Last Friday the The Daily Reflector marked its 125th anniversary, and today we begin a series of Sunday sections looking back — and ahead — as we consider the milestones we have passed as a newspaper and community.
We've had a fair share of milestones since I came here in 1990. Not long after I first sat in the editor's chair we began studying electronic transmission of Associated Press wire photos — how will it work, what will it change. I also remember purchasing our first large film-processing machine. That was in 1990 and 1991.
It seems that a lot of the time in those years, though, was spent planning for "the cycle change." In August 1991 The Daily Reflector, up to then an afternoon paper, began publishing in the morning. That meant we had to rearrange a lot of biological clocks in the newsroom, not to mention job assignments and work flows.
We also were deciding then about a new editorial processing system. I remember accompanying then production chief Tim Jones to Atlanta to watch demonstrations of the different types of computer-driven systems available. After much pondering we decided on the system we still use today in the newsroom — although it's changed a lot since those days.
And then there was the Internet. I had a strange feeling when I first heard the words, World Wide Web. Was I dreaming this?
We visited with early proponents and developers of Internet networks and systems in Raleigh and considered the future and what it was going to be and how we might deal with it.
Many of those questions were answered after perhaps the biggest change of all during my years occurred late in 1995. That was when the announcement came about The Daily Reflector's sale to Cox Newspapers Inc. I really did not know what to expect at first, but my anxiety left as we met our new colleagues.
First among them for me was then Cox editor-in-chief, the late Arnold Rosenfeld. He met with me in my Cotanche Street office the day the announcement to the staff was made, immediately reassuring me that he was there to help, not take over.
The paper's ownership change took place officially on Jan. 1, 1996. In my notebook for Jan. 4 that year I have an entry that simply says: "What do we need? Call Arnold R." That really described and still describes our corporate relationship.
Arnold Rosenfeld died some years later after suffering long with cancer, but my memory of him will always be accompanied by the gratitude of one who found a gracious mentor of the highest order when needed the most.
Since then we have moved to a new building and developed Reflector.com. We have suffered through Hurricane Floyd and September 11, 2001 — missing a publication date with the former and publishing our first "extra" edition since World War II with the latter.
We no longer take pictures with film and our printing plates are made directly from the computer.
We've reported our way through crisis and storm, contention and war, sadness and denial; but with eyes fixed on the horizon and our focus still close to home.
We have done this with a steady stream of committed young journalists (and some not so young), many of whom have moved on to fine careers nationwide.
But many remain, sharing the fruits of a vibrant community and the support of a company intent upon providing high quality community journalism.
In that I am indebted to The Daily Reflector — for providing me and my colleagues the sense of purpose that accompanies serving the public interest, something this newspaper's founders understood so well 125 years ago.
Al Clark is executive editor of The Daily Reflector. Tell him what you think at 252-329-9560 or at aclark@coxnc.com.
