A Part of Glasgow's Story

In today's technological world, The Glasgow Courier is put together weekly utilizing computers and a variety of computer programs, including a file-sharing software to electronically send the pages to the printer in Havre. The technology to get the paper in your hand weekly also includes cameras, recorders and cell phone usage to get the story in order to put it on the page.

In addition to changes in the production of The Glasgow Courier, the community has also seen many changes over the years. Former Courier employees, Stan Sonsteng and Judy Saindon, have seen all of those changes first hand. Sonsteng, who started at the Courier in 1957, and Saindon, who started at the Courier in 1942, have unique perspectives on their time at the Courier and as community members.

"I started working at The Glasgow Courier when I was a junior in high school in 1942. I worked part-time as part of the program that allowed people to work and go to school during the war. I had the ability to work so many hours a day and also attend school. I operated the Linotype, put together ads, fed the press, read and made corrections as well as in the bindery department. It was always something different," explained Saindon.

"I started working at The Glasgow Courier in 1957 at 65 cents an hour. I was hired to feed the big newspaper press. At the time the press was called the bob tailed miele press, which held four pages at a time. I had to push the paper down to guide it along. I also sold ads and was the photographer. I ran all of the machines, except for the Linotype and the computer," explained Sonsteng.

A Linotype machine was a hot metal typesetting system that cast blocks of metal type. The machine itself assembled matrices, which were molds for where the letter forms, in a line. The assembled line was then cast as a simple piece, called a slug, of type metal in the process known as hot-lead typesetting. The matrices were then returned to the type magazine form in order to be reused. This process allowed for faster typesetting and composition than original hand composition in which operators placed down one pre-cast metal letter, punctuation mark or space, at a time.

It was one of the main methods to set type until about the 1970s, before it was replaced by advanced technology. The machine was used for everything in terms of printing including ads, print jobs and placing content on the page. "We had multiple machines. Two were used for the news and one was used for the ads. The one that was used for the ads had several different fonts," stated Saindon. "Each piece of metal was a width of a column. When the machine filled up with a completed line, it was placed on the galley tray. One line was corrected at a time. If there was a mistake, you took it out of the galley and then fixed it."

At the time of Sonsteng and Saindon's tenure at the Courier, it took approximately two hours to print four pages with two presses going. "We would start printing on Monday morning with the last run being on Wednesday evening. I would work until midnight or later and then have to get up and come in at 5 a.m.," said Sonsteng. "When we had a large population in the area, we would print twice a week," stated Saindon.

Nowadays when a picture wants to be included with a story, ad or obituary, the picture is either taken by a digital camera and uploaded to the computer, sent to us electronically, or if there is no electronic picture, the picture is scanned. Then the picture is saved on the computer, and utilizing the software program, InDesign, placed on the page. When Sonsteng started, physical photos had to be sent to Great Falls to get the photo-etched zinc cuts (a scan of the photo) made. "Pictures were just made up of dots,"said Sonsteng. The process of making a photo into dots was called screening, which needed to be done in order for the photo to make it more easily viewable and appealing to the eye on the page. Later on, the Courier would have a dark room where pictures would be developed directly in house. Film negatives would be looked at to determine which picture to include. The picture would then be screened and placed on the page. Due to the time involved in the process, there was no going back. If the picture wasn't the best or the most visually appealing, there was no plan B.

The content of the newspaper has also changed over the years. During Sonsteng and Saindon's tenure, correspondents from surrounding towns would submit columns to the Courier, providing information on the going-ons of the town This allowed everyone to stay informed on the happenings of the people in the town, before social media was invented. Today's content has transitioned into telling stories of extraordinary people doing extraordinary things throughout Valley County. We have reported on children's successes, new additions to a family, provided profiles on those running for local and federal government to allow voters to make a decision that is best for them as well as highlight resources available for those who need it.

Looking back at their time at the Courier, both Sonsteng and Saindon have fond memories. "We had such a fun bunch. We had lots of parties and picnics. Everyone would pull tricks on each other. We were such a close knit group," recalled Sonsteng. "It used to be such a big crew. Everyone had their own individual job. You never knew day to day what you were going to do," recalled Saindon.

In terms of the technological advances and changes, Sonsteng and Saindon have the same view, it certainly has changed how we do things."Technology has changed everything over the years. Everything is now done by hand or by electronics," said Saindon. "Technology goes on all over the country. Back then everyone wanted to work, now everyone wants to work with a computer," stated Sonsteng.

Oct. 6 to 12 is National Newspaper Week. This story is to bring attention to the long history the Courier has had in covering the county and the dedication we will continue to have in the future.