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By Harold McNeil – It remains a wonder to me that I wound up with a more than 35-year career in local print journalism, because that isn’t what I initially set out to do at all.

Despite that, it turns out I had so many unexpected benefactors in local print journalism that, in retrospect, my eventual trajectory was all but assured.

I graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism from Buffalo State College which, I thought, was going to prepare me for a career as a television reporter. That never came to pass, however, because I never figured out how to properly pursue that ambition.

Instead, my first professional job in journalism came two years later in 1984 when I applied for a job as a writer/reporter in local public radio at the old WEBR Newsradio 970 station through a one-year minority apprenticeship program, in which I covered a variety of stories that ran the gamut from human to crime and local politics.

Despite my due diligence, a permanent position never materialized for me at WEBR, and after a year and a half in the program, I decided to go in another direction.

I was so enamored with the thought of a glamorous career in broadcast journalism, that I hadn’t seriously considered the possibility of a job in newspapers at the time until a few months later when I first met the then-managing editor of The Buffalo News, Foster Spencer. He and then-reporter Rod Watson attended a local Black media event that I helped organize.

Spencer and I chatted throughout the evening, and I summoned the nerve to ask for an interview, to which he agreed. Foster actually gave me a mini-tryout in which he assigned me a story to pursue and write. He reviewed it with me at my interview but determined that, while I showed promise, I was not yet ready to take on a position at The News.

“Do your time in the boonies and, in no time, you’ll be ready to work here,” Spencer told me.

I wasn’t discouraged, but I refused to leave Buffalo. Instead, I spent a few months working freelance (with an emphasis on “free”) for The Challenger, a local Black weekly, before I decided I was ready to apply for an opening at Business First.
I didn’t get the position, but Business First editor Jack Connor recommended me to the editor-in-chief of the Niagara Gazette, Mark Francis, who contacted me and offered to interview me for an entry-level reporter job.

Serendipitously, Francis received a telephone call during the middle of my interview. It was from Spencer, who advised Francis to consider hiring me for any future entry-level openings.

I can still hear a shocked Francis saying out loud to Spencer on the phone, “You won’t believe this, but he’s sitting across from me right now.”

I was hired in the fall of 1985, and for the next 3 ½ years worked alongside some fine journalists whom I came to greatly admire, and with whom I continued to work over several decades, including Bruce Andriatch, Sean Kirst, and Toni Ruberto.

It was my then-Gazette colleagues Paul Westmoore and Anne Neville who led me back to The Buffalo News. They both had spouses, Jean Westmoore and John Neville, who worked at The News. I can only assume they put in a good word for me when a position as a suburban beat reporter opened up at The News with the departure of the supremely talented Marc Lacey in the spring of 1989.

Spencer approached me on my first day as a newly minted Buffalo News staff reporter and said simply, “I told you.”

For the next 35 years, I amassed thousands of bylines in the pages of The Buffalo News, covering hard news, features, and even sports news on rare occasions. I’ve covered almost every school board and municipal beat in Western New York.

I’ve covered a couple of high-profile trials from start to finish, as well as participated in team reporting on some major local tragedies, including the Flight #3407 plane crash in Clarence in 2009 and the racist mass shooting on May 14, 2022, at the Tops Markets on Jefferson Avenue.

On the more positive side, I interviewed some national celebrities who I never expected to meet.

I also got to work with colleagues Susan Schulman in 1992 and Deidre Williams in 2004 on two separate, multi-part series that explored local race relations in Erie County, of which I am particularly proud.

It wasn’t the glamorous career in TV news that I had envisioned, but my career in local print journalism was more fulfilling than I could have imagined doing the work that I did and working with all the wonderfully talented journalists with whom I was privileged to work over a career spanning nearly four decades.

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This article is part of the Fall/Winter 2024-25 edition of The Frontier Reporter.

After graduating from St. Bonaventure University, Barbara O’Brien worked at radio stations in Salamanca and Olean for four years before coming to The News in 1984. She did three stints in the Southtowns Bureau over the years, as well as being a general assignment reporter and working evenings for 11 years. Most recently, she covered the Southtowns as well as education, and general assignment stories as they came up. Her reflections:

By Barb O’Brien – I really miss One News Plaza. Every year, a couple days before Thanksgiving week, Scott Street used to be lined with tractor trailers hauling advertisement inserts to be stuffed in the Thursday paper, the all-important edition advancing Black Friday.

You could take the stairs if you wanted, or walk in the production entrance and take the freight elevator to your floor.

The five-story building had a different department on each of the floors. There were two cafeterias, one on the second floor on the Thruway end of the building and the other on the fifth floor, with a great view of the waterfront.

Most people didn’t venture outside their floor. One good thing about moving to Larkinville is we all are in the same space and we get to know folks in other departments.

But let’s not forget the free parking for events at KeyBank Center!

We still had manual typewriters when I started in 1984. Reporters made three copies of each story: the original and two copies (made by placing two pieces of carbon placed between three sheets of paper). Reporters kept one copy and the others went to the city desk. If it was a five-page story, editors glued the five sheets together in one long take, worked their magic on the story, then sent it in a pneumatic tube to the second floor typesetters.

We put -30- at the end of each story so editors would know that was the last sheet of paper and the end of the story.
Computers came to the newsroom in the mid-1980s.

I had a memorable man-, er, woman-on-the-street story that came my way in 1986.

An assistant managing editor sent a note to the city editor, and an assistant city editor sent it to me. (Note: at this time, seven women in Rochester had taken their shirts off in a park to object to a state law allowing men, but not women, to go shirtless in public.)

“Next nice weather weekend day, when parks are full, might send a young woman out to see what Buffalo women think about bare breasts in public parks. Should talk to young and old. If you just talk to women, you can stay clear of the adolescent silliness. They all saw the Rochester goings on on TV, so they’ll know what we’re talking about. Also the park or recreation setting is likely to get the right mindset. Also, I think there’s two questions: What about the law in general and what about you?”

My story appeared July 5, 1986 with the headline “Women Here Opt to Keep Shirts On.”

So next time a weird story appears in The News, cut the reporter a little slack – it could have been an editor’s idea (!).

I remember people telling me not to be nervous meeting the editor, Murray Light, when I went for my interview. I wasn’t nervous until I got the job and walked into that cavernous third floor filled with people pounding on their typewriters.

What have I got myself into, I thought. I will never be good enough to belong here.

Forty years later, I still have some of those feelings. I am in awe of the people I have worked with then and now. I learned something from everyone. I am proud to have worked at The Buffalo News.

And thanks to the Buffalo Newspaper Guild for doing its best to watch out for us.

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This article is part of the Fall/Winter 2024-25 edition of The Frontier Reporter.

By Scott Scanlon – There used to be a monastery in these parts where the monks were required to stay silent, except for two words every 10 years.

A certain monk appeared in the abbot’s office after a decade and was granted permission to speak before the venerable leader.

“Bed hard,” the monk said.

Another 10 years went by and again he appeared before the abbot, who welcomed him to say two more words.

“Food cold,” the monk said.

Another decade passed and the monk again was summoned to the abbot’s office to say two words, now 30 years after he’d arrived.

“I quit,” the monk said.

“I’m not surprised,” the abbot replied. “You’ve been complaining since you got here.”

I heard this joke more than four decades ago from Fat Brat lead guitarist Ken Wilczak. I’ve thought about it quite a few times over the years during conversations with fellow editors who were labeling a reporter, photographer or other staff member as too critical.

It reminded me to take the time to listen, something that became more and more vital as The Buffalo News staff continued to shrink during the last decade.

It’s been my privilege, and lifetime goal, to work at my hometown newspaper – and a blessing to work with all of you.

I joined the staff 20 years ago. My job title has been assistant city editor through those years. I’ve long believed the most important job titles at our workplace have been News staff reporter, business reporter, sports reporter and photographer.

These front-line workers have the best sense about what happens in communities and on beats they cover. Their voices need, and deserve, to be heard.

Steve Watson, Bruce Andriatch, Dan Herbeck and I – members of golfing’s regionally renowned Fearsome Foursome – along with Louie “Tomatoes” Michel and several others have become close friends.

Ed Cuddihy, Bill Flynn, Jerry Goldberg and Howard Smith were among mentors during my work as Niagara County editor. Bill Michelmore, Tom Prohaska, Nancy Fischer, Paul Westmoore, Gail Franklin, Denise Gee and Aaron Besecker helped make me look good during those years.

Former Buffalo Newspaper Guild leaders Jay Bonfatti and Henry Davis also helped inform my approach as a Buffalo News assistant editor.

Bruce, Vince Chiaramonte, Christina Wilemski, Leah Samol and Susan Kelley helped me look good for a decade as WNY Refresh editor.

Barbara O’Brien, Mark Sommer and Ben Tsujimoto did the same during my last 20 months with The News as Quality of Life and Solutions Journalism editor.

Through 20 years, I’ve viewed Barb, Tommy Pro and Margaret Kenny as the unsung heroes of our newsroom.

Ben is among the rising stars with The News, and among so many that Margaret and Bruce can be thankful for going forward.

What’s happening at The News isn’t new.

I’ve worried about losing my job since 1996, when then-Syracuse Newspapers Publisher Stephen A. Rogers announced the Post-Standard and Herald Journal – competing morning and afternoon papers – would combine their staffs.

I got to The News in 2004, three or so years before Rogers announced 100 jobs in the Syracuse newsroom would be cut, though a small number of workers could reapply for their positions at half the salary.

Several announcements came during the following years that remaining staff would pay higher and higher percentages of health and dental insurance that for decades were provided free.

I’m told Margaret and Bruce have made it a greater priority going forward to get staff input as The Buffalo News forges new paths. I hope it stays that way.

I encourage Guild members to speak their truths to them and other bosses – even if it brings a reputation or rebuke – with the faith that your words may result in meaningful change at The News or wherever you go from here.

I don’t recommend you save two words of constructive criticism for every 10 years of service. I also advise against making it a daily or weekly practice. But with Lee Enterprises at the helm, those still working at The News would do well to say something when working conditions reach the nearly unbearable.

Journalism provides a significant window on our communities and the world. We’ve all been better for it – and have had the blessing of connecting our readers and region in more meaningful ways.

Many make more money than we have. Many don’t. I hope all of us can agree that much of the time we’ve spent in the profession has been priceless.

No workplace is perfect, though I suspect craft breweries may come close.

I count my blessings for a 38-year career that included reporting, writing and editing honors for investigative and breaking news, business – and even sports. Most of my stories focused on everyday people, or wrongs that needed to be addressed. Sometimes they were. Other times, they were not.

A strong pool of story ideas, sources, resources and newsroom supporters buttressed my success.
Times have changed. Newsrooms across the country continue to shrink. But I encourage you to look at what is happening nationwide as a transition that in many cases can be navigated with hard work, an open mind, mentors and good fortune – but, most importantly, strong relationships with colleagues that love journalism and share a healthy skepticism, but not cynicism, over challenging times that come your way.

As I step into semi-retirement – at least – I continue to be most grateful for my faith and family, which serve as the foundation for my meaningful life, regardless of what happens at work.

I so love and appreciate my wife, Karen, our four daughters, their partners and our three grandchildren.

As I continue to count my blessings, I’ll sleep in – even later – work out at the YMCA, golf more and enjoy hanging out with friends and family. I’ll keep on traveling. And don’t be surprised if you see me doing some volunteer work or serving customers in a taproom.

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This article is part of the Fall/Winter 2024-25 edition of The Frontier Reporter.