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Arctic Sounder founders remember paper's beginnings

September 20th 6:34 pm | Arctic Sounder Staff Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

When the first paper Arctic Sounder came out on April Fools' Day, 1986, founding editor Martha Stewart felt like she had given birth. It was the end of a yearlong journey to create a paper where one was before. And it was the beginning of one of the best experience of her life, Stewart said.

The Arctic Sounder was the brainchild of Bish Gallahorn, a Kotzebue resident and businessman. At the time, Gallahorn said he felt there wasn't an adequate mode of communication for the area. There was a decent radio station, but he said he felt there were still a lot of things going on that people just weren't informed enough about. Only one problem — Gallahorn's newspaper experience extended no further than his time as a paper delivery boy.

"I knew nothing about newspapers," Gallahorn remembered.

So Gallahorn went to see what the Tundra Drum did, and it confirmed for him that it was a good idea to start a paper. Now all he needed to do was find the right person.

"The right person was Martha Stewart," Gallahorn said.

Stewart might not have looked like the right person to start a paper in most people's eyes. She had no journalism experience, no page layout experience, and had spent the last decade working as a public health nurse. But that background gave her the one thing small town reporters need most — personal connections to the communities. The rest she learned.

"It took about a year," Stewart remembered. "I started off making a mile-long list of everything I didn't know. Then I ordered books. Every evening I dutifully read these books about page layout, how to write stories, journalism textbooks."

The paper had a lucky break during a trip to Anchorage just before the paper was going to be printed. This was before newspapers used computers to print out their copy. Instead, everything was done with a typesetter - a large, troublesome machine that was prone to breakdowns. Stewart was just about to purchase one in Anchorage when she went to a computer store to buy an early Macintosh computer. There in the store was the first laser printer to hit the shelves of Anchorage. Stewart said she had the store print off a page and took it around to every newspaper printer in Anchorage — they all said the image was good enough to use for printing the paper.

"We nearly got stuck in a big ditch," she said.

But even with cutting edge technology for the time, putting together the paper was a labor-intensive process. Stewart spent a lot of hours in the darkroom resizing photographs of broccoli for the local grocery store advertisement, things that are done with the click of a mouse today thanks to desktop publishing. She said the paper was a success because of the community's involvement and support. People came and helped staple the paper for mailing on publication day. The state trooper used to come and sweep the floors.

"I think people really enjoyed being around," Stewart said. "We tried to make it fun and it was something that showed. There were a fairly healthy percentage of human-interest stories and they liked that. It was a huge volunteer effort."

Stewart said she thinks that local flavor is what keeps small newspapers alive while larger ones flounder.

"It gives people a point of pride in their communities," she said.

Stewart said she learned a lot of lessons while at the paper, and she recalls two preconceived notions she had going into the paper that she was completely wrong about.

"I thought the content of the paper would be more appealing to people in Kotzebue than in the villages. But when that plane didn't arrive, I would get the loudest cry from the villages over, 'Where is the paper?'

"I also thought no one was ever going to talk to me. That was wrong. People bent my ear every day. I could only verify and print maybe 5 percent of what I knew. But people were so incredibly kind and helpful."

One of her proudest moments at the paper was one time when she was able to beat the local radio station to a news story.

"I asked the right kind of question," she said, adding that the radio reporter had covered the story the day before but hadn't phrased the question quite the same way. She then had to hold her breath for four days hoping that the radio station wouldn't figure out its error and scoop her story.

"It was a huge big deal for us," she said.

Gallahorn and Stewart both said the success of the paper depended on offering its readers unbiased coverage all the time.

"The most important thing is to keep it down the middle," Gallahorn said. "Otherwise it loses its flavor. It has to command respect."

Stewart said the experience of putting out a newspaper and having it be successful inspired her to pursue her dreams for the rest of her life.

"When it was first coming out, I was absolutely terrified. It's like the first time you try to navigate the mouth of the Noatak River in a boat by myself. People had given me visual landmarks, but still, there were chills running up my spine. I was scared to death. Same thing with the paper. I was selling my educational background as a nurse down the river, but I just kept at it and kept my head down. When you finally get across, you did it. It was such a marvel to have the paper succeed and do well, then I thought, 'Wow, you could do just about anything you put your mind to.'"

A desire to understand better the political process called her, so Stewart left the paper and went on to work for Rep. Al Adams, D-Kotzebue, and then for Gov. Tony Knowles after he was elected. She is currently the director of federal relations for the University of Alaska.

Both Gallahorn and Stewart said they wish the Arctic Sounders new owners the best of luck and both said they are proud of the young couple for taking on the challenge.

"I'm absolutely thrilled," Stewart said. "I give them high-fives for taking it on. I think they can pull it off. It was just a wonderful experience. If I was sitting back and Bish came up to me and asked me to run the paper, I would do it again in a minute."

 

Arctic Sounder Staff can be reached at news@reportalaska.com

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