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New Star-Bulletin TO paraphrase Mark Twain: Reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated.
will make its debut
tomorrow morning
The paper's renaissance comes after
18 months of legal wrangling and
nervous anticipation
Newsroom phone numbers
By Treena Shapiro
Star-BulletinFor 18 months it has been touch-and-go, but today the Star-Bulletin begins a new life, one that promises to be as vigorous as the first 119 years -- once all the kinks are straightened out.
Keeping the paper alive has been an uphill battle since Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership announced plans in September 1999 to close the newspaper.
Lawsuits kept the paper open for more than a year until David Black, president of Victoria, British Columbia-based Black Press Ltd., agreed in November to acquire the newspaper.
Since then, Black's newly formed Oahu Publications has been frantically preparing for tomorrow's takeover, including everything from buying additional coin boxes to selling advertising to making sure that the equipment at the MidWeek printing plant was capable of printing two daily editions of the Star-Bulletin.
"We're extremely pleased, not only with the response from classifieds and circulation, but also from the advertising community," said Don Kendall, president of Oahu Publications. "Honolulu indeed wants to save the Star-Bulletin."
Here are some phone numbers for the new Star-Bulletin offices: Newsroom numbers
And Oahu Publications employees have been working up to the last minute to make sure it happens. Eight new press units have been installed and tested this week, and additional newsprint arrived last week.
Two hundred new coin boxes also came in last week, to be added to the 700 boxes already purchased from the Hawaii Newspaper Agency.
When the last of the Star-Bulletin staff moves to new offices at Restaurant Row this afternoon, the company's employees will total more than 400, Kendall said.
And starting tomorrow, the Star-Bulletin will publish a morning edition in addition to its traditional afternoon edition, with a Sunday newspaper to follow April 1.
Hitting home
It is a lot to accomplish in just a few months."We're not just taking over the newspaper -- we're changing press plants, changing distribution systems," Kendall said.
"We anticipate that there will be some problems, but we'll try to rectify them and minimize them as much as we can," he said.
Several potential difficulties concern home delivery of the afternoon edition.
Circulation department representatives have been signing up hundreds of new subscribers. After receiving the circulation list 15 days before the changeover, they have also been making thousands of calls to current subscribers, according to director Mark Lewis.Absent from the circulation list, however, were neighbor island subscribers, who will have to call in to continue receiving the paper.
But "flights are going out with the newspapers on them, and we will deliver," Lewis said, noting that the paper will be more widely available for single-copy sales in coin boxes and retail outlets than in recent years.
A few obstacles
Another obstacle for the circulation department has been getting into some apartment buildings. The Hawaii Newspaper Agency did not turn over the keys to secured apartment buildings, so representatives have been going to each apartment building to talk to building managers about obtaining keys.
"In the short term, we may have difficulty getting the newspaper into (some) apartment complexes," Lewis said. Until carriers can gain entry into the buildings, the paper will be left in the lobby labeled with the subscriber's name.On the editorial side, employees have been faced with wrapping up the last edition of the Liberty-owned Star-Bulletin today, packing their belongings and carrying them a few blocks to Restaurant Row to work on the first edition of the Black-owned Star-Bulletin, which is to be on the streets tomorrow morning.
As veteran staffers join new hires already working for Oahu Publications, it will be the first time since the closing was announced that most of the editorial positions will be filled -- bringing the staff in charge of news content to almost 100.
But the merger is somewhat bittersweet, as employees leaving for the new Star-Bulletin bid farewell to a handful of staffers who were not offered jobs or chose to retire.
After 46 years as an administrative assistant for the Star-Bulletin, Trini Peltier decided it was time to retire to spend time with her family."It's about time I watch the grass grow and the clouds go by," she said.
Peltier, who was hired by then-editor Riley Allen in 1954, has gone through four changes in ownership.
"If I stayed, this would be the fifth time I was working for somebody else," she said. "Everything works out. ... It's a challenge, of course, but the nice thing about going into a company like that is, you grow with the company."
Not too long ago, some people thought the odds of the Star-Bulletin surviving were about equal to those of the Rainbow Warriors making it to the NCAA basketball tournament -- not great. Letter to our readers
But now, backed by new owner David Black, infused with additional talent and cheered on by a generous community, the Star-Bulletin is pumped.
The uncertainty is gone, and to paraphrase actress Sally Field at the Oscars a few years ago: "You like us! You like us! You really, really like us!"
The past 18 months have been a difficult time for many at the Star-Bulletin -- personally as well as professionally -- as lives were put on hold awaiting the outcome of court filings and decisions.
But encouragement from readers, journalists near and far, and would-be advertisers has sustained us. We thank you.
In return, we pledge to do our best to justify your faith in us. Our staff has been split for weeks, with some continuing at the "old" Star-Bulletin and others helping with the "new" Star-Bulletin, creating challenges on both fronts. But we look forward to reuniting this afternoon to begin informing, entertaining and surprising you with our new paper.
As for the 'Bows, if they do as well as we aim to do, you had better make reservations for the Final Four.
Frank Bridgewater
Acting managing editor
Answers to some of
our readers’ questionsThe circulation department is accepting new subscriptions at 529-4848. Current subscribers will continue to receive the new Star-Bulletin and will be contacted by a circulation representative about renewing when the time comes.
Current subscribers are asked to call the circulation department at (808) 529-4848.
The newspaper will be more widely available on neighbor islands in vending machines and retail outlets.
Call the circulation department at (808) 529-4848.
Subscribers who live in secured buildings may want to check the lobby or mailbox areas of their buildings first because the keys to some buildings have not yet been made available.
In these cases, newspapers will be addressed to the subscriber and left in common areas.
Copies will be available on all islands from 900 vending machines and more than 400 retail outlets, such as grocery and convenience stores, by 6 a.m.
The new Star-Bulletin should be available in the same places it is now, plus at 200 new locations.
Yes.
To place a retail ad, call 529-4700.
For classifieds, call 529-4800.
Yes, in addition to an overall redesign, both the morning and the afternoon editions will be smaller, in length and width, than the Star-Bulletin you are used to, moving in the direction of newspapers such as the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.
April 1. Monday-through-Saturday subscribers will receive a complimentary Sunday edition for the first three months.
Look for special inserts, such as Parade Magazine, The Wall Street Journal supplement on personal finance, a TV section, a travel section and the New York Times crossword puzzle.
Letters can be submitted by fax at 545-4918, by e-mail to letters@starbulletin.com or by mail to Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813.
Treena Shapiro, Star-Bulletin
Bulletin shutdown archive
