Tuesday, January 4, 2011

All: This Is My Last Day - Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

In 1989, the Berlin Wall came down, thousands were killed when students protested on Tienanmen Square in Beijing, Alaska was blackened with the Exxon Valdez oil disaster, Pete Rose was banned from baseball for betting on games, Colin Powell was appointed Joint Chiefs of Staff and the world series was disrupted when an earthquake shook up San Francisco.

In 1990, East and West Germany were reunited, Margaret Thatcher resigned, Nelson Mandela was freed, Manuel Noriega turned himself in to the U.S. military to face drug trafficking charges and Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.
The news never stopped, but UPI was facing manpower shortages and mounting financial losses. In an effort to resolve the money issues, management chose to fire more employees, close bureaus and cut wages.

The farewell messages were more than goodbyes from colleagues; they were
notice that we were losing the manpower to do the job and losing the bureaus
in states that depended on them. I had started the practice of starting my
day at 6 a.m. every day with an "All" message. It was my way of saying good
morning, usually with something that was light or funny or just weird. On
Sept. 21, 1990, I sent the following message:
all:
following msg crops up in the midst of today's farewell missives: "won't be
tracking down study. have no staff to do it. we'll just have to do without."
rosso-wa

It resulted in a reprimand from UPI Executive Vice President Pieter Van
Bennekom, who said my message was "completely gratuitous and unnecessary"
and "harmful to the interests of UPI." VanBennekom said the company had been
"leaning over backwards" to allow departing Unipressers to send farewell
messages and that my "All" message "completely crossed that line, jumping
into the middle of a normal businesslike message exchange between two other
colleagues that had nothing to do with you."

This note was to serve as the catalyst for my termination three years later.

Meanwhile, the layoff orgy continued, more bureaus closed and UPI was left
with fewer resources with which to do the job.

Unipressers
ok, it's my turn. i've rewritten this message a hundred times in the past
few weeks. what it comes down to is that no matter how many more
employees or clients the other outfits have, none ever have had or ever
will have a finer group of staffers. you are what has always made upi
a special company (and why i've quit twice before and come back).
whether you're staying with upi or leaving, the best of luck to you, to the
many friends i've made: if you ever head toward virginia, there'll always
be a light on and welcome mat out for you at our house. 73s
jill lai-waftus
09-21-90

unipressers
ouch! getting kicked off the upi rollercoaster smarts! and not knowing
where i'll land adds a little terror to the adventure. but when i jumped
off the radio merry-go-round 3-and-half years ago i knew the ride at
upi was getting rickety and i might lose my seat at any dip or turn. a
snickering hartford courant reporter asked me at the time how it felt to
jump onto a sinking ship and i told her i could swim. and swim i will. but
it's been a thrill to work with the legendary bruno vittorrio ranniello, who
gave me a new view of religion; mark dupuis, who gave me a new view of
politics; and dennis milewski, who gave me a chance to climb out of the
radio swill bucket and do some real news. and "young henry" (brown), of late on
the national desk, how could i forget you? well, your "big sister" is a "wib
wench" no longer. thanks for the memories guys, and if you hear of any jobs please
let me know. good luck to all who are left to continue the battle. and now i'm
off to pink slip heaven. amen.
chrs.
yost-bp (hf) (Bridgeport, Conn., Hartford, Conn.)
09-21-90

buros - i guess there are still a few left out there
hi im unemployed n yur not. but seriously, at whatever time i decide
to turn out the lights this afternoon, Frankfort will be officially downclosed n
i'll be heading to the unemployment line. as far as ky is concerned, sal-sv
is captain n crew. the last 13 months have been a great learning experience
for me, but learning experiences wont feed my kids next month. many tnks
are in order, especially to my boss n mentor sal-sv (Louisville) (the
italian stallion), keick and kreiter-hx (Chicago), cook and phola-pa, swenson-nxs (New York Sports) and king of the techs jim price in indianapolis. i hope upi survives this
latest downgrade but it dont luk gud.
who wud want to buy a wire service with only a handful of writers. my advice is
to start updating those resumes. and if you hve any baseball cards to give
away, msg me on pza. im going back on the show circuit to supplement my
non-existent income until a brighter day. thnks again to those who count. you know who
you are. danny-fy (Frankfort, Ky.)
09-21-90

unipressers
after more than nine years (this time around) my last day at upi has
finally come around. there were times i loved working here so much i would have paid
the company for the privileges. now, there's not enough money to keep me
here. for the longest time i've dreamed of ending my time at upi with a broadside
aimed at the fools and incompetents who have run this fine institution into
the ground, but now that my leave taking has arrived, i've found it doesn't
matter. my heart goes out to all the fine people who remain here and all those who
have preceded me. best wishes to all and godspeed.
reske-scotus (Washington, Supreme Court)
upi 09-21-90 12:55 ped

unipressers
as i climb into my state no-bid-contract lifeboat and row away from the
titantic spectacle of the s.s. upi, i can only salute the band members still
bravely playing away as the copycat, me-too wire sinks beneath the waves.
i'm leaving a cowering dwarf headed by privately-financed coatholders to (i
hope) one funded by the taxpayers. i can't complain. a routine layoff seems
rather mundane after once being fired for allegedly insulting a congressman in the
midst of a politically-inspired newsroom shakeup that would have put
"dallas" to shame. besides, upi had the confidence to take an unemployed medium-market
radio reporter from a dead-end job in a furniture factory and turn me loose in a
legislative playground for 16 months. very few people get the chance to work for a
legend. i did -- and they threw in a paper-laden filing cabinet of a bureau in illinois'
most beautiful office building to boot. i'll never forget eating pizza in the
house press box at four in the morning on the last day of the session or waiting expectantly
for those massive friday afternoon bill signings from the governor ("jumbo" jim
thompson). i only wish i could have put faces to all those wonderful, sardonic, enigmatic
names on the message wire. dulce et decorum est pro nupe mori.
ayers-gx (Springfield, Ill.)
09-21-90 01:43 ped

all mutants (pt. ii)
for all of u who responded, my heartfelt thx. u hv - no - idea how
painful, how much eye cried while writing tt msg, funny as it may be. eye
died the way eye lived here at upi, lurching from one crisis to the next,
entertaining myself when things got dicey or boring.
we hv tapped the keg here in big for saft's ceremony: taking everything off
of my door (whi is like 50 items tt hv been stuck up there thru the yrs et
now includes - every - one of yer beautiful msgs).
eye hv a "lovely parting gift" for each of u, in addition to the coupon,
see dsd6 thru dsd11. it's wot life was like here in the southwest division of upi.
tda's msg traffic wl be stored later, with sysid to folo.
eye personally guarantee eye wl hv one beer for each of u. u are worth tt
et more than wl ever know. thank you, et may some hier power bless each of u for
letting me be me.
73s
otto-bg (Baton Rouge)
upi 09-21-90 01:58 ped

witcher-ko, dias-nxf
especially for u:
there once were two guys on the wire;
whose antics kept all spirits higher;
but it's a sad day,
cuz i must go my way;
et i doubt i'll meet two guys much slyer.
ok, not my best et its absent of all sexual innuendo, but i just wanted to
let u kno u cheered me up on some pretty bad days. i'll miss u. ustedes estamos
en mi corazon, para siempre, gaussoin-fr (Santa Fe, N.M.)
09-21-90
all
(magers, wormser, franco, arters, stokes, ryan, stutzperson (were the
hell are u?), chap (in spirit), clausing, et al) well, i guess its my turn.
i've been reluctant to write my farewell msg cuz, well wot's there to say after
watsky? but clausing-us sez i have to. so ...
well, i made it out just before everything fell apart about five years ago
and nobody even had time for a farewell msg. ever hopeful, i waited it out
this time et i apptly waited too long. but i got to admit, i'm glad i did.
the saddest thing about leaving is the people, the worst thing is knowing
this could be the end of a wonderful, great tradition. there is nothing like
being a unipresser. thank god.
73s, gaussoin-(in forgotten but not gone) fr
09-21-90

gaussoin-fr (witcher-ko)
twas a pip, helen. eye hope u keep in touch. this hs bin a very bittersweet
last few months: eye'm wildly in love (the only way a weirdo liek me kin be, with
sumbody jes as strange as eye am), but it's very difficult to kno tt sum of
the finest peeps eye've ever encountered wl no longer be at the other end of the
fone or the "file" button. best of luk to u; eye'll keep u in my heart
always, too. vo ter saudades de voce
dias-nxf
upi 09-21-90 0:2:16 ped

unipressers
after two decades of helping to kick rox where it hurts the most -- the
logs -- it's time for this ol' cowboy to ride off into the sunset, saddlebag bulging
with clips and fond memories of sharing america's wire service with the greatest
wordsmiths around the globe. elitits we were indeed -- journalism's answer to the bronx bombers, the big red machine, doomsday defense, etc. when it came to speed, clarity and polisy, grandma's geeks were always gasping for breath. may tt spirit endure forever, as long as there's a nd to report the news. god bless and best wishes to all,
logging out in west virginia,
mannix (cw (Charleston)) porterfield
09-27-90

all (rv, br, ps, na, ms Richmond, Va., Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia,
Minneapolis) tdy is, indeed, my last official day at the helm of upi in west virginia. i
weep no tears for what is lost, for history will etch ouor names among those who
have fallen in battle for freedom of thought and expression. i am proud of my
association with upi -- the wire service of choice for the best talent in
the news industry. i leave now with light heart, knowing that the true spirit of upi
will be continued through the capable hands of hose-cw and those throughout the
country who remember...
chrs dudes
cw-simpson
09-27-90

unipressers
how many unipressers does it take to cover connecticut?
one less as of today.
eye'm not on the list on the way, but today is t-h-e day for me as well.
after 11 years of my life, it's time to get on with that life.
the pm cycle is gone, gone longer is the 5 am openings, and long gone is
the overnite. but the memories remain -- the memories of working with
the best and most dedicated group of journalists assembled.
i leave voluntarily (sort of) and head into uncharted waters. i mourn
those who have not gone voluntarily and wish the best to all who remain.
well, it's time to do some wibs ... (world in brief)
73s
dupuis hf (hfc) (Hartford)
upi 09-28-90 10:15 aed

all
all things considered it's probably good i was never bitten by whatever
airborne insect carries dreaded unipressitis ... that euphoric and
debilitating disease whose chief symptoms are clouded vision and a nasty tendency to
smash oneself into brick walls. of course it's tough to infect a moving
target. over the last 14 months i have been laid off, denied pay, relocated,
separated from my wife and two small children, resettled, and laid off again... all of
the while doing more with less and all in the name of ... can someone explain it
to me? i read some of your parting messages and i'm envious. the good days must
have been great. enduring the toughest of times must have done much to draw
people together. and of course there's upi's incredibly rich heritage and
that sensed of pride and passion underdog status always confers. but i missed all
that. i signed on for the thrill of the ride back up, as management
promised. instead things have only gotten worse and the "romance of the wire" never
was enough to overcome some particularly hard realities. and for the life of
me i could not master the alphabet soup of codes required to connect myself
with the rest of the world and become a smoothly functioning member of this
shrinking team. on the up side i went national a few times and put some polish on my
writing style. i also worked with some fine people. it seems unipressitis also
causes its victims to give their best and maintain high standards in the face of the
most frightening trends. i do believe i'm gonna miss this, but who knows why.
thank you all. i wish you well.
hyland-dv (Rochester, N.Y.)
upi 09-28-90 11:21 aed

264m
unipressers
yes, boys and girls...this is it. yet another goodbye message. today ends
my first and only year as upi state editor for sd (Springfield, Mass.). ever since
june 6, 1986 (yeah, i even remember the date) when i called in my first
story to upi as a college intern, i had wanted to be a unipresser. now i'm proud to say that i worked among the best and the brightest for 365 days. cupla thank u's; to ellen-hx for my chance
at one year in the spotlight (maybe mangan deserved the job after all!); the guys
at uc (Milwaukee) for their patience in answering my many questions (hey,
most of them made sense); and to everyone i had the great fortune to meet and work with over the past year. when i leave our basement home for the last time today i take with me a year of
valuable experience, many memories (some of them even good), and my personal copy of
monty python's "i bet they won't play this song on the radio". if any of you ever venture to the great state of south dakota (yeah, right...on purpose?), the door is always open and the bud is always cold. chrs. kelly collins-pr (Pierre, S.D.)
upi 09-28-90 11:24 aed
all
eye always swore eye wouldn't write one of those rambling, emotional
goodbye messages -- so eye won't. suffice it to say eye'm turning off the
lights here for the last time with, as lyndon johnson might have said, a
heavy heart. to those of you who are still left, hang in there. for the rest
of us, it's time to move on to new and -- hopefully -- greener pastures. 73s
bredice-vt (Montpelier, Vt.) (clarke, dillon, zentz-vt)
upi 09-28-90 6:36 ped

unipressers
my time at upi was brief but never fleeting. eye've learnt more in the
last 14 mos than any school could teach, et leave here respectful of
all ur talents, wits, kindness, et professional attitudes. eye've always
hated getting on roller coasters but love the exhilaration et this was no
exception. for those staying on, hope u can help the company in its quest
for mo' better news. as for me, eye've let go of the security bar et am
whooping all the way down the really steep part, knowing there's a whole
amusement park out there after this ride. chrs et adios to the best in the
biz. 73s.
hmieleski-kt (Albany, N.Y.)
upi 09-28-90 12:05 ped

unipressers:
After 19 years, five months and 22 days, it is time - as my wife puts
it - to get a real job. This is my final full day at UPI in a time span that
has gone by with incredible speed, yet was filled with incomparable
experiences and. more importantly, friendships that we will cherish always.
While UPI is on the threshhold of Fahrvergnugen (the ability to hold a
company-wide staff meeting in the back of a Volkswagen), keep your chins up
with the comfort and knowledge that the "p" in UPI has stood all these years
for "People" - something of which our new upper management has lost sight.
As of Monday, Sept. 24, I'll have traded quill for eyeshade, as city
editor of the Newport, Rhode Island, Daily News. The door is open for
downhold tales if you're in town.
Ken Franckling-bh (ri) (bt) (bf) (Boston, Providence, Buffalo)

307m
to all departing unipressers
i've bent elbows with a few of you, and wish i could have the rest.
you're a special breed of people. remember the good times. they'll make for
good laughs when next you cross paths.
haskell bh
upi 09-28-90 01:33 ped

unipressers
hello all. this is my last day with upi after 24 years and six months of
service. i would spare you my maudlin comments except to say it hurts
to say goodbye. i have so much to be grateful for -- the memories and
friendships of unipressers past and present. to those whom i have never
met personally, my best wishes for all your endeavors. to those i know,
simply stay well. i leave on an auspicious day, a day which honors
francis of assisi. i've asked him to use his influence with the almighty
to bless you all. 73's and 30.
bruno ranniello-hf (Hartford, Conn.)
10-04-90

unipressers
it's been 23-and-one-half years
of blood, sweat, laughter and tears
upi hired me off a stool in a saloon
back before man even walked on the moon
covered politics, fires, marches and trials
worked all shifts and drove many miles
witnessed indian uprisings and racial riots
ate plenty of junk food, never mind diets
did football, baseball and other sports
met zany, crazy news types of all sorts
became one of upr's broadcast editors
and continued one step ahead of my creditors
but the best thing i did one fine day
was to marry another unipresser, named kay
------
please accept my gratitude for being able to work with all of you these
many years. keep your heads up and keep on smilin'/
-30-
drolshagen-upi/upr (UPI Radio)
10-04-90

As the farewell messages poured in., we were greeted Oct. 5, 1990, by
another departure under tragic circumstances.

allpoints
(tweedale) i am very sad to advise all unipressers that doug tweedale,
the foreign slot person on the world desk and until a few months ago our
correspondent in managua, nicaragua, was killed last night in an accident
at his home. he was washing windows at his sixth floor apartment in
washington when a safety rope he had rigged broke and he fell to the
pavement. he was killed instantly.
we will advise you when we know about funeral arrangements.
we are all in shock here. doug was an outstanding professional. more
importantly, he was a fine human being and certainly one of the best
liked and most respected people in this organization.
edmiller-wa
10-05-90

buros
"dear friends, i write for money
with a kind heart and hand
i wish to make no enemies
throughout my native land
kind friends, now i close my rhyme
and lay my pen aside
between me and my critics
i leave you to decide.
it's been an incredible seven years. from bhola rhanda to chernobyl. three
owners and so many presidents and editors i forget. freeway shooters
and bowls of menudo, raisa and zsa zsa. a lot of friends and a few foes.
thanks, but i'm outta here. any of you lookin for freelance money or know
anyone else who might be, please contact me after 10-15-90 at xxxxxxxxxx in my new position as national and international news features editor at the advocate: the national gay (cq see stylebook pg. 68) and lesbian magazine. am looking for hard news stories pertinent to the community. We pay top dollar. also, anybody know experienced journalist in tokyo n london
interested in correspondent position. lemme know. we opening buros there n need someone. chrs n good luck to all. g. luther whitington.
10-05-90

unipressers
today is my last day with upi after about four-and-one-half years and i
think i got a little attached. first i want to say thank you. thanks for
making my job a tremendous treat -- one i have truly savored.
i'm one of the lucky ones. i was able to give notice to the company before
they could do it to me -- and i'm talking by four little days. i'll be a
state government reporter for a daily paper here in madison.
today, my capitol press room pals and i are holding a daylong funeral to
honor upi's wisconsin history. upi has had a madison buro since the 1940s,
but some estimate its presence may date to the 1910s.
i am the last in a long line of very distinguished and hard-working bureau
chiefs -- and i do consider it very much an honor to have been part of what
i hope history documents as one of the best news-gathering outfits that
ever lived.
i have great respect for admiration for those who have gone before me,
writing farewells that put littl cracks in my heart... those who will
follow me soon... and those who will remain.
i was continually impressed with the work done by all of you during my
stay here -- you're all the very best. your work has been a great source of
pride for me. we kicked rox's butt quite a few days, didn't we?
and that is what i hope you all remember. an employer can take away your
job -- but that is it! you keep the rest! you keep your pride, your
confidence, your great talents, your quality, your accomplishments, your history -- all
the good stuff is yours. you own that and never forget it!!!!
anger and bitterness does no good. remember the best revenge is living
well.
from the bottom of my heart, i wish you all lives that are very, very well.
you all are in my heart and in my backbone.
signed, your friend and fan -- joanne m. hass in the state capitol in
madison, wisconsin.
10-19-90

bureaus
my last trick is tomorrow, but eye wanted to message today to catch
as many of you as possible. the last nine years have been the most rewarding
of my life. for that, eye have all of you to thank. most particularly,
deepest thanks to everyone (many long since departed) in hx (Chicago), who taught me
the business and how to have fun while eye worked; in ia (Indianapolis), who
brought me along; in tr, trc, nk and nc (Trenton, Newark and Atlantic City), who drove
themselves so hard for me and for upi, under sometimes impossible
conditions; and here in wa, who welcomed me as a colleague and friend eye
intend to cherish the good memories (there are so many) and let the
others fade. eye'm going home to baltimore, but things have changed since
eye left so many years ago. now eye will always think of it as br, and of
myself as a unipresser.
when "'twas the night before christmas" runs on the message wire christmas
eve, will someone please fax me a copy?
tnx et chrs. -- o'shea-ntl
upi 10-19-90 10:37 aed

r v
buros: from michael v. uschan-uc (Milwaukee)
today i am writing "30" to my 20 years with united press international. i
started dec. 22, 1970, after taking my final exams at the university of
wisconsin-milwaukee and have been a "unipresser" ever since.
i'm one of the few left who can remember what it was like before computers
came on the scene and teletype operators like "steady eddie" panek put out
our copy; when we were still owned by scripps howard; and when we were battling
rox even-up and winning more than our share of the news wars against them.
it's been a wild ride and a memorable one -- both for the stories i
covered and, more importantly, the wonderful people i worked with at upi in three
different decades.
whether they sat next to me banging out bulletins on a plane crash or a
presidential primary -- or just voices on the phones or names on message
wires from across the country -- it was like being part of a dedicated
brotherhood.
there were some "wild and crazy" upi types that helped make a difficult
day more bearable with some humorous asides ... or just a word of sympathy
because they knew what i was going through.
even my immediate bosses have been decent types and the last few years
about the only good thing about my job has been the people i worked with.
i've hated the string of good-bye messages the last few months. it's been
like an extended wake, not only for departing unipressers but for the upi
that once was.
when it came down t it, i wanted a chance to say "thanks" to all the
great people i've worked with -- and to remind them to take pride in the fact
that their dedication and hard work under increasingly trying circumstances
is the only reason upi is still around today.
now my only problem, besides finding a new job to carry me to retirement,
is what to do about my personalized license plate -- which reads "upi 1."
any suggestions. msg me on cin.
"30"
michael v. uschan - uc (for a few hours more)
upi 10-23-90 05:32 ped

all
"it was the best of times, it was the worst of times." dickens never worked
for upi, but after seeing the guillotine fall on several hundred people --
and having been forced to pull the lever on 8 people myself -- in the past five
years, one has to wonder.
like a lot of unipressers, i have had a child-like faith that upi would
somehow survive, but i decided six weeks ago to leave because i could no longer
accept the role of executioner of staffers whose management had failed them.
perhaps that smug bastard john morton was right when he wrote several
years ago in the washington journalism review that upi was destined to fail
because of marketplace dynamics.
i chose to believe differently and the fact that we are still here after
years of mismanagement tends to support my belief that upi could have been a
thriving concern if the company's top executives had done things
differently.
on balance, my 10 years here have been the best of times, mostly because of
the people with whom i worked, both as a staffer and a manager.
chrs for the last time. burnett/sm-tr-cz-sm (Cleveland, Trenton, Columbus,
Cleveland)
upi 10-24-90 11:01 aed

all
to cheer you up a little.
radio station wtvn, a biggest watt clear channel station in cz, has been
running a promo that starts off by listing all those biggie watt clear
channel stations in the midwest. wgn, whas, wlw, and on and on. says what
two things does wtvn have that those stations don't? call letters that stand
for "the voice of news" and the upi midwest news leader award. and it goes
on to tout its midwest award in the upi news contest.
but don't get your chest too blown up. this contest was on the 1989 news
stories, submitted in cz at the end of 1989, given state award in spring of
1990 and the regional award not too long ago. but in the meantime, the
station has dropped upi, however it keeps it for its fm side.
latimer-cz
upi 11-07-90 10:13 pes

all
before everyone gets out the door...
Party at Wieck's, Saturday, Nov. 10, weekend after the election. All invited
for chile (green et red), bbq et beer. ... Bring yer favorite war tale et
effigy. Pass it along to all the exes. Find yerself a Texas-bound freight and hop
aboard.
--wieck-da

unipressers:
wrote a sty today about near-death experiences. the psychologists
are skeptical about all the supernatural claims. but they say the
phenomena are powerful events that usually leave people who experience
them with a much better outlook on life. hope tt's true for our brush with
death. chrs.
stein-wa
upi 11-08-90 03:56 pes

all
it is with very mixed emotions that i bid upi farewell today. my five and
a half years with the company -- i joined a month before the april 1985
bankruptcy -- have been an amazing roller coaster ride, professionally,
financially and emotionally.
i'm leaving for a writing job with a small, independent publication.
i will miss most the support and comraderie of great colleagues show
shared the horror stories and triumphs in the ongoing struggle to survive,
compete and, more than ocassionally, beat the hell out of the other guys. i
hope i made a contribution to that effort.
i will also miss the chance to write about things that really matter --
like the 1988 presidential campaign and the budget battles the last two years --
for a national and international audience, albeit a steadily shrinking one.
and, i expect i will miss the crush of daily journalism and wire service
deadlines.
those with whom i've worked know who and what i will miss least.
if upi dies in the weeks or months ahead, i hope the last story on the wire
is not some fluffy enterprise piece but a hard news story that's better
written, better edited and move faster than ap's. that's what we did best in the
glory days and that should be our epitath, hopefully to remind editors what they
will be missing. best of luck to all of you. i hope you find a way out of the upi quicksand
before it sucks you under. i enjoyed sharing the roller coaster ride with
you, but it's time for me to get off. 73s
bud newman-wa
upi 11-30-90 11:30 aes

1 comment:

  1. I always get a shiver when I see some soul gone who is younger than me. It does not feel right or just. A wonderful tribute, David.

    ReplyDelete