StemCell Therapy

A couple of things stood out last week when Kevin led our group through the entire process of receiving the pages from the editorial staff to the moments when it gets bundled up and heads out the door to carriers.

When Bonnie Banas arrived recently for her final meeting with our Reader Advisory Board, she did a little show and tell.

Banas, who lives in Canton, has a special history with The Canton Repository. She's not only a longtime subscriber to our print product, she also starred in a stage play that detailed the paper's 200 year history. Called "The Bicentennial Project," it featured several actors who each played numerous roles that depicted events covered by the Rep. One of Banas' roles was as Ida Saxton McKinley. Mrs. McKinley was the granddaughter of John Saxton, who was the founder and first publisher of The Canton Repository, which at the time of its birth on March 30, 1815, was called The Ohio Repository.

Banas showed me a book that the Rep had published Aug. 1, 1953. It showed off the different departments within the building, including advertising, classifieds, circulation, editorial and the press. As we paged through the pages showing off the old press, she said her neighbor had loaned her the book. He was a former pressman for the paper, and told her he worked in the days of "hot type," when the words on the newspaper pages were set by hand.

I told her to be sure to compare the photos in the book with what she was about to see during a tour of our press and production facilities. The tour always takes place during the last meeting for each Advisory Board. The next group is set to kick off at the end of August, and will run through January.

Each tour is guided by a guy who easily takes a spot among the best tour guides or docents I've ever followed around. Kevin Ackerman is GateHouse Ohio's vice president of operations. In an age when titles don't come close to telling the job someone actually performs, I will need to list just some of Kevin's reponsibilities. He manages the press operations in Canton and at The Times Reporter in New Philadelphia; the production facilities, where the ads are inserted into the paper; the composing facilities, where each day's paper is output and many ads are designed; and, the buildings where we work. Much like most workers these days, there are at least 40 other jobs on his plate, too.

Kevin's given this tour to five Advisory Board groups so far, and every one is a little different than the others. I'm lucky, because I've taken in all the tours and learned so much.

A couple of things stood out last week when Kevin led our group through the entire process of receiving the pages from the editorial staff to the moments when it gets bundled up and heads out the door to carriers.

One of our group members asked what type of paper is used for our newsprint. Great question. I've been in this business for 25 years, and have been reading papers for about 20 years longer than that, and I never thought to ask that question!

Spruce.

Our paper comes from Canada, as most newsprint used in the United States does. Kevin said that it's grown on enormous forests that operate a rotation process. Once trees are cut for production of paper, more trees are planted and grown. It's a constant process.

Kevin is one of the hardest working guys I've met. He's here days, nights, weekends, early mornings and late at night. Turns out, the second thing I learned the other day, he learned that work ethic at a young age.

A native of East Canton, Kevin headed off to college at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. He said he is very much a small-town guy, and because the Art Institute is in the city, he wasn't able to get comfortable. He called his dad a little bit into his first year and told him that he was coming home. He didn't quit, though.

No, Kevin drove every day to Pittsburgh for his classes, then headed home to East Canton. After a few years, he graduated, never missing a day of classes along the way. Oh, and he also worked during those days at the Rep in the circulation department.

Impressive.

Earlier, I mentioned Bonnie's lesson in how the method of printing the newspaper has changed. I think, too, about how Kevin's jobs have changed over that time.

All of our tasks have shifted so much over time. Most of the technical lessons I learned in school have become obsolete over my 25 years, while the newsgathering rules such as fairness and fact-checking are more important than ever. "M" and "W" are always going to be the widest letters in the alphabet, while "I" will always be the skinniest. We no longer use wax to affix our stories to pages that get photographed by an enormous camera before it heads off to about three other steps before it reaches the press.

Efficiency has helped to speed up our ability to get the news out there for our readers, and experienced staff members, like Kevin Ackerman, will always be the backbone of our product.

The rest is here:
Laura Kessel: Press tour a lesson in how longevity brings efficiency - Canton Repository

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