Category: default || By jt3y

It's probably too late by the time you read this, but Thursday's edition of The Daily News is a keeper because of the tabloid inside that celebrates the paper's 120th anniversary. It features historic front pages, old comic strips, and capsule bios of some of the paper's more colorful characters, including legendary art director John "Dink" Ulm, sports writer Merrill Granger, columnist M.F. Bowes, society editor Eleanor Kratzer, photographer Irv Saylor, and reporter Red McCurdy.

I got the last copy that the dairy store near my home had, so either people really wanted that tab, or else they were desperate to see what "Nancy" was up to. (I hope it's not the latter.) The News usually has back issues available at street price, if you stop in the lobby during business hours.

It's worth remembering that the News was once much more of a regional paper than it is now; but of course, Our Fair City was once much more of a regional power than it is now. Frankly, I'd like to see both the News and Our Fair City shake off a little of their self-doubt and behave with more of the swagger that characterized both from the teens through the '50s. The whole Mon-Yough area would be better off for it. During my year at the News (which did the paper no appreciable harm, so far as I can tell), the comment that made me cringe was when a former editor told me that there was no sense trying to compete with the Pittsburgh papers, because "we're only The Daily News."

Well, good grief, why don't we turn out the lights and go home? I thought. And I later said it to that editor --- which did not endear me, I fear. (I have that effect on bosses.)

It's hard not to argue that journalism and newspapers have improved, in general, since the 1950s. But as has been stated in this space before, many newspapers have also lost a sense of their communities, and by sanding off the rough edges of their reporters and editors in the name of "professionalism" and "diversity," they've also drained the color out of their columns --- thus losing a lot of what made them interesting to read.

All of the caterwauling, navel-gazing and back-seat driving done by the dozens of self-appointed journalism experts, from the Poynter Institute to partisan bodies like the Media Research Center and FAIR, hasn't really improved the products, as best as I can tell. Instead, it's only scared most newspapers into being timid, lowest-common denominator distributors of pre-digested pabulum.

However: In fairness to the News, it is showing more spunk and vigor in the last few years than I've seen it display since I first was able to read. Certainly there's more local content, and the editorial page is staking out actual positions on topics. Good on them, and I wish 'em another 120 years. I buy a News every day, and if you live in the Mon-Yough area, you should, too.

And go get a copy of Thursday's paper, if you can find it. It's worth it, if only to read a 1936 "Nancy" and see that "Nancy" wasn't any funnier then than it is now.

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Still looking for your favorite Mon-Yough valley place or attraction. Send 'em to me at jt3y at dementia dot o-r-g. Best one received before November 1 will earn the submitter one free item from the Tube City Online store.

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Gen Lucidi of the Woodland Hills Progress has a neat interview and profile this week of Chuck Blasko and The Vogues that's worth reading. I sent it to a family member of one of the Vogues, who tells me it's good, though there are a few inaccuracies. For instance, "Five O'Clock World" was featured in the movie "Good Morning, Vietnam," not "Good Morning, America." (Although wouldn't it be interesting to see Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer singing "Five O'Clock World"?)

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As a occasional pinball player (a bad one), and someone who used to repair pinball machines, this story by Bob Batz Jr. in the Post-Gazette is disheartening:

The Professional Amateur Pinball Association briefly boasted a collection of 232 pinball machines, including a Blackwater 100, a motocross game of "mud, sweat and tears." That theme now describes PAPA's newly opened headquarters in Scott, just across Chartiers Creek from Carnegie.

Five feet of flood water rose over the flippers of the "Fish Tales" and other machines, destroying every one. It happened one week after renovations were rushed so the building could host more than 300 people for the PAPA 7 World Pinball Championships, Sept. 9-12.

More information at the Professional Amateur Pinball Association Web site. PAPA is not accepting donations of any kind, and is encouraging people to donate instead to registered charities (which I think is fairly noble of them). However, if they decide to rebuild, they may accept donations of pinball parts or machines. Watch their Web site for details.

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To Do This Weekend: Pittsburgh Antique Radio Society holds its flea market, membership meeting and auction from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday at the Brentwood Presbyterian Church, 3725 Brownsville Road. Call Bonnie at (412) 481-1563.