Staffers of the Daily Herald (and readers too) have reason to share the nostalgia of United Press International’s 15th anniversary observance now in progress.
The Herald, you see has been a client newspaper of that agency nearly 58 years. UPI’s world-wide wire news network transmits domestic and global news and pictures to augment our local coverage.
By the hand-tapped dots and dashes of the Morse code via Western Union. the Herald started receiving United Press dispatches Oct Z6. 1924 – a week before ”silent Cal” Coolidge won the presidential election and George H. Dern beat Charles R. Mabey for Utah governorship.
W H. Hornibrook was Herald owner at the time and Gunnar Rasmuson headed the news staff.
Incorporated June 21, 1907 as United Press Associations. the agency transmitted its first news July 15 to the earliest of 969 newspapers which subscribed that year.
United Press merged with a rival agency, International News Service in 1958 and the familiar “UP” logltype became “UPI,” symbol today of the latest technology and fast news-picture transmission.
Currently UPI serves 755 newspapers. radio and TV stations and cable systems in more than 100 nations. United Press was the inspiration of crusty energetic E. W. Scripps (1854-1926). The pioneer Midwestern newspaperman also founded a string of dailies known today as the Scripps-Howard Newspapers.
Scripps found be was unable to fill his news requirements through Associated Press because of restrictive rules. So he merged the three small press agencies he controlled to form United Press Associations.
”I regard my life’s greatest service … to be creation of the UP,” the founder said at one time. ”I have made it impossible to suppress the truth or successfully disseminate falsehood.
“The mere fact that UP can be depended upon to disseminate news al e to the public makes it not only worthwhile to put out such information but positively dangerous to withhold it.”
It’s interesting that the Scripps League Newspapers Inc. (SLNU. of which The Daily Herald has been a member since 19% is guided by another E. W. Scripps. He happens to be the first son of the first son of the original W3′ and therefore his namesake.
Ed as he is familiarly known by Herald staffers is president and chairman of the board of Scripps League Newspapers. not to be confused with Scripps-Howard. He and his wife Betty Knight Scripps, reside at Charlottesville, Va.
His father, James G. Scripps became head of the Scripps concern back in 1908 when grand father “E. W.” retired from active management. James held the post until 1920. He died in 1921. His two sons – E.W. and Jim – both carried on the family tradition, building their own string of papers through hard times and prosperity.
The Herald at Provo was one of the first properties they acquired. Each brother now has his own association of gapers. Incidentally there i`s no business connection between UPI and Scripps League only a family connection.
However Ed obviously inherited the Scripps dedication to the search for unbiased truth in news reporting a watchword of the Herald and other SLNI papers. He continually is involved in advancing newspaper technology. including satellite research.
Only two living former Herald staffers served prior to the acquisition of UPI’s service in 1924. To my knowledge, Alban “Bun” John later shop foreman at Logan’s Herald Journal was an apprentice and Ethel Killgore, Herald society editor for 26 years, resides in Salt Lake City.
The advent of UP teleprinters came by the early 1930s. pushing the Morse code into the background. ”0ld-timers” who joined the Herald staff in the early or mid-thirties and would remember those first machines include Bailey Lindstrom. Frampton Collins Kay Hinckley. Marvin Meldrum and Jack Sumner.
When I started part-time in 1935, two teleprinters supplied state. national and international news. Ernest R. Rasmuson was editor in that era.
I recall that in 1956 Murray Moler, then intermountain manager for United Press presented Publisher L. B. Tackett a plaque marking a 34-year Herald-UPI relationship.
A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. Streams of news of prime urgency have flowed over UPI wires to Herald readers – wars, landing of men on the moon, momentous scientific developments.
During my tenure as editor under publishers Tackett and B. E. Jensen UPI transmission technology advanced through teleprinter refinements, the teletypesetting era, and the Unifax Telephoto (a new type wirephoto) with the Herald installing the first such operation in Utah.
Today, under Jensen and managing editor Ben R. Hansen, the technology update in cooperation with UPI continues. Two high points: Installation of the new Unifax II which improves photo quality, and the forthcoming change to an integrated computerized production operation with UPI news transmission via RCA satellite. You’ll hear more about this.
We of the Herald family join in a salute to UPI on its diamond anniversary and look forward to a continuing productive relationship with the agency under Its newly – announced owner Media News Corp.