A full-time career in news is coming to an end
By Lethbridge Herald on December 20, 2024.
LEAVE IT TO BEEBER
Al Beeber – managing editor
Nearly 45 years ago, my newspaper career officially started after a telephone interview with Jim Cumming, whose family owned the Fort Frances Times and Daily Bulletin in a small northwestern Ontario town I’d heard of only because a journalism school classmate at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology grew up there.
I was living at my dad’s house in the Calgary neighbourhood of Bridgeland and apparently I made a strong enough impression on Jim to recommend to his father Bob, the owner of the paper, that I be hired.
A week ago while in the midst of another 11-hour day here, Jim called out of the blue to say hello and we had a long talk about the newspaper industry and my journey through it during the past decades, a journey which started in Fort Frances as a sports and outdoors writer.
It was the call I needed because as Jim told me, all of us only have one life and we have to make the most of it. His words hit me later that day when I finally had a chance to sit and take a breath.
Jim was right. Since I was in high school working as many as 30 hours a week at Highway 52 Feeders after classes ended, all I’ve known is work.
Since 1980, I’ve lived and breathed the newspaper business as a writer, photographer, page editor and now managing editor, a job that I’ve been honoured to have since February of 2023.
I was partly named after a Herald paper carrier in Warner who both my parents still talked about decades later. To leave that kind of impression on people 50 and more years later is a legacy all of us can only hope to achieve. It speaks volumes about the kind of person Cameron (my middle name) was. I don’t know his last name but I do know that every one of us, in every business, can only dream about being so respected and so well remembered for so long.
Next Friday, the 27th, is my last in the newspaper industry as a full-time journalist and this is my final column of 2024. To be honest, I’m tired, absolutely exhausted after nearly two years straight of 11-hour days, sleepless nights, filling in for other staff when they’re away and making sure we have enough copy every day to fill the paper even if it means writing four or five stories myself.
I find myself making some mistakes which I kick myself over because there is no room for errors in this business but I have so much on my plate I could be here 15 or 16 hours a day and feel like I’m not caught up. And I take ownership for those mistakes because that’s what professionals do.
Unlike any other editor I’ve personally known in my career, I don’t have the luxury of just editing, I don’t have the luxury of putting in a 7.5 hour day and walking away with a clear head after a couple of stories or some pages under my belt. I’m responsible for every single aspect of this newsroom including making sure there is enough copy to fill our news hole. But errors are on my shoulders. As they are ultimately on every manager’s.
I inherited in 2023 the smallest newsroom I’ve ever been part of with only two full-time writers, one full-time LJI person, two part-time LJI reporters, one sports writer and one layout person.
Thanks to the economic struggles all media are facing due to local businesses advertising on social media, my own position wasn’t filled so I continued to write and fill in for Ian Martens doing page layout when he was off while also handling my editing duties and writing stories.
I have also continued to handle the Comment page, laying it out every day while editing letters, commentary and the Roasts and Toasts.
No editor in my experience has ever carried the workload I’ve handled or juggled as many jobs in one day as I do every day.
When Delon Shurtz gave his two weeks notice this year, I lost the only person with the experience who could fill in for me to take a brief breather, a person whose talents and teamwork I truly miss.
And that meant I’ve had a grand total of maybe five days off this year, none of which were complete breaks because I was in the office by 6 for a couple of hours during each of them.
Delon’s departure has left me with only one full-time reporter and two newcomers filling LJI contracts to handle the news end of things. But we’re still getting the paper out each and every day, a team effort that requires all of us to be on the top of our game every day. And I’m thankful Justin Seward will step to the plate doing news stories when needed and Ian brings out his camera when called upon.
But right now at 65 I’m working even harder than I did at 20 and while I pulled a few all-nighters in Ontario and a couple that came close here, I’ve pushed my body harder than ever in this role.
Jim’s words reminded me that all of us only have so much gas in the tank and I’m afraid of dying at my desk so after giving management a year’s notice, I’m slowing down.
Yes, slowing down. Because I’m still going to be part of the Herald team, working three days a week from home covering council and politics and whatever else my replacement wants me to do when there are no political stories to write during my shifts.
As a guy who has written on everything from sports to entertainment, automobiles to home design, council coverage and politics have been my favourite beats hands-down of all time.
I’ve interviewed everyone from Alice Cooper to Carrie Underwood, including the likes of Bo Diddly and Canadian icons such as Tommy Hunter. In Ontario one afternoon, I cruised around in the Molson events van with Bobby Curtola when he was in town with his Thunder Bay pal and beer rep Max Mekilok.
I’ve driven the best vehicles local dealerships would hand the keys to me and even crashed one which Luke Davis at Subaru of Lethbridge forgave me for and even gifted me with a part of the bumper of that Subaru WRX STi.
And I’ve written stories on magnificent homes, gardens and yards here, in the countryside and in the Crowsnest Pass.
But council chambers has become like a second home to me. I’ve forged good relationships with staff members, managers and some council members and I always look forward to seeing them all. They’ve become part of my work family because I spend so much time around them. And I’m glad I’ll be able to continue informing readers of the work being done in those chambers.
And I’ll still be producing this column on a bi-weekly basis.
This transition period will give the Herald some stability and me a chance to slow down. After the 27th, I’ll be turning off the phone and disappearing for a bit to recharge the batteries, sleep past 4 a.m., catch up on dentist and other appointments, meet with friends over coffee and get back to the gym to see all my old pals. I’ll have a chance to rest my surgically repaired eyes from the grind of 11 to 16 hours a day in front of one screen or another.
And as I take this break, I want to thank all of you readers for your support and kindness over the years. You are the reason I do this, you are the reason this newspaper is in business and I’m indebted to you all for giving me a career. I regularly have the pleasure of meeting people who recognize me and I’m so thankful for the kind words I so often hear, including from a young Hutterite woman at Walmart last weekend.
Like every journalist, I know I have enemies in this city – it comes with the territory and no doubt, some will be disappointed to read I’m not leaving completely. Oh well.
Throughout my career, I’ve made an effort to build relationships and bridges, and I would hope my construction efforts will be long-lasting. I’ve done my best to be fair, objective and considerate and that’s reflected in the tone of this paper under my watch.
We play fair, we give criticism when it’s warranted but we treat all political parties respectfully. We don’t use our own personal political leanings to promote a cause on the Herald pages. We let the stories tell themselves and let readers forge their own opinions. That’s what newspapers are supposed to do, in fact, it’s what all media are supposed to do.
I’m proud of that. We aren’t a right-wing paper, a left-wing paper, a pro- or anti-City Hall paper, we’re an objective paper. And we’re getting the job done well with an incredibly small and inexperienced newsroom.
That’s a credit to everyone here. And as a leader I believe in giving credit. As a leader I’ve tried to be the manager who understands people’s strengths, their limitations and their needs and I’ve tried to work with them. I’ve tried to be a compassionate leader and I’ve made sure I lead by example – putting in the long hours, pushing myself to work harder and quicker every day to hopefully inspire others to try pushing their own boundaries. And at 65, I’m still expanding my own boundaries.
Whether that inspiration, whether my style has worked is in the hands of the jury. But I’ve done things the way I feel they should be done. And when I walk out the door next Friday, while I will certainly always question whether I could have or should have done things differently, I know what matters is I did my best to leave this newspaper in better shape than when I inherited it.
I know for nearly 45 years I’ve left nothing on the table. And you all need to know, I appreciate every one of you whether you like me or detest me. You read the paper. That’s what counts.
See you in a few weeks.
AND ON THAT NOTE: I want to wish all of you a fantastic Christmas and New Year’s. This is the time of the year when we who are lucky enough to have a roof over our heads, food on the table and family – human or four-legged – to keep us company really need to appreciate what we have and I’m truly honoured to have had the privilege of serving all of you for so many years.
And I’m lucky to have a family that has supported me when I’m tired, cranky and just want to hide from the world with my dogs, especially Ben who I still miss every minute of every day.
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Best wishes for a peaceful Christmas Al. It’s good to hear that you are unwinding slowly from a busy career. Enjoy every moment.