The Charlotte News from Charlotte, North Carolina • 1

IT4 An IT n'ITTE IT1u7TIS NRJ' 1FiIE 254 LAST EDITION Charlotte North Carolina Novomber 1 1985 A LAST EDITION ISEIrS0 a lob 0 i 1 ilialill to! If-mot 4-11( f't: i AiA 407' 4 wi ii 1 0 fp 0 1-1 A 1 i 'r: E---- 'ir 5:: i' 1 4 1 ''fi 44 4 :7 1 1 7'" i I At fir oi0: 4 a 54: 7::: ::1 1i 4 4 '''''''''''''111 Arki4s4L') :1000:::::: 0 'mei I i 't tk 1 li VA' 'ii 4 Aq A to V4 1 410 I 1'444t iU 0 tmiA Si64 0 ri 0 0 le ma 4 rillre'N'' 17111 II VOn- El SI I lil bad IQ --4'---7i VI V1 144 I 1 1 I "o'f': i- :7 i 'o ii 2: 't l' i i''' l'''' l's'' l' i i 4- "'U 'i'' 'i i' 1 Ammo' 1 I i'i 4 4-iloflirr111 4:4 )1 1 -g 'qi'i 6 1 l': pi k'g':" ::1 ttzt 1I I 1 I rr wot ly 111 Kcl Ss I 11 1 ci 4 tt -t'i! I 7 'ty1 '-i--1: 7 't 7-4 446 I 7' A 1 i 1 I 1 i ii i 1-11 1 1 1 A lIrqu 46--- 1'' '1 0 '1 rli 4 4 i i 1 ''-'4fil 4 4 it: 7s1t i-7i i If it 1 1 A LA ::4 -7 7 I I 1 i 1 1 4 1 ik- 41 A (' I 4'''': k' i -'''''--ili74'''- ssr r7 (-x -10 11 4e 0 46 ti 4 I ''1 'V :74 :1 I i 1 'i 4 IV' 5 4 i i te 07 41::: 7:: 44 4 tc 4: 4: 7 5 SI 4' E'' I 1 --72 11 Ait i l' -1- v'7i''' 1 'e1-Ti'- lIel i i I i 1 By JOHN VAUGHAN STAFF WRITER The Charlotte News once the largest after- noon daily in the Carolinas and for many decades one of the South's best newspapers ceases publication with this edition A victim of social changes and economic I forces beyond the control of its publishers and marketing strategists The News passed into history shortly after 2 pm today after almost 97 years with a final press run of 67003 copies It was the largest press run in a decade or more but 18000 of those copies will go to souvenir collectors and former employees not to subscribers At its death The News had a circulation of only 34700 half that of its peak period in 1972 The News was loved but it wasn't loved by enough people to survive "It's a sad day it really is" said Gene Williams vice president for marketing and sales for The News and The Charlotte Observer "A lot of people will tell you The News was the better of the two papers But as good as it was not enough people supported it Circulation and advertising volume make a paper profitable You can have the best paper in the world but if it's not churning up circulation and advertising it's a lost cause The News for much of its life was known in this town as the underdog newspaper And that was its psychology the way it saw itself It embraced the role with gusto making the best of it Its staff spent many years in a newsroom at Church and 4th streets where office furniture was so scarce that some reporters worked three to a desk Until 1959 when Knight Newspapers bought the paper and moved it to Stonewall and Tryon The News lived with a windowless unair-conditioned pressroom and dilapidated presses "There was never enough money at The Charlotte News from Day 1 one of its opera- ton recalls Emery Wister who covered 1 entertainment federal court and the business beat for The News for 35 years until his 'ii retirement in 1979 407 "Lack of money was the bane of our existence In the Depression the pay was terrible working conditions were always less -11 than perfect and some of the equipment was I worn out When it was bought by the 71'1124 Knights the press was ready to blow at any ci' minute We were in terrible shape then" Even in later years reporters were some- times told to limit long-distance calls on stories because of budget considerations 1 After 1974 The News staff was larger than 1 that of many papers with similar circulation But its commitment to beat The Observer in local coverage and to try to hold its own in other areas resulted in some grueling work I schedules Where Observer reporters might By JOHN VAUGHAN STAFF WRITER The Charlotte News once the largest after- noon daily in the Carolinas and for many decades one of the South's best newspapers ceases publication with this edition A victim of social changes and economic I forces beyond the control of its publishers and marketing strategists The News passed into history shortly after 2 pm today after almost 97 years with a final press run of 67003 copies It was the largest press run in a decade or more but 18000 of those copies will go to souvenir collectors and former employees not to subscribers At its death The News had a circulation of only 34700 half that of its peak period in 1972 The News was loved but it wasn't loved by enough people to survive "It's a sad day it really is" said Gene Williams vice president for marketing and sales for The News and The Charlotte Ob- server "A lot of people will tell you The News was the better of the two papers But as good as it was not enough people supported it Circulation and advertising volume make a paper profitable You can have the best paper in the world but if it's not churning up circulation and advertising it's a lost cause The News for much of its life was known in this town as the underdog newspaper And that was its psychology the way it saw itself It embraced the role with gusto making the best of it Its staff spent many years in a newsroom at Church and 4th streets where office furniture was so scarce that some reporters worked three to a desk Until 1959 when Knight Newspapers bought the paper and moved it to Stonewall and Tryon The News lied with a indowless unair conditioned pressroom and w- dilapidated presses "There was never enough money at The terandwthhoe business Charlotte News from Day 1 one of its opera- tion recalls Eed meerr coered 1 entertainment federal court Y1 cWis ertain for The News for 35 years until his beat 444 retirement in 1979 1' "Lack of money was the bane of our exis- eeeefl tence In the Depression the pay was terrible working conditions were always less 4 I than perfect and some of the equipment was '4 worn out When it was bought by the Jz minute wtheewperreessinwtaesrrriebaledyshtaopbelothwena! any Even in later years reporters were some- times told to limit long-distance calls on that of many papers with similar circulation stoArifetserble9ca7u4sTe hoef Nbuewdgaetstcaoffnswidaearalatriognesr than 1 But its commitment to beat The Observer in local co verage and to try to hold its own in thale crone sp Ortleilinet lirr)rip Continued on Page 7A Col INSIDE Dear Charlotte News Readers: A sad column? No let's toast good times Ai criti imn 9 gram logs a greatly enlarged and more readable prime-time viewing chart Best Bets and more room for Jeff Borden's TVRadio column Business 14-15A Classified 5-19C Comics 20-21C Editorial 12-13A Green Section 1-32E Home 1-38 Movies 4-5B Obituaries Religion 2-3C Sports 1-6D Weather 2A Your News 4C Out and about WITH ALLEN NORWOOD Comics and features that appeared in The News will now move to The Observer's features pages Comics include Family Circus Bloom County Hagar the Horrible Dennis The Menace Blondie Mary Worth Rex Morgan and Marvin Features include Edie Low's food articles Ross Rhoads Dennis Sodomka's After Five Column and the Chuckle Allen Norwood The News's people-oriented columnist will begin writing for The Observer five days a week There's a lot of news and a lot of The News in The Charlotte Observer We look forward to bringing you an improved and expanded Observer beginning tomorrow Nov 2 Evening prayer Dear Heavenly Father I am thankful for the Statue of Liberty Christie Kinney 9 In death there is a rebirth of the spirit a reunification of family The final edition of The Charlotte News is an occasion for mourning In this observance today within these pages among our readers we mark the passage of The News and the extension of life in the pages of The Char- lotto Observer Beginning tomorrow Nov 2 a new and expanded Observer will be published drawing on its own strengths and those ot The News to attempt to do a better job for you the reader Her are some of the most important parts of The Observer's improvements: The sports section will be expanded by almost seven full pages a week News sports columnist Tom Sorensen will join another former News columnist Ron Green on The Observer's sports pages National sports news will be improved extensively The Viewpoint page will be new home to the best of The News's columnists Tom Bradbury joins The Observer as associate editor writing two columns a week along with editorials Syndicated columnists moving over will include George Will Ed Yoder Ellen Goodman Georgie Anne Geyer Joseph Sobran and former News cartoonist Bob Gorre II The daily TV page will be sharply expanded to provide more detailed pro This is the final clay for The Charlotte News But this is not going to be a solemn teary final column If that's what you were expecting well sorry Let's call this a wake and let's toast the good times Oh the good times SHAMA SKAGSETH took a trip down east almost four years ago when this column was spanking new Nearly everything went wrong She couldn't rent a car because her license had expired then she got a license then got a car then got caught in a flood and wreck Sharon met BOB HEINZ on a cruise ship fell in love during a whirlwind romance moved to California and got married and I still get calls that start out this way: "This isn't as bad as what happened to Sharon but listen About the same time I wrote about a little Joke making the rounds of junior high schools: "Know how to keep a turkey in suspense? No? Well I'll tell you tomorrow" I knew I'd get a call when to Today's chuckle Small town: Place where if you see a girl dining with a man old enough to be her father he is morrow came -and sure enough I did The caller wanted to know the punchline and I had to explain that she was the turkey since she had been in suspense Months later I noticed this woman giving me strange looks at a dinner meeting "I'm SYLVIA JORDAN" she said "I'm the turkey" Thank goodness some turkeys can laugh at themselves Those two little tidbits sort of set the tone for the columns that followed A reader would share some funny or unusual or touching story and I'd pass it along Readers laughed at themselves in the Continued on Page 5A Col 1 Qapc Vol 97 No 235 94 Pages 4985 The Charlotte News Because of a shorter) some cop ill of today's News may not have coke comics Editor The Charlotte News 1.