Long career in journalism began with hot metal work
BRUCE KEMSLEY has gone from working with linotype machines using molten metal to the age of computers and the internet.
He’s seen more changes in his career than most people and he’s been right at the heart of the shift the news industry has experienced.
Kemsley started work at the Evening Post in 1966, a callow young apprentice aged 15.
The newsroom, where the linotype machines were kept, was more like a foundry than an office.
Today, ‘‘newsroom’’ means where the reporters are based. But back then they had a separate area and the newsroom was the domain of the printers.
‘‘The noise was incredible. It was full of machinery. It smelled like metal being melted down, like lead. When we’d melt down [used type] in the afternoon there would be a big cloud of fumes go through the newsroom. It was hot, it was busy, it was noisy . . . it was vibrant.’’
The press, housed downstairs, was even noisier.
As an apprentice, he had to do several different jobs before being allowed to operate a linotype. One was in the reading room, an institution which has now disappeared.
‘‘It was where all the printers’ work was checked. I was a copy-holder. Someone would read out the page and you’d have the hard copy it was set off and we’d make sure there were no problems.’’
Kemsley graduated to linotype operator after a couple of years. Revolutionary in their time, they were now old hat and could be temperamental.
‘‘We’d often get burned. The machine would ‘splash’ and the hot metal would come out all over your clothes.’’
He was working on the machine during the Wahine storm of 1968.
‘‘There was a big discussion among the editorial staff about whether to announce anyone had been drowned. One body had been seen in the water . . . there was a feeling of absolute shock. It was an unreal experience.’’
The move from running adverts on the front page to carrying headlines – a break with 100 years of Evening Post tradition – was a major talking point.
‘‘When I started they were still doing it . . . a lot of people thought [the change] was absolutely terrible. It was an astonishing thing for them . . . it just seems like another era now.’’
Introducing colour to the pages also shook things up.
‘‘Having colour in the paper was a huge thing. Everybody tried to use it – it was a major breakthrough in the industry.’’
By the mid-80s, however, the world he had joined was changing.
Automation – including the first computers – meant printers had far less say in how the paper looked. They were no longer required to type reporters’ copy into one of the clunking machines.
Instead, editorial staff were able to have more direct input through a primitive computer system.
Visual Display Terminals replaced the noisy keyboards of the linotype and he thought printing had a limited future.
‘‘I didn’t know what things were changing to, but I knew it would be massive change.’’
In 1980, at 29, he decided it was time to move on. Always a passionate racing fan, he managed to get a job as a racing reporter on the editorial side.
‘‘It dropped my wages by about 70 per cent. I was pretty highly paid as a printer and had a good position in the setup – I had to start again.’’
But he became a successful journalist and is now a sub-editor, having seen even more changes in the way the editorial teams work.
When the press was moved out of Boulcott St to Petone in 1989, many of the printers got paid off.
‘‘Some of them were completely dumbfounded. They didn’t have a choice. Some of them were in their 30s and 40s and had 20 years’ experience and had done nothing else.
‘‘There were some good stories and some sad ones . . . some went into business and did all kinds of things, others never worked again.’’ The Dominion Post – 150 Years of News is available via dompost.co.nz or 0800 50 50 90. Priced at $34.95 + $3 postage and handling or $29.95 + $3 p&h for subscribers.