Introducing color to the pages of this newspaper was a game-changer for all

This is the second in a series of articles I am writing that cover my 37 years as publisher of this newspaper.  Last week I wrote about being hired by Terry Forcht and starting the job with new computers…

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

We had learned how to make the printer print and now we were in the process of giving the Whitley Republican a new look. It was June 1987 and for the first time the entire paper was prepared on the new MacPlus computers.

I had very little to do with it. Willie Sawyers, our news editor, was the brains behind it all. Willie had been the publisher of this newspaper, and he approached me about joining the staff. He agreed that I would become the publisher and he would become the news editor if I would take the job. He knew that my background was in newspaper advertising and the newspaper’s shortcomings was in ad sales.

We both agreed that if this newspaper was to grow, we would have to have a product that would attract both the Corbin advertisers and its readers in addition to the Williamsburg area subscribers we already had with the Whitley Republican.

Thus, we came up with a new edition of the paper which we would call, Corbin! This Week. I pitched the idea to Terry Forcht, and he gave us his blessing along with his needed financing to make it happen.

Not only did we want a new newspaper, but we also wanted one that was more modern looking than most in the area, one that looked like USA Today, a national publication that was new and had wowed the newspaper industry.

It was June and we set our target date for August. We had to find a printer that could print in full color and the closest one was in Danville. Next, we had to learn how to do full color. For us to print a color picture we had to take the negatives to Lexington and a company would make color separations that could be cut into the page negatives that we took to Danville.

All of this just for a couple of color pictures? Yes, because the technology had not been developed for the way we do things today. But we were determined, and we came through with the first full color newspaper ever published in southeastern Kentucky.

Willie and I took the negatives to Danville to watch the process. When the presses started rolling the pressmen at the plant were as excited as we were. WOW! It was the best-looking newspaper ever. We were jumping with joy.

We loaded the 10,000 copies in the old Dodge pickup truck the paper had at that time and headed back to Williamsburg. But before we had travelled very far, we stopped in Stanford at a pay telephone to call the staff back at the office and tell them how great the newspaper looked.

The first Corbin! This Week had four sections filled with news and advertising. Oh, to have that many advertisers today, but most are gone, falling victim to the big box stores. All section heads had different colors just like the USA folks did theirs.

Not only were we excited, but weeklies throughout the state also picked up on the color idea. At the Kentucky Press Convention held that year in Gatlinburg, I spoke to a group on how we did color.

We mailed the first 10,000 copies of the paper to every home in the greater Corbin area.

We came down from our high soon after we had to start publishing two newspapers at the same time. Our workload had doubled because now we had the Whitley Republican and Corbin! This Week.

Talk about long hours and working hard! Next, I will write about how we did two newspapers at once.