What was your first job in the newspaper business?

I was a paperboy for the Capital Times in Madison, Wis. When I was 18, I applied for and was hired to be a dispatch courier in advertising at the same paper. A few years later, I saw the light and moved to the pressroom as a trainee.

What do you like most about your job?

Getting a good-looking paper out the door in time to be sitting in the driveway of every home that gets it by 6 a.m. in the Greater Los Angeles basin.

What do you like least?

Letting employees go in response to poor financial results. It has to be done, but it’s not any fun whatsoever.

What was the Los Angeles Times’ most recent purchase/installation?

We purchased a couple of SLS 3000 (inserters from Muller Martini Mailroom Systems) in 2006 as a result of partnering with Advo to produce a combined LAT/Advo Weekend Marriage Mail program. We chose MMMS because of our positive experiences with their equipment in the past.

We also purchased 10 MAN Roland color towers in 2005 to increase color capacity from 24 pages to 32 pages on our 10 Goss Colorliner presses. We felt MAN offered the best solution for our situation and are pleased with the result.

What is the biggest challenge the Los Angeles Times is facing in production?

Printing well with lightweight newsprint while converting presses to a 48-inch web. Wrinkles are a big issue and in California, Coca Cola is a hazardous substance, so we can’t use any chemicals to clean pipe rollers. Every roller has to be cleaned by hand, a real pain on a Colorliner press.

What trend are you keeping your eye on?

Computer-to-plate. The economics of CTP are different when you make 12 plates from one negative. It hasn’t made sense for us to make the change. Recently though, with so many other papers moving to CTP, our plate vendors are increasing the cost of wipe-on plates. Very soon, we will be able to make the switch because CTP plates will be cheaper (see story, page 1).


If you know anyone you think should be featured in Short Run, please contact Tara McMeekin at 303.575.9595 or by e-mail at: tmcmeekin@newsandtech.com