Trailblazer

Uriel Quilinguing .

First of two parts

“THOSE who are in their 30s are likely free from financial and personal insecurity of the 20s and not yet approaching the midlife challenges of the 40s and 50s,” writer Carolyn Gregoire wrote in an essay that Huffpost  published online five years ago.  

To back her contention, Ms. Gregoire cited a survey finding that most centenarians regard their 30s as being the best decade of their lives, both freedom and responsibility. And “those entering and leaving their 30s are likely to conduct a sort of “life audit” to assess meaningfulness and satisfaction.”

Mediakonek agrees with Huffpost writer’s perceptive claims because turning 30 is a milestone for most people; the end of youth and the beginning of adulthood. Often the 20s is considered as a period of self-discovery while the 30s is a phase of self-actualization.

Mindanao Gold Star Daily can be likened to a person who has turned 30 years old. From then on, for the next nine years, the paper will be known as a tricenarian.

Purposely, the word “tricenarian” is mentioned here because, in the more than 105,000 issues of the 30-year-old publication, only “septuagenarian” and “octogenarian” are often used to describe persons in published news stories.

Just like an infant, Gold Star Daily virtually and figuratively crawled in its initial years  of existence. Those who were with the paper in the first five years know well the constraints, yet  they were fortunate to have undergone the transition phase, an enriching experience millennials will always be deprived of.

News that were published on that day meant the reporter had taken a “vigil” either at the Operation Kahusay ug Kalinaw or in a police precinct.  And the police blotter was the most reliable source.

Black-and-white photos that were printed on that day meant the photographer took hours in the dark room, wearing a mask while mixing chemicals, making these are not under or over exposed.

Editorial and columns that were found in the op-ed pages meant these came from Underwood typewriter before these were typed again in an electric typesetter, that if there were misspelled words these have to be removed by cutting, then the words had to typewritten again and pasted with the use of transparent tapes on the final copy.

Bold letters on headlines that attract readers’ attention were intricately composed by strippers in the production rooms.

These are no longer done today as in the past 25 years.

Gone are the days when the conversations we hear in the newsroom were like this: “Blueboy, blueboy… This is Golden Eagle…” or “10-4… you’re coming in 5 by 5…”

State-of-the-art technologies have dramatically changed all these.

More than three decades ago, Cagayanons’ sources of daily information were from six AM radio stations, namely: DxCC, DxOR, DxVM, DxMO, DxCT, and DxKO and two FM stations, DxRK  and DxRL. The pioneering GMA Rainbow 12’s local daily television program, Newscope,complemented radio newscasts on radio. 

While there were six newspapers, most often only the editorial and opinion articles would attract an inquisitive mind; the news on what could have been significant and relevant events in the city and environs had already been known a week ahead. These weeklies were Bag-ong Katarungan,  Mindanao Star, Mindanao Post, News Express, Business Journal and Golden Chronicle. 

There was a daily then, Southern Philippines Tribune, the copies of which were sold like hotcakes because of tips on masiao, a popular numbers game. But the proprietor could not sustain its day-to-day operations and settle overdue bank loan obligations, aside from maintaining “grease money” to law enforcers who had padlocked its printing plant  several times. 

Then came the “Goldstar Daily” (now Mindanao Gold Star Daily) to fill the need for timely, relevant and significant news that Cagayanons really deserved at that time. Being a trailblazer, there was no need for daily to outscoop weekly newspapers; often it was, in fact, ahead of daily radio newscasts.  (to be continued)

(Uriel C. Quilinguing is a former editor in chief of this paper. He was past president of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club and is currently engaged in campus journalism trainings for students and school paper advisers.)