Register-Guard’s press officers reflect on the developing natural print newspapers
The second generation of the press, Aric Frydendall, has seen the many changes in the newspaper industry over the past 40 years.
He grew up in business. His father, Marion “Friday” Frydendall, was a legendary press representative for The Register-Guard newspaper from 1966 and served for 39 years. Eventually he became a foreman in the pressroom and passed the trade on to his son. The elder Frydendall retired a few years ago and continues to live in Eugene.
The younger Frydendall recalled his 34-year career at The Register-Guard during a press run for one of the final issues of the paper to be printed in Eugene. The last pages will be slashed by the press on Sunday as Gannett, the newspaper’s owner since a merger with Gatehouse Media in 2020, shifted printing and packaging operations to Columbian Publishing Co. in Vancouver, Washington.
Due to the COVID-19 protocols, reporters, editors and sales reps continue to work in Lane County producing stories and delivering the newspaper to subscribers in the area.
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Frydendall worked his way up from the bottom, keeping jobs on the loading dock and doing all the “nasty jobs” as he climbed the ranks. Over the years, he became the chief mechanic and the guy who called when something broke.
Overall, the old press “held together pretty well,” he said, but finding parts, especially for the electronic components, has become increasingly difficult in recent years.
When plate technician Eric Krupicka started working part-time at The Register-Guard in 1980, there were still a few Linotype operators on the crew. The Rube Goldberg-like machine was a hot metal typesetting system that cast metal blocks for printing the newspapers from the late 19th century through the 1970s and 1980s.
The Register-Guard was an afternoon newspaper at the time. The Harris press – one of only two ever built – was visible through glass windows on the side of the Register Guard building in downtown Eugene. People could watch the press run off the sidewalk as they strolled down the high street.
Krupicka recalls a few moments when the press was stopped, including when President Ronald Reagan was shot.
“It happened on the east coast and it was still morning for us so the editors stopped to rewrite the paper and get the news out to customers,” he said. The Baker family, who owned the paper at the time, switched to the morning publication in 1983.
Previous reporting:The Register Guard relocates print production to Vancouver, Washington
Computers and the Internet Age
In 1994, the Bakers bought a new press, a Mitsubishi Lithopia offset press, valued at $ 14 million, and built a building to house it at 3500 Chad Drive in Eugene. The newsroom and other employees moved there in 1998 to an expanded SummerOaks Center.
Change is the only constant in an industry that has faced many challenges in the internet age.
Before the technology of computerized pagination advanced, the process of printing the paper was very different and more laborious.
“The pages first went to a paper pasteup and then a camera took a full-size negative from it and then that contact was printed on a plate that was coated with silver emulsion,” Krupicka said. “Now the pages are output directly to a polymer emulsion plate after being remotely generated.”
Today he’s doing a job that employed a dozen or more people 20 years ago.
“Unfortunately, the income is simply no longer there,” said Krupicka when he saw printing plates running through one of two large machines near the pressroom last week. “I believe newspapers will continue to exist in small towns, just not as much as they used to be.”
I still want to hold it in our hands.
While a crew of three keeps an eye on the controls of the running press on the second floor, press representative Richard Pickle is busy loading new rolls of newspaper from the lower floor.
Pickle began his career at the Los Angeles Times in 1978, working for newspapers in San Diego, Palm Springs, and Seattle before ending up in Eugene three years ago.
“This will be my last stop,” he said. “Newspaper printing worth 43 years. You are tired? I’ve retired, ”said Pickle as he brought a 1,800-pound roll of newsprint to the base of the five-story press.
Back at the control panel, Frydendall and his crew finish a press run for the day. He flicks a series of switches as the papers roll off the conveyor belt slowly creep. A call in the production room next door confirms that enough papers have arrived for distribution. The huge rollers and gears of the press come to a standstill.
As he flips through the latest issue of The Register-Guard, Frydendall reflects on the extent of the changes he has seen. “It’s all online,” he said, “but some of us still like the pressure, we want to be able to pick it up and read it and be able to hold it in our hands.”
“It’s hard,” his voice understood the words. “It’s what we did, and now it’s all going away.”
Contact the photographer Chris Pietsch at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @ChrisPietsch and Instagram @chrispietsch. Support local journalism and subscribe for full access.