How I got into newspapering.

Someone asked why and how I became a journalist. Really, I don’t know that I’m a journalist. I went into newspapering. I never took a journalism course. In college or any place. I had a double major. In English. In history. But as long as I can remember, I was newspapering. I asked for a typewriter for Christmas, when I was 12, and in the 6th grade. Because I wanted to write. And publish a newspaper. The Riverlawn Gazette. I lived on Riverlawn Avenue in Watertown, Wisconsin. So you might call it a neighborhood newspaper. I wrote about events in the neighborhood. When we kids got together for a softball game down the road in Lagoon Park, I’d write about the game. Remember once when Mrs. Rickert, who lived next to the park, came over and played with us. And hit a homerun to win the game. And I played her up big. As the game’s hero. She became famous in the neighborhood for her exploit. She saved the story. And reminisced about it years later. If she’s still living, she’s probably in her 90s. Maybe 100. And has the clipping tucked away in a scrap book. Her moment of glory. I guess I liked to glorify things in those days. Still do, to some extent. Anyway, I sold the newspaper. For a penny a copy. Went around the neighborhood and personally delivered to the subscribers homes. Once a week. Oh, so many of the subscribers overpaid, and gave me a quarter. Maybe occasionally I got a dollar. That was big money in 1947 and 1948. The newspaper got written up in the local Watertown Daily Times. Initially, I printed the paper in an archaic way. On a hectograph. A gelatin in a pan. In which I put the typed carbon of the newspaper on the gelatin, and imprint on the gelatin. And then I would roll paper over that imprint. And alas! I had a copy. Maybe I made 20 or 30 copies from that – before the print faded from the gelatin. Later, a local businessman allowed me to use his mimeograph machine. And I put the newspaper on a typed stencil, and the Gazette flourished. Circulation skyrocketed. Maybe to 100. And I recruited other neighborhood kids to help me put out the newspaper. Maybe I even had a circulation manager. Can’t remember for sure. And the idea was to take the proceeds/profits from the paper and have a staff party. But chances are, I absconded with everything. Figuring I did 99 percent of the work. I even taught myself how to type. With two fingers. Still type that way today. I was once timed at 80 words a minute. With two fingers. I can still put on quite a typing show. Impressing people with my two-finger speed. Well, anyway, that’s how I got started. There were many adventures along the way. And I’m still having ‘em. Maybe I’ll tell more later. --Jim Broede