The end of an era for press operators at the Daily Press

Sep 27, 2023

Inside the pressroom of the Daily Press, the noise can be deafening from the rumble of the towering machinery and the clatter of thousands of copies of the newspaper moving along the conveyor belt.

But after Sunday night, those sounds will be silenced. The newspaper will run its presses for the final time and shift its printing operation to the Richmond area.

Readers who open their newspaper in the morning won't see a difference. But the press operators who have provided this important link between the newsroom and readers will witness the end of an era.

"Somehow over time, the idea of printing the newspaper seemed to get intertwined with the ethos of who we were," said Daily Press President and Publisher Digby Solomon. "It's sad. You hate to see it go. And it's painful, because you hate to see people lose their jobs."

Those sentiments were echoed by the men who work there. Some are planning to retire, while others are finding other printing jobs or looking for new ways to use their skills.

Family ties

Like other trades, working in a pressroom is often a generational thing. Many of the operators found their way to the Daily Press because they had family who worked there.

"My brother-in-law was a press man, and his dad was a press man," said Wayne Pollard, 55, who came to work at the Daily Press in 1974 at age 17. "My father-in-law was the mailroom supervisor. I’ve had a lot of family here."

That was also true of Jake Swall, now retired, who worked at the Daily Press from 1968 to 2008. "I graduated high school in June 1968, and college just wasn't for me," he said. "My dad worked here."

"My brother-in-law worked here," echoed daytime team leader Bruce Miller, 58, who was hired in 1978. "I started as a truck driver, did that for two and a half years, then worked as a machinist for two and a half years" before becoming a press operator.

Over the years, these men found another family in the co-workers they depended upon day after day.

"When I first came to work here, it was the greatest bunch of people," said Swall. "Everyone was just nice. You were always a team."

Beginning in 1958, Kenny Leffel worked down the street at the Southern Color Print Corp. plant owned by the Daily Press, which printed the Sunday comics for many of the newspapers up and down the East Coast. He moved over to the main press room in 1972 before retiring in 1999.

"I don't miss the job because I stay busy anyway," said Leffel, now 73. "I definitely miss the friends."

Part of the camaraderie was born out of the fact that, despite having different jobs to do, the operators all depended upon each other to get the paper out on time.

"This is a team effort," said Miller. "Each person has an assigned job, and they all have to work together."

Learning a trade

Newly-hired workers went through a time-honored apprenticeship program initially administered through the printing and pressmen's union. During the four-year apprenticeship, they learned the skills required to operate the press.

"You worked during the daytime and you got lessons in the mail," Swall recalled.

Apprentices began on the day shift, then usually moved to the night shift. The day shift printed The Times-Herald, the company's afternoon newspaper until that paper was discontinued in 1991, as well as supermarket inserts and other commercial jobs. The night shift ran from about 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and printed the Daily Press.

"Everybody would walk into the room at 10 p.m. and the boss would give them their assignments," Pollard said.

All of the team members worked together to web — or weave — the paper onto the press, said dayside press operations manager Bill Boese. Beyond that, there are three main job functions that can be loosely described as: working the reel room, where the giant rolls of paper are moved about and attached to the press; working the color, which means controlling the amount of ink and water and regulating the color; and working the folder, which is the part of the press that folds the pages, cuts the paper into individual newspapers and delivers them to the conveyor belt.

"People usually start in the reel room, then come upstairs and learn how to adjust the ink," said Boese. "Then they work on the folder."

Everyone performed all of the job functions, though most press operators profess to liking one duty better than others.

"The reel room was my favorite," said Leffel. "But I also enjoyed mixing the ink. I liked the mechanical part of it."

"I enjoy working the color, it's a challenge, but there's nothing that I don't like," said Miller. "You learn something new every day."

Apprentices often got the weekend and holiday shifts, but working the night shift was a way of life for many press operators.

"It's tough work. You work holidays and weekends," said Miller. "When the kids are young, you do without a lot of sleep."

"Working nights got old once I started to have a family," said Swall. But "I always thought, ‘I have a job.’ I had an uncle in the shipyard who got laid off. I may not make the best money, but I thought I’d never get laid off. We always thought that people will always take the paper."

Pollard worked on the day shift for the first six months then moved to the night shift where he remained for 16 years. He rose through the ranks to become night foreman and eventually operations manager in charge of the entire press. When things went wrong, it often meant late-night phone calls requiring trips back to the plant.

"It was almost bad luck to go on vacation to Nag's Head," he said. "Because something would happen to the press and I’d have to drive back here."

In the years before the offset press was installed in a new building in 1983, the press room was located in the rear of the main Daily Press building. There, 50-pound lead plates were used in printing, unlike the aluminum plates used today.

"Back then you did everything," recalled Leffel. "You had to carry the heavy plates and plate up the press. Each day it was different. We did all the cleaning, too."

Advances in technology, such as a digital inking system, have made the work easier, said Boese. It has also meant that fewer operators are needed to run the press.

Hard work and dangers

Working in the pressroom had its dangerous side as well. Operators had to be constantly vigilant working around whirring machinery and careful walking in areas where oil could make passageways slick.

"A common thing was fingers getting nipped off," Boese said. "But they’ve added a lot of guards on the machines to make it safer. We haven't had a major accident in a long time."

"You still have to remember where you’re at," said Miller. "You could lose an arm or a finger in a second."

Leffel also remembered it was anything but a desk job.

"It was physical work, but I was in pretty good shape," he said. "I unloaded quite a few rolls of paper. The only danger was when the presses were running, you had to keep your hands out of the way."

Thanks to the team

Though technology has partially brought on the shutting down of the press, the contribution of these men and women won't soon be forgotten.

"We have some of the most capable and talented press operators in the industry. There is nothing they can't do," said Solomon. "They have a craft and they take a lot of pride in it. Even with the idea of losing their jobs, they were concerned with getting the paper out every night. They’re an important part of the team."

Even retirees like Leffel can't help but be affected by what is happening.

"I hate the fact that this tradition is going away," said Leffel. "I can't imagine it. They’ll still have (the paper) coming here, but it won't be the same."

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