THROUGH
EMPLOYMENT, AND MARRIAGE, AND THE DAILY NEWSPAPER REFLECTED
THAT KIND OF CLOSE-KNITNESS, THAT HOLYOKE HAD AT THAT TIME.
>> AND THIS WAS A PAPER, KEITH O'CONNOR, ONE OF YOUR EARLY
JOBS, AND YOU SAID, YOU KNOW, IT'S A GREAT -- IT'S A TRAINING
GROUNDS, NOT JUST FOR THE REPORTERS, BUT YOU WERE IN
PROMOTION AND WRITING.
>> AND I WAS GOING TO MENTION THAT.
YOU TALK ABOUT THE LOSS TO THE COMMUNITY OF A NEWSPAPER.
BUT, IT WAS ALSO A GREAT LOSS FOR JOURNALISTS WHO, LIKE YOU
SAID, FOUND THE TRANSCRIPT TO BE A TRAINING GROUND.
IT WAS A GREAT TRAINING GROUND FOR ME, AND I WORKED THERE FOR
FIVE YEARS, AND I WAS A PROMOTION MANAGER, BUT I WAS A
WRITER.
AND I WROTE THEIR SPECIAL SECTIONS.
AND CHRISTMAS SECTION, HOME IMPROVEMENT, BRIDAL SECTION.
SO, I DID WRITE.
AND IT SERVED ME WELL.
>> MIKE DOBBS, I WANT TO ASK YOU, YOU WERE TELLING ME IN
PREPARATION FOR THIS, SOME OF YOUR STORIES, BUT I WAS
FASCINATED, YOU WERE THERE AS A HIGH SCHOOL INTERN.
>> RIGHT.
>> WHEN THEY WERE STILL DOWNTOWN, AND DID YOU TELL ME
THAT THEY WERE -- THEY WERE STILL USING THE OLD, OLD TYPE,
THE LAST PLACE -- >> YEAH, YEAH.
I WENT TO GRANBY HIGH SCHOOL, AND THE SENIOR YEAR, THE LAST
MONTH, YOU HAD TO DO AN INTERNSHIP, AND I WAS ABLE TO
GET THE TRANSCRIPT.
AND IT WAS THE PLACE THAT I REALIZED LOOKED JUST LIKE THE
NEWSROOMS FROM JOURNALISM MOVIES, NEWSPAPER MOVIES FROM
THE 30S 30s AND 1940s.
AND, YOU KNOW, MANUAL TYPEWRITERS ON THE DESK.
A ROLL OF PAPER THAT LOOKED LIKE PAPER TOWELS, THAT YOU FED INTO
THE TYPEWRITER.
YOU WROTE YOUR STORY.
YOU RIPPED IT.
YOU WENT OVER TO THE GREAT MIKE BURKE, WHO IS A PROFESSIONAL'S
PROFESSIONAL, AND HE WOULD DO WHAT HE NEEDED TO DO WITH IT, AS
AN EDITOR, AND ROLL IT UP, AND PUT IT IN A PLASTIC TUBE, AND UP
THROUGH A NOMADIC TYPE ROOM.
IT WAS LOUD, IT WAS SMELLY, AND ALL THE GUYS HAD CIGARETTES
DANGLING AT THE END OF THEIR -- >> IT WAS REQUIRED IN THOSE
DAYS.
>> RIGHT.
>> AND THE BEAUTY OF THE LINA TYPE IS THAT IT WAS ONE OF THE
ELEMENTS THAT MADE THE NEWSPAPER TRULY A MASS MEDIUM, IN THE
19th CENTURY AND THE OTHERS WERE, OF COURSE, EDUCATION, MORE
AND MORE PEOPLE LEARNED TO READ, AND THEN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
INEXPENSIVE PULP PAPER, BUT THE T.T.
WAS, IN 1972, WAS THIS TIME CAPSULE.
AND I BET IT HAD NOT CHANGED FOR DECADES.
>> GO AHEAD.
>> AND I REMEMBER, MY FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH MIKE BURKE, AND
MY GRANDFATHER, GOD REST HIS SOUL, WHO WAS RUNNING THE BAIL
SHOE STORE AT THE TIME.
BAIL SHOE STORE WAS RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO THE TRANSCRIPT, SO WHEN
THOSE PRESSES STARTED TO ROLL, OUR BUSINESS WAS START TO
RUMBLE, AND BUT, MY GRANDFATHER BROUGHT ME OVER, AND INTRODUCED
PLEA TO MIKE.
I WAS STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL AT THE TIME.
AND SAID, YOU KNOW, THIS IS MY GRANDSON, AND HE LIKES TO WRITE.
AND I REMEMBER MIKE SAYING, MAYBE YOU WILL JOIN US SOME DAY?
>> AND SURE ENOUGH, HE DID?
>> MIKE BURKE, WHO EVERYBODY IN THIS AREA LOVES AND REVERE, WE
INVITED HIM TO BE WITH US BUTTED -- HIS SCHEDULE WOULDN'T ALLOW
HIM.
HE TOLD ME TO SAY NICE THINGS TO YOU GUYS, AND I AM SO PROUD OF
BOTH OF THEM.
JUST A PRINCE OF A GUY WHO WAS THE QIPT ESSENTIAL HOMETOWN
JOURNALIST, REALLY.
>> AND WHEN I STARTED AS A REPORTER AT THE TRANSCRIPT, AND
I'VE BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT, WAS PROBABLY 1980, 1981,
AND MIKE WAS NOT THE EDITOR AT THAT POINT.
AND HE WAS DOING PUBLIC RELATIONS WORK AT THAT TIME.
HE HAD LEFT JOURNALISM LIKE ALL OF US IN JOURNALISM, THE
REPORTERS BELIEVE THAT THE GRASS IS GREENER ON THE PUBLIC
RELATIONS' SIDE OF THE PASTURE.
AND SOME OF US, SOME OF US COME BACK, AND MIKE DID COME BACK,
AND OF COURSE, HE STILL IS WRITING, AND GOD BLESS HIM
BECAUSE HE'S A GREAT GUY.
>> YEAH.
>> AND THE INTERESTING THING IS, IS THAT SOME OF THE CHANGES
STARTED WAY BACK WHEN, WHEN THE TRANSCRIPT, ACTUALLY, MOVED FROM
DOWNTOWN UP TO WHITING FARM ROAD.
AND REALLY, THAT WAS A BIG LOSS FOR DOWNTOWN.
TO LOSE THE PAPER, AND A BIG, YOU KNOW, A BIG EMPTY BUILDING.
AND I THINK FROM THERE, THERE WAS A NUMBER OF FACTORS, THE
COMING OF THE MALL.
THE CLOSING OF THE STORES.
BECAUSE OF THE MALL.
AND WE SOON FOUND OUT THAT MALLS DON'T ADVERTISE.
>> THEY DON'T NEED TO.
THE MALL DRAWS PEOPLE, SO THE STORES DON'T ADVERTISE, AND THE
STORES DOWNTOWN, THEY DID ADVERTISE, AND WERE GONE.
>> YEAH.
>> AND WHEN STIGERS WENT OUT OF DOWNTOWN, AND THE FIRST ONE WAS
THE HOLYOKE DOWNTOWN.
>> THAT'S RIGHT.
>> THE DEPARTMENT STORE, AND THAT WAS, REALLY, THAT WAS THE
CANARY SCREAMING IN THE COAL MINE.
PEOPLE KNEW THAT IT WOULD NEVER BE THE SAME BECAUSE YOU WERE
HAVING THAT KIND OF ANCHOR LEAVE.
AND THEY DID NOT NEED THE DOWNTOWN STORE BECAUSE THEY HAD
A PERFECTLY NICE STORE AT THE NEW HOLYOKE MALL.
>> WHAT HAPPENS, MIKE DOBBS, AND I WILL LET YOU START ON THIS, TO
A COMMUNITY, WHEN IT LOSES THE DAILY PAPER.
NOW, GRANTED WHEN THE TRANSCRIPT TELEGRAM WENT OUT, THEY SPLIT
INTO FOUR WEEKLIES AND NONE OF THEM LASTED TOO LONG, AND WHEN
THE DAILY VOICE, THE DAILY CONNECTION, WHAT HAPPENS?
>> I THINK WHAT HAPPENS IS, ESPECIALLY, WHEN THE TRANSCRIPT
FINALLY DIED, IN 1993, THERE WAS NO WEB.
THERE WAS NO INTERNET.
SO, THEREFORE, YOU DID NOT HAVE A CAPACITY FOR SOME SORT OF
COMMONPLACE, FOR PEOPLE TO GET INFORMATION.
THEY HAD TO RELY ON THE SPRINGFIELD PAPER AT THAT TIME.
THEY HAD TO RELY ON WHAT WAS LEFT IN TERMS OF THE RADIO AT
THAT TIME.
AND I THINK THAT IT DAMAGES A COMMUNITY.
I THINK IT IS VERY DAMAGING TO THE DEMOCRACY IN A COMMUNITY.
YOU CANNOT GET YOUR WORD OUT.
IF YOU ARE RUNNING FOR OFFICE, YOU CANNOT TELL PEOPLE
EFFICIENTLY ABOUT ISSUES THAT MAY BE A KIRSCH TO -- A CONCERN
TO THEM.
>> YOU ARE A HOLYOKE GUY THROUGH AND THROUGH.
>> ABSOLUTELY, BORN AND RAISED.
IT HAS A LOT TO DO WITH DEMOCRACY, AND MINOR THINGS,
TOO, WHICH WERE IMPORTANT TO PEOPLE.
WHERE AM I GOING TO READ MY COMICS?
WHERE AM I GOING TO -- HOW AM I GOING TO DO THE PUZZLE?
WHERE AM I GOING TO READ THE COLUMN THAT I LOVE, YOU KNOW?
AND THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE, LIKE YOU SAID.
THEA P-ED COLUMNS, LETTERS TO THE
EDITOR ARE ALL LOST, AND YOU ARE RIGHT, THERE WAS NO, BACK THEN,
THERE WAS NO INTERNET.
TO TURN TO.
AND SO, IT WAS -- A LOT OF PEOPLE FELT BOY, WHAT AM I GOING
TO DO?
>> MIKE DOBBS, KEITH O'CONNOR, THANKS FOR SHARING MEMORIES WITH
US ABOUT THE OLD TELEGRAM.
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.
>> THANK YOU.