Express IT manager, local business owner recall time in the 140-year-old newspaper’s pressroom | News, Sports, Jobs

PHOTO PROVIDED Express IT Manager Chuck Smith is seen reading through an edition of The Express in the pressroom at the newspaper’s facility sometime in the 1980s.

(Editor’s Note: As The Express celebrates its 140th year, we continue to highlight its staff.)

LOCK HAVEN — For a large portion of its lifetime, The Express was under the purview of the O’Reilly Family. In 1975, near its 100th anniversary, the paper was purchased by international company, Thomson Newspapers.

Prior to a full take-over, Thomson upgraded the newspaper’s facilities at 9 W. Main St. This included a state-of-the-art composing room (located behind its Editorial room on the second floor) and a brand new Goss Community Press .

Chuck Smith, who today serves as The Express’s IT Manager, was one of the first employees to ever use the press.

Smith explained the press had eight total units that the paper would run through, printing on both sides. Up until Thomson sold the paper to Ogden News in 1996, color was used sparingly, he said.

EXPRESS ARCHIVES Express Publisher Charlie Ryan fires up the facility’s new Goss Community Press for a test run in June 1975. Behind Ryan, checking on one of the press’s units, is Randy Reese. Reese started working at The Express in May of that year, and would continue to do so for another 15 before leaving to expand his own business.

Smith, a 1975 graduate of Williamsport High School, started on June 30, 1975, the first day the press would be put to work. Prior to Thomson purchasing the paper and installation of the press, the daily was printed at State College.

At the time, The Express was an afternoon paper. Smith said each edition would go to print at 11:30 am each day. At the time, Publisher Charlie Ryan was adamant that deadline be firmly held.

“Charlie wanted that press running at 11:30 because at noon, people would be out waiting for their paper,” Smith said.

The Lock Haven News Agency, located a few store fronts from the Garden Building, would be the first delivery. According to Smith, a large amount of individuals on their lunch break would go to the News Agency and purchase The Express.

“If the papers weren’t there at noon, we’d lose out on sales. And Charlie didn’t like that,” Smith said.

KAREN KENNEDY/FOR THE EXPRESS Express IT Manager, Chuck Smith is pictured.

Smith was one of two pressmen to operate the press starting in 1975. The other was Jersey Shore High School graduate Randy Reese.

Reese spent 15 years in the pressroom at The Express before his side business would grow into Reese’s Print Shop.

Reese said he actually started working on the paper in May of 1975, coming after school to help with the completion of the press. He said the man who was sent to put it together, often left him to put the pieces together after showing him how to do it.

“I got a little upset about that. But, it meant I knew that press in and out,” he said.

Although he left in 1990 to pursue another path, Reese’s time at The Express is something he holds dear. In his office at Reese’s Print Shop, the plate from the first edition printed through the new press, is framed and displayed prominently.

“I have a lot of great memories from there. Chuck and I were great friends,” he said.

On Oct. 7, 2004, when the press ran one final time, Reese was there to witness it.

“I didn’t know who the pressmen were at the time, they didn’t know me. I just stood there getting a little emotional as the final run went through,” he said.

Reese said he mentioned to one of the workers that he was a pressman the day the first run went through and even had the plate hanging in his office. He was handed a paper right off the press.

“Now you have a copy of the last,” the man said.

While Reese left The Express, Smith never did.

He continued as a pressman, being promoted to production manager in 1994. In 1996, after the company was purchased by Ogden Newspapers, he said things became more technologically advanced.

“Ogden brought in a lot of new computers and equipment. They started having me run wires,” he said.

From there, Smith took an interest in the IT aspect of things. In 1999, he began to work between The Express and the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, also owned by Ogden — which he still does today.

Although he isn’t involved with the press anymore, Smith said he really enjoyed the work.

“I liked being a pressman,” he said. “But I also like the other stuff.”

When the press first fired up, it was just Smith and Reese. One would prepare the plates on the second floor, working with the composing room who prepared content from the Editorial department and create advertisements.

The other would be placing rolls of paper on the press — those were extremely heavy, he said — and dump the ink into the machine.

At press time, as the large machine was wiring and papers were coming off one after another, members of the mailroom would grab them and get them stacked and ready. Early on, Smith said inserts weren’t common. If they were, the mailroom would stuff the inserts prior to getting them prepared for deliver.

The Express continued to be an afternoon paper until 1996, switching to a night time press start instead and delivering paper’s in the morning. That has remained the same since.

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