The Trib:
A Third Of A Century And Still Beginning

Gary could never have imagined it.

Yes, Gary Ackerman is a visionary; but when in 1970, the 25 year-old teacher rented a desk in the back of a real estate office in Kew Gardens Hills, and declared himself editor and publisher of the new monthly Tribune, he couldn’t have possibly imagined the journalistic journey the Tribune was going to take.

He gave birth, steered it, prodded it and loved it until the late seventies when he found his real calling. Gary had big ideas for himself — he was committed to a life of public service — in elective office.

It was 1979 and I was a NYC school principal and had just run the successful campaign for Gary — my much older college buddy. I wound up managing — on a part-time basis — his struggling newspaper business, while he prepared for his new life in elective office. The Tribune was localized in the Flushing area and was a 12 to 16 page weekly.

By 1982, the Tribune had grown; I left the school system, became Gary’s partner and remember our understanding way back then. Gary turned the reigns of the Trib over to me. He would go on and run the country; I would run the business. As I’ve said many times before when I’ve told the Trib story, just look around, clearly I’ve done the better job. I also view that career change as one of the most rewarding decisions I’ve ever made.

The Trib wasn’t new to me, I’d dabbled with it since its infancy: I was its volunteer contest editor. In the late 70’s, I renewed my role as contest editor, borrowing the name of Harley Benson, a reporter created by “All In The Family” genius Norman Lear, when the Tribune was used on TV as the community newspaper covering Archie Bunker’s neighborhood and grandson little Joey’s adventures entering the Trib’s “Beautiful Baby Contest.”

In 1982 I also penned a column called “The Pub” which began my weekly writing. By the late 80’s, my award winning column “QUIPs — Queens In Politics,” provided me with a weekly outlet to unite my love of wordsmithing with my passion for politics.

Most recently, in 1999, at the urging of Trib editor Tamara Hartman, I again made the commitment to weekly, put word to paper and “Not For Publication” was born and has not missed a week since.

In between “Quips” and “Not 4 Pub,” the Trib and I had another adventure.  In 1989, Gary and I sold our little hometown Queens newspaper to a public company, News Communications. I expanded the Tribune into a nine edition borough-wide newspaper. Then News Communications gave me added responsibility and at the end of 1991, I became president of the public company.

We grew the company, which at its peak published 23 weekly newspapers including Dan’s Papers in the Hamptons, Our Town in Manhattan, and The Hill in Washington, DC. With our network in the Metro New York area, I began contributing to and editing a citywide political and gossip page, “NYConfidential” — which ultimately gave birth to the Trib’s weekly “QConfidential” page.

With my business successes, my responsibilities changed, causing my computer screen to be filled with spreadsheets and annual reports instead of columns and contests. It was a marvelous learning and growing experience but I missed the words and the news.

Then, last year the opportunity presented itself and with Gary, Trib Associate Publisher Mike Nussbaum and a new group of friends committed to our vision of community journalism, we reacquired the Queens Tribune. Now that little paper born at a single desk in the rear of the real estate office was again back home in Queens, headquartered in our 8,000 square foot building on the service road of the L. I. E. in Fresh Meadows.

Our publishing adventure has been historic. The idea of a free, large circulation community newspaper was basically unheard of until we appeared back in 1970. There were resort papers, and subscription papers but a free community weekly, they said it would never last. Well, a third of a century later, we’re going strong, growing and looking for more.

During those 33 1/3 years we brought changes to our industry. In 1987 we were the first community weekly on the east coast to begin using (process) full color printing. Two years later in 1990, we celebrated our 20th anniversary by wrapping the Trib with a glossy cover — now an industry standard for special editions. “Our Official Guide to Queens,” introduced sometime in the 80’s, has been imitated but never equaled. The annual remains the most comprehensive reference to our borough. The seven year-old Tribune Online (www.QueensTribune.com), with some 5000 plus web pages, was the first such effort on the part of a metro New York community newspaper. We entered the world of e-commerce long before it was fashionable. We built our site in-house and to this very day Tribune staffers have teamed up to offer the most thorough online resource on Queens, which received an impressive 117,000 visitors last month. In 2000, we launched a new publication, the PRESS of Southeast Queens, to provide quality community journalism to a previously underserved audience. That project continues to grow, adding to the Tribune’s rich history and contributing to its promising future.

The borough coverage is complete. We are the largest and dominant community weekly around. But we are still excited about the future challenges.

Sure, I’m a proud parent. There is a lot to be proud about with the Tribune: with our commitment to advocacy journalism and our quality weekly in-depth reporting, we’ve made a difference.

And there are many too many to name, who share in the effort and deserve the credit.

The editors, reporters, artists, sales and office staffs that have shared in the dream over the past 33 years have contributed to our baby’s growth. The team we have today is clearly the most talented one we have yet to assemble and we expect them to be making headlines of their own in the future.

My wife Lil and our kids Lee and Allison, who tolerate my crazy schedule, my endless hours online and a house full of newsprint, provide me with the love and support one needs after a day in our business. Lee, first as editor of his college newspaper and now pursuing graphic arts at an advertising agency in the city serves as my occasional design consultant.

But, most importantly, are the people of Queens — our readers. The issues on their minds are the same issues of concern to the people of our great city and nation — and most likely even more global in commonality. This borough, where we have served as a community sounding board for a third of a century, represents the rich diverse life for which people all over the world strive. And they come here in droves, reaching for their dreams. Queens in many ways is the true center of our city, country and even the world. The folks in Manhattan will never understand this, but it doesn’t matter.

They understand it in China; they understand it in South America and the Caribbean; in Korea and India and Russia too. What really matters is it is understood in Flushing where this paper was born; and in Forest Hills, Astoria, Bayside, Howard Beach, St. Albans, Jackson Heights, Jamaica and Sunnyside. The people of Queens are at the heart of what really matters. They don’t necessarily lead in style or commerce. The world doesn’t look to them as leaders in the arts — although that is beginning to change. And while, the people of our borough contribute in all areas of life, it is their values — social mores, interpersonal understanding — the true concept of community, in which the borough of Queens has led the world into this third millennium. And this world could do well to learn from the harmony and peace of our Queens multicultural mosaic.

And as the world changes, the community of the future will likely be defined by the folks from Queens — not by study, but by life, by example. We present an essential model if the people of this earth are to survive in peace. And as we define life in the 21st century, the Tribune relishes the challenge of being there to cover the experience.

Thanx for the first 33 1/3.

Our spin on it: the best is yet to come.

Not4Publication.com by Dom Nunziato

————————————————————

Michael Schenkler can be reached at: MSchenkler@queenspress.com