Julius Karash
Today, I have the privilege of publishing a guest post by one of the best business writers to ever pass through the doors of The Kansas City Star. Julius Karash worked at the paper for 21 years before being laid off in 2008. He’s a freelance writer and lives downtown…And now, heeeere’s Julius!
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The Kansas City Star news box sitting outside the Quaff Bar & Grill, 10th and Broadway, looked lonely and forlorn Wednesday afternoon. And empty.
“The Star hasn’t been delivered to our news box for weeks,” said Justin Clemons, manager/bartender.
Justin Clemons
“We miss it a lot. We used to get it every day. We had a guy who came by at 4 o’clock every morning to deliver the papers to the box, but we don’t see him any more. It (The Star) is where we got our information about what’s going on in town, so I could talk about it with customers.”
The Star hasn’t abandoned all of its news boxes. Papers beckoned from a news box at 10th and Main this week, along with a sticker on the box that said $2.50 DAILY – WEEKEND EDITIONS AVAILABLE IN STORES.
The new daily, single-copy price represents a 25 percent jump over the former price of $2. At the same time, the single-copy price of the Saturday and Sunday papers has jumped from $3 to $4 — a 33-percent increase.
It’s easy to understand why The Star will no longer be stocking its news boxes with weekend papers: More and more people are getting their news from the Web. And how many people walk around with $4 in change? Or even $2? (The boxes don’t take bills.)
It seems that more and more news boxes, like the one next to the Quaff, are going the way of the old-time newsroom re-write folks — the men and women who took information over the phone from reporters in the field and crafted it into a story. When was the last time you saw a news box for USA Today, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal or the Kansas City Business Journal?
A box from many years ago, when you could get a single weekday edition for a quarter and a Sunday edition for a buck twenty-five. Photos by Julius.
As if print newspapers didn’t face enough pressures already, they’re now getting battered by a trade war. In a June 22 story, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration has imposed tariffs on Canadian lumber and Canadian uncoated groundwood paper, from which newsprint is fashioned.
The Post said the U.S. Department of Commerce imposed the tariffs in response to a complaint from the North Pacific Paper mill in rural Washington state, which complained that Canadian paper manufacturers were being subsidized by their government and were therefore able to offer lower prices, giving them an unfair advantage over their U.S. counterparts.
A resulting jump in newsprint costs has dealt an especially hard blow to small papers, The Post said. Nonetheless, the increase quite likely played a role in The Star’s decision to raise single copy prices.
The International Trade Commission (ITC) is scheduled to hold a hearing on retaining the tariffs next week and is expected to make a final ruling this summer. Both the ITC and the Commerce Department must agree to make the tariffs permanent for them to remain.
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On Wednesday, I paid a visit to The Star to greet old friends and make some new acquaintances. They are in the final stages of preparing to move out of the venerable old headquarters at 1729 Grand and into a new newsroom in the 12-year-old, green-glass press pavilion across the street on McGee.
The developers who bought The Star building last year (the City Scene website reported the price was $12 million) are planning to transform the east side of the first floor into an indoor-outdoor bar with a variety of games, including volleyball and ping-pong.
The Star’s newsroom now, days before reporters and editors move to a new one across McGee Street
I worked for The Star from 1987 to 2008, when I got laid off with many of my colleagues. I’m grateful for the time I spent there and grateful that things have turned out all right for me and my family.
Some of the folks I spoke with Wednesday felt a little sad about leaving the landmark building. As I have written in this blog previously, it’s a beautiful, historic structure, built between 1909 and 1911 and designed by Jarvis Hunt, the famous Chicago architect who also designed Kansas City’s Union Station.
The 18th & Grand building holds a special place in the hearts of most people who have worked there, including me. The building resounds with history and conjures up former inhabitants, such as Ernest Hemingway. If you worked at 18th & Grand, you felt like you were part of that history.
It may serve as small or no consolation, but The Star is one of many newspapers around the country that have sold their iconic headquarters buildings in recent years. Newspapers don’t need all that space any more. What they need is cash, and cash from real estate sales fits the bill.
But on the whole, the mood of those working in the second-floor newsroom Wednesday was “let’s get on with this move and keep doing our jobs.” The newspaper industry ain’t what it used to be, but it’s still a crucial component of our lives. The reporters and editors at The Star — and other papers, Web sites, radio stations and TV stations — are working their tails off to continue their journalistic mission.
I’m still an avid reader of The Star, subscribing to the electronic edition and buying the print edition occasionally. I count on The Star to keep me informed about what’s going on in the Kansas City area; it’s a big part of my life and the life of our city.
I know some folks won’t agree with me, but I believe that if The Star ever goes away, it’s going to leave a big hole in this town for a long, long time. I hope that never happens.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
JC, posting late or delayed? I, like Julius, am hopeful. History rhymes rather than repeats (an often-used phrase).
I scheduled publication for 4 a.m., Donovan…You’ve got no excuse. Get a nap! You need your beauty sleep…
I grew up in a community where we had two newspapers and since I detested the tedium of school I read both of them daily, front to back. As much as The Star has been a double-edged sword in this community I agree with Julius’ assertion that it would leave a huge hole were it not there. As much as I am not a fan of Brian Lowry, his story today on 2nd District Congressional candidate Steve Watkins proves the point.
One wishes for more stories of that nature aimed at the metro area’s corrupt establishment, but those stories are even less likely to appear now with limited resources than before. That said, that’s not an excuse. The Kansan, as it was being destroyed by Carol Marinovich, produced some of the finest journalism I’ve seen since I’ve been in Kansas with extremely limited, but very dedicated resources. Like The Star, it too sold its building and moved into smaller digs, unfortunately as a first step towards going digital only and then into oblivion. Let us hope that The Star does not follow that trend.
Nice Work, Julius.
Thank you, Les! Coming from one of the best copy editors in the business, that means a great deal to this old reporter.
Brave and noble words, Julius. I just cannot get beyond what The Star used to be compared to what it is today.
Thank you, Mike! It’s hard to comprehend, hard to accept.
I must admit that someone took a picture of the empty newsroom today and even I felt sad to see it so empty and devoid of life.
I agree with you completely. If the Star went away it would be a big hole. I like my digital subscription and look forward to reading it most days.
But your discussion about empty newspaper bins made me think, why don’t they come up with an app that lets you read a paper at your convenience. So it would like a one day for $1 digital paper. Maybe on Sunday it would be $2. All the costs would be handled through the app. I bet they could make a lot of money off those customers!
Thank you, Bill. That is an innovative idea! Maybe they’ll try something like that.
That is a novel idea…There would be an initial expense in getting that set up, but once in place, every purchase would be gravy.
The time I actually worked at The Star was very brief, but I established a long time connection by marrying a reporter. My last view of The Star was in the fall during the annual book sale which retirees were permitted to attend. A recent retiree told me about the sale, and I showed up that day wearing an iconic Star sweatshirt and a very worn Times baseball hat. The security guard asked if I was a retiree (which technically I was not) but I lied, and was admitted. After purchasing several books at the sale on the third floor, I got on the elevator. Somehow I pushed the button for the second floor and when the elevator stopped I got off. Stood in the doorway of the second-floor editorial room, which looked a bit different of course from earlier days. Happily none of the people moving through the doorways that day questioned who I was and why I happened to be loitering around that part of the building. That was my LAST view — whatever changes are coming I plan on never being a witness.
Julius has been a friend for decades, five to be exact. He is a wonderful person, adept writer and a lover of life, people and The Star. I find it sad that many newspaper “mainstays” have been downscaled or eliminated altogether due to ‘web-based’ news: the Memphis Press Scimitar, the St. Petersburg Times and many others, large and small. People lose both historical and local perspective of their communities when a cursor replaces the rustling of pages over a cup of coffee. People like Julius are the threads that tie communities, cities and their inhabitants together through interaction via local news. Keep on keepin’ on, Elmo!
Thank you Julius for your post. I think you are right about the possibility of a “hole” in our community. Let’s hope that doesn’t come to pass. I want to add that I am in awe of the former Star/Times employees who maintain an esprit de corps even though many may have left the company under circumstances they didn’t want or anticipate. With your spirit, no wonder I have such great memories of the paper(s) I once knew. You folks were truly the backbone of the organization, and you really did it for news coverage in our town.
George, Bob, many thanks to you both. George and I went to high school together in Memphis, Tenn. in the late 60’s and early 70’s. I’m glad there were no smart phone cameras back then, and no Facebook, but lots of newspapers.
This excellent reporting by Katy Bergen demonstrates that the Star still does great work:
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article214294609.html
I just walked past the Quaff and saw that the empty old Kansas City Star news box has been carted off. Or maybe it escaped before they came for it. Fare thee well old friend, till we meet again!