Before starting my duties as a copy boy, I had made numerous visits to the second floor of the building in the 300 block of North Washington Avenue in Scranton, providing information about the baseball and basketball leagues I was operating. At the time, I didn’t realize the lack of sufficient space usually required to put a daily newspaper together. So did others who had occasion to stop by with news items.
In a way,it appeared impossible. For example, there were two desks side by side-by-side in the sports department . Many times there could be three different persons on three different telephones talking at the same time. It could be comical to say the least. There were also desks for the city editor, telegraph editor, society editor, plus a small room that served as the office for the managing editor. Also the obituary desk and a desk to correlate the various news items handled by the correspondence editor. Reporters were assigned daily to City Hall, which was adjacent to the building; Lackawanna County Courthouse and the Federal Building, both of which were less than one block away. There was also a stop at the Veterans Administration Building nearby.
The editor’s office was in a very small room adjacent to the sports desks. Eventually, the sports department was moved to an adjacent room that provided more than triple the amount of space.
On top of all this, The Tribune published what it called a Blue Streak edition five nights a week. This was mainly for the gamblers who would bet with local bookies on thoroughbred horses racing at tracks across the country. The race results would appear on the front page of the edition which would normally hit the streets about 8’;30 o’clock at night.
One day in a discussion concerning the need for a more spacious sports area, Scott Thurston, one of the most talented writers on the news staff, referred to TheTribune as The ‘Morning Miracle.’ He added, ‘It’s a miracle that it comes out in the morning.’
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