Holyoke Transcript-Telegram
Encyclopedia
The Holyoke Transcript-Telegram, or T-T, was an afternoon daily newspaper covering the city of Holyoke, Massachusetts
, USA, and adjacent portions of Hampden County
and Hampshire County
.
Published as a daily since 1882, the newspaper folded in January 1993 after four years of heavy losses. Long owned by the Dwight family, the T-T's last owner was Newspapers of New England
, which had been founded by the Dwights as a holding company for the T-T and other newspapers it had acquired.
With the departure of the T-T, Holyoke lost its only newspaper of record
. Daily newspaper readers in the city turned to newspapers in nearby cities, which increased their coverage of Holyoke: the Union-News of Springfield
, now called The Republican; and the Daily Hampshire Gazette
of Northampton
.
Dwight died in 1930, and his wife, Minnie Dwight, became publisher. Their son, also named William Dwight, was named managing editor of the T-T; he also explored other investments. He founded WHYN radio with Charles DeRose, owner of the Daily Hampshire Gazette
. The two also founded WHYN-TV
, the Springfield area's second television station, in 1954. They sold the WHYN properties in 1967.
Another of William Dwight's purchases would have a profound impact on the T-T's future. In 1955, he bought and became co-publisher of the Greenfield Recorder-Gazette
. His later purchases of the Concord Monitor
and Valley News
in New Hampshire
would lead to the establishment of Newspapers of New England
, the company that eventually decided to close the T-T.
Following Minnie's death in 1957, her son William became publisher of the T-T, a title he held until his son, William Jr., took the reins in 1975. William Sr. stayed on as chairman of the board until 1982, succeeded in that capacity by his son Donald R. Dwight.
In the years 1988 to 1992, the newspaper was said to have lost $1 million as advertising and circulation declined. Some observers blamed competition with the Union-News of Springfield (which would later publish a "Holyoke Union-News" edition) or Holyoke's substantial and growing immigrant population, which diluted the market for an English-language newspaper. In a newspaper interview, the T-T's then-publisher blamed economics:
Out of 69 workers at the newspaper on the day it closed, the company laid off 36. The remainder took jobs at four weekly newspapers, published at the Transcript-Telegram building, intended to take the daily's place.
Archives of the Holyoke Transcript are located at Holyoke Community College and at the Holyoke Public Library.
reopened the T-T as a group of four free-circulation, tabloid-format weekly newspaper
s -- a weekly Transcript-Telegram in Holyoke, and In South Hadley-Granby, In Chicopee and In Westfield, covering four of the largest cities and towns in the old daily T-T circulation area. The Chicopee
and Westfield
weeklies had actually been established about a year prior to the daily's demise.
The free tabloids immediately proved to be unprofitable, however, and the company pulled the plug on the experiment only three months later. The Holyoke Transcript-Telegram published its final edition April 23, 1993.
With the weekly T-T gone, Holyoke was in "a virtual news blackout," according to journalist Carolyn Ryan, "with only a gossip sheet called Hello, Holyoke remaining for local media." While many would dispute Ms. Ryan's characterization of "Hello, Holyoke," founded by a retired judge, as a "gossip sheet," it is true that its coverage was almost exclusively local news and opinion, with no reporting of world and national news or sports or financial coverage. That vacuum went unfilled until two years later, when Justin Prisendorf established the Holyoke Sun.
The Sun proved to have staying power, and continues (along with the lessER Hello, Holyoke) to publish today. Since 2001, the 10,000-circulation Sun has been owned by Turley Publications
.
Holyoke, Massachusetts
Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range of mountains. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 39,880...
, USA, and adjacent portions of Hampden County
Hampden County, Massachusetts
-Demographics:As of the census of 2004, there were 461,228 people, 175,288 households, and 115,690 families residing in the county. The population density was 738 people per square mile . There were 185,876 housing units at an average density of 301 per square mile...
and Hampshire County
Hampshire County, Massachusetts
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 152,251 people, 55,991 households, and 33,818 families residing in the county. The population density was 288 people per square mile . There were 58,644 housing units at an average density of 111 per square mile...
.
Published as a daily since 1882, the newspaper folded in January 1993 after four years of heavy losses. Long owned by the Dwight family, the T-T
Newspapers of New England
Newspapers of New England Inc. is a privately-owned publisher of seven daily and weekly newspapers in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.The company's flagship publication is the Concord Monitor, in New Hampshire's capital...
, which had been founded by the Dwights as a holding company for the T-T and other newspapers it had acquired.
With the departure of the T-T, Holyoke lost its only newspaper of record
Newspaper of record
Newspaper of record is a term that may refer either to any publicly available newspaper that has been authorized by a government to publish public or legal notices , or any major newspaper that has a large circulation and whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered professional and...
. Daily newspaper readers in the city turned to newspapers in nearby cities, which increased their coverage of Holyoke: the Union-News of Springfield
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
, now called The Republican; and the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Daily Hampshire Gazette
The Daily Hampshire Gazette is a six-day morning daily newspaper based in Northampton, Massachusetts, and covering all of Hampshire County and southern towns of Franklin County, Massachusetts...
of Northampton
Northampton, Massachusetts
The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton's central neighborhoods, was 28,549...
.
History
Founded as Holyoke's first newspaper, the Hampden Freeman, in 1846, the story of the T-T begins when William G. Dwight became part-owner of the paper in 1882. He oversaw the conversion of the weekly, by then called the Holyoke Transcript, into a daily; and in 1926 he completed the acquisition of the Holyoke Telegram daily, lending the combined newspaper the name it would keep until 1993.Dwight died in 1930, and his wife, Minnie Dwight, became publisher. Their son, also named William Dwight, was named managing editor of the T-T; he also explored other investments. He founded WHYN radio with Charles DeRose, owner of the Daily Hampshire Gazette
Daily Hampshire Gazette
The Daily Hampshire Gazette is a six-day morning daily newspaper based in Northampton, Massachusetts, and covering all of Hampshire County and southern towns of Franklin County, Massachusetts...
. The two also founded WHYN-TV
WGGB-TV
WGGB-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts licensed to Springfield. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 40 from a transmitter on Mount Tom in Holyoke. The station can also be seen on Charter and Comcast channel 4...
, the Springfield area's second television station, in 1954. They sold the WHYN properties in 1967.
Another of William Dwight's purchases would have a profound impact on the T-T
The Recorder (Greenfield)
The Recorder is a six-day morning daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, USA, covering all of Franklin County, Massachusetts; Hinsdale, New Hampshire; and Brattleboro, Guilford and Vernon, Vermont...
. His later purchases of the Concord Monitor
Concord Monitor
The Concord Monitor is the daily newspaper for Concord, the state capital of New Hampshire. It also covers substantial portions of surrounding Merrimack and Belknap counties in New Hampshire's Lakes Region...
and Valley News
Valley News
The Valley News is a seven-day morning daily newspaper based in Lebanon, New Hampshire, covering the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire and Vermont....
in New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
would lead to the establishment of Newspapers of New England
Newspapers of New England
Newspapers of New England Inc. is a privately-owned publisher of seven daily and weekly newspapers in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.The company's flagship publication is the Concord Monitor, in New Hampshire's capital...
, the company that eventually decided to close the T-T.
Following Minnie's death in 1957, her son William became publisher of the T-T, a title he held until his son, William Jr., took the reins in 1975. William Sr. stayed on as chairman of the board until 1982, succeeded in that capacity by his son Donald R. Dwight.
Decline
William Dwight Jr. stayed on as publisher only until 1981, when the company board -- made up largely of his family, as well as George W. Wilson, his brother-in-law -- fired him. William Jr. later blamed his out-of-towner replacements for the newspaper's decline, according to CommonWealth magazine:The new crew had grand journalistic visions, and forgot the Transcript's local roots, residents say. The publisher sent one reporter to ChinaPeople's Republic of ChinaChina , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, another to PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
to cover the labor Solidarity movement. "They saw it as a more metropolitan type daily, a more sophisticated newspaper," said William Dwight Jr., now an aide to Congressman John OlverJohn OlverJohn Walter Olver is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1991. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Early in his career, he was a chemistry professor and served in both chambers of the Massachusetts General Court....
. "The result is they added enormous expense to the newspaper and it was not covered by the income."
In the years 1988 to 1992, the newspaper was said to have lost $1 million as advertising and circulation declined. Some observers blamed competition with the Union-News of Springfield (which would later publish a "Holyoke Union-News" edition) or Holyoke's substantial and growing immigrant population, which diluted the market for an English-language newspaper. In a newspaper interview, the T-T
"You're wrestling with a market that has decreased substantially over the last two decades," said Murray D. Schwartz, publisher of the Transcript-Telegram. "It has really lost its downtown core. It's really a traditional story of what has happened to American cities."
Out of 69 workers at the newspaper on the day it closed, the company laid off 36. The remainder took jobs at four weekly newspapers, published at the Transcript-Telegram building, intended to take the daily's place.
Archives of the Holyoke Transcript are located at Holyoke Community College and at the Holyoke Public Library.
Weeklies
Immediately after the daily newspaper's demise, Newspapers of New EnglandNewspapers of New England
Newspapers of New England Inc. is a privately-owned publisher of seven daily and weekly newspapers in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.The company's flagship publication is the Concord Monitor, in New Hampshire's capital...
reopened the T-T as a group of four free-circulation, tabloid-format weekly newspaper
Weekly newspaper
A weekly newspaper is a general-news publication that is published on newsprint once or twice a week.Such newspapers tend to have smaller circulations than daily newspapers, and are usually based in less-populous communities or small, defined areas within large cities; often, they may cover a...
s -- a weekly Transcript-Telegram in Holyoke, and In South Hadley-Granby, In Chicopee and In Westfield, covering four of the largest cities and towns in the old daily T-T circulation area. The Chicopee
Chicopee, Massachusetts
Chicopee is a city located on the Connecticut River in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States of America. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 55,298, making it the second largest city in...
and Westfield
Westfield, Massachusetts
Westfield is a city in Hampden County, in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 41,094 at the 2010 census. The ZIP Code is 01085 for homes and businesses, 01086 for Westfield State...
weeklies had actually been established about a year prior to the daily's demise.
The free tabloids immediately proved to be unprofitable, however, and the company pulled the plug on the experiment only three months later. The Holyoke Transcript-Telegram published its final edition April 23, 1993.
With the weekly T-T gone, Holyoke was in "a virtual news blackout," according to journalist Carolyn Ryan, "with only a gossip sheet called Hello, Holyoke remaining for local media." While many would dispute Ms. Ryan's characterization of "Hello, Holyoke," founded by a retired judge, as a "gossip sheet," it is true that its coverage was almost exclusively local news and opinion, with no reporting of world and national news or sports or financial coverage. That vacuum went unfilled until two years later, when Justin Prisendorf established the Holyoke Sun.
The Sun proved to have staying power, and continues (along with the lessER Hello, Holyoke) to publish today. Since 2001, the 10,000-circulation Sun has been owned by Turley Publications
Turley Publications
Turley Publications Inc. is a privately owned commercial printer and publisher of more than a dozen weekly newspapers based in Palmer, Massachusetts, USA....
.