What do you miss from the Freep or News?

**dtowncitylover** · October-31-10, 05:14 PM

I love looking through the old News archives at OU's Kresge Library. It really shows the members of my generation what real print journalism was.

**Motor City Sam** · October-31-10, 06:06 PM

Originally Posted by DC48080

I miss the newspapers having more than 8 pages and not costing a dollar a day. I miss when it was actually worth the price you paid for it. I miss being able to devote a half hour each morning to reading it. Now there is so little content that you can breeze through it in 5 minutes.

This. The Sunday papers used to be one of the reasons I looked forward to the weekend. My parents had a subscription to the Free Press, so on my way out to there house on Sunday to watch the Lions game with my Dad, I would pick up a Sunday Detroit News. My Dad would read the Free Press, I'd read the News, and then we'd switch with comments like, "Check out Bill Halls column on the Pistons" or "look at what Puscas said about the Lions".

I still go over to Mom and Dad's on Sunday to watch the Lions with Dad, and we still have the Free Press, but the newspaper conversation is practically non-existent.

**Savoyard** · October-31-10, 06:52 PM

I miss the "real" Dear Abby. And Action Line in the News.

**MikeM** · October-31-10, 07:06 PM

Contact 10

**Magnatomicflux** · October-31-10, 08:08 PM

Originally Posted by Gannon

I've been attempting to transmorgriphy ever since.

I assume you're yelling out "ZAP!" after you set the dial, right?

OMG am I ever gonna digging out my Calvin & Hobbes books when I get home!
Hands down the most imaginative strip ever....well, to me anyways lol
Thanks for bringing C&H up Gannon, I'm totally looking forward to reading some tonight....maybe some "The days are just packed"
I can't beleive of all things, transmogrifcation came to your mind lol

sorry...that was totally unrealated to the thread.

**Rochelle St.** · October-31-10, 08:47 PM

Anybody else remember "It Happened to Me"?
People sent in strange and unusual stories for the article.
I also enjoyed a comics strip called "Arnold".
It was about this wierd guy named Arnold who liked to torment his friend Tommy with his equally wierd stories.
I also miss "Bloom County".

**jackie5275** · October-31-10, 09:08 PM

Originally Posted by Vic_doucette

I miss journalism.

I think most people do. For example, why do Frank Beckman & Paul W. Smith, 2 radio personalities get a column in the News? I also have a distaste for the both being biased left [[Freep) & right [[News). It makes you know how every article will be slanted. Just give me the facts ma'am.

**Big Dog** · October-31-10, 09:22 PM

I miss a real newspaper.

**Fnemecek** · October-31-10, 11:23 PM

Originally Posted by Vic_doucette

I miss journalism.

Amen, brother! Amen.

**sirrealone** · November-01-10, 06:55 AM

I miss the days when Mitch Albom was a great sportswriter. Before the days of writing books and doing radio shows, writing stories about things he wasn't even present for, and trying to write about everyday stuff, the guy was head and shoulders above anybody in terms of capturing the personality of Detroit sports and putting that into words. When I was a kid, every morning was started with me grabbing the paper and opening it up to see what Mitch wrote. Now, the mere mention of his name is sure to get an automatic eye roll.

**Django** · November-01-10, 07:13 AM

Guindon, Bob Talbert, I remember way back when Garfield was funny.

I grew up with the For Better or for Worse kids.

The Freeps comics always smoked the News.

Fond memories of spending a few minutes before the school bus came every morning reading the Freep with my mom in the living room on her fancy couch. Lord that was so much better than this puter screen.

**smogboy** · November-01-10, 07:44 AM

I miss Draper Hill, Dick Mayer, Guindon, Nolan Ross, and Larry Wright. I guess I miss seeing home grown cartoons in the paper. Draper Hill's caricatures of Coleman Young were always spot-on and had such the dry, wickedly sharp wit about them.

I also miss the days when it truly was two competing newspapers. One would always try to scoop the other and it was always nice to get two different and distinct views on things as opposed to the homogenized stuff we get today.

Gone are the days when there truly was a classified section too. I remember looking for my very first used car in the paper scouring column after column. My mom would even look at the paper for local garage sales too. When was the last time anyone even clipped a coupon out of the newspaper?? The newspaper back then was something a consumer could actually use. People actually had to look through a newspaper in order to discover things; there's no more magic in them any more.

And as a kid that once delivered the Detroit News, I remember the Wednesday circulars. We had to hand insert them and each paper was a good three to four inches around by the time I curled them up and stuck them into people's individual newspaper boxes [[remember those?). The Sunday papers were even worse and I remember getting the circulars on Saturday awaiting the real news on Sunday morning. It was an honest buck to be earned by someone at that age.

I look at the paper now. A dollar for that? Beyond the lack of real content, it's about as thin as the Metro Times or Real Detroit now. I know I can read the articles online for free if I wanted to. I'm really not sure why anyone would want to pay to subscribe to it any more beyond getting newsprint to paper train a dog. There's nothing exclusive in the newspaper itself. I've mourned the death of Detroit print media for awhile now. I wish it could go back to those simpler times when a newspaper meant something to people- not just the readers but to the people that put it together too.

**Lt. Dan Bassett** · November-01-10, 07:47 AM

To the many FP readers/former readers here:
My condolences.
I'll speak heresy for a bit.
Try The News! Less wire copy, no repetition from front to jump, and a real-live movie critic. Yeah, so Steffani handed KMK to the freep on a platter. Day in and day out The News has a superior report. Still a bargain at a buck unless your brain and pocketbook are stuck in the '60s. So tell me, what great thing can you get that has true value for $1? The News voter guide that appeared last week is worth 10 times that amount. Who else but newspapers will continue to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable? Our hometown newspapers, even with their flaws, are the glue of democracy, so quit your bitchin.' Sissies!

**Lowell** · November-01-10, 08:05 AM

Originally Posted by Vic_doucette

I miss journalism.

No wonder you won awards for headline writing! They need to hire you.

Yes there are still good journalists there but their numbers are sooo dwindled.

**pffft** · November-01-10, 08:18 AM

For the former Freep employee/reader who was bemoaning the days of great restaurant reviews -- Molly Abraham is in the News.
I suspect a lot of the whines come from folks who aren't reading a lot.

**GPCharles** · November-01-10, 08:45 AM

Originally Posted by smogboy

Gone are the days when there truly was a classified section too. I remember looking for my very first used car in the paper scouring column after column.

The lack of classified advertising, which was an absolute money machine, is one of the major items killing the newspapers. Think of that when you look on Craig'slist for something you want to buy.

**DetroitPlanner** · November-01-10, 09:56 AM

Originally Posted by MikeM

Contact 10

Dude you stolt my line! Okay how about the Mini-Pages?

**GPCharles** · November-01-10, 10:18 AM

How about Jeanne Whittaker and the Society Column?

**Sailor Rick** · November-01-10, 11:22 AM

"Contact 10" and "Action Line". The "power of the press" to help the readers with problems big and small. The Sunday magazines-local features be it fall colors or those pesky punk rockers.
But most of all-"Iffy" the Dopester. Could be a thug mistook his nickname to be a player and shanghaied him.
Hopefully, he's with buds Abraham Simpson and Mr. Natural, enjoying chuckles and suds in a clean and well-lit place.

**Novine** · November-01-10, 12:34 PM

Mike Downey. I grew to appreciate Mitch Albom before he went big time and his focused moved away from the sports pages. But I remember being very unhappy about Downey's departure.

Matt Beer - From all accounts he was an SOB and probably fit few definitions of a journalist. But I enjoyed his willingness to ignore the rules of polite society to expose the seamier sides of Detroit's rich and famous.

**ja!mz** · November-01-10, 12:36 PM

I remeber having my route when I was a kid, having to go to the paper station after school to deliver the News. The paper know is about 1/4 of what it was back then volume wise. I had two saddle bags and a bull horn bag for my bike for all that weight. It was 1.40 a week for 7 day delivery back in '82

**Gannon** · November-01-10, 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by Magnatomicflux

I assume you're yelling out "ZAP!" after you set the dial, right?

OMG am I ever gonna digging out my Calvin & Hobbes books when I get home!
Hands down the most imaginative strip ever....well, to me anyways lol
Thanks for bringing C&H up Gannon, I'm totally looking forward to reading some tonight....maybe some "The days are just packed"
I can't beleive of all things, transmogrifcation came to your mind lol

sorry...that was totally unrealated to the thread.

Damn, I KNEW there was something I was missing in the ritual.

Transmorgrification has NEVER left my mind, since Waterson stuck it into my psyche! LOL

Cheers

**Bong-Man** · November-01-10, 02:11 PM

I miss George Puscas' column the most. The dude was the only old school sports writer we had. His boxing columns were spot on, and "love letters" was always a Friday treat.