近距离内射合集

Editor鈥檚 note: On June 20, 1926, the 近距离内射合集 published its first edition under the Pepperday/Lang family ownership. To mark that 100-year anniversary, we sat down with publisher Bill Lang to discuss the family鈥檚 legacy and the Journal鈥檚 future.

Delivering newspapers on his bike when he was 10. Spending many Saturdays at the 近距离内射合集-Tribune plant with his dad and older brother. Writing weather recaps for the newsroom as a teenager. 

近距离内射合集 Publisher William P. Lang (who is known as Bill) grew up in a newspaper family and is the second member of the third generation of his family to serve as publisher.

He has seen the newspaper industry go from the painstakingly slow hot-type process, to cold type, to today鈥檚 digital news production through computers, cell phones, podcasts and live video feeds, delivered 24 hours a day.

Despite that transformation, not all has changed. The Journal continues to print a newspaper seven days a week, 365 days a year. 

And as the Journal celebrates 100 years of the Pepperday/Lang family鈥檚 ownership, Bill says the family remains committed to continuing the legacy of providing New Mexicans with accurate, important information about their community in perpetuity. In fact, Bill鈥檚 son, Pepper Lang, has joined the organization to ensure a fourth generation of Lang ownership and continued legacy.

鈥淚t's an important year for us and we want to celebrate it,鈥� Bill said in the recent sit-down interview. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 kind of a stepping stone, not only just for the Journal, but even for the ownership, because basically after my generation, the next generation, the next 100 years, takes over.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a time of passing the baton, if you will. So, this is a pretty special time.鈥�

Below is a condensed transcript of our conversation with Bill (in quotes), along with paraphrased information he provided during the interview. A short video from the interview is available at .

The early years

Bill grew up in Albuquerque. His father was C.T. Lang, the nephew of Thomas Pepperday, who purchased the 近距离内射合集 in June 1926. 

"I probably actually started delivering newspapers on the street with my bike, when I was probably 10 or 12. Our goal then was to make sure the paper  (the afternoon Albuquerque Tribune) was delivered before Walter Cronkite came on.

鈥淲hile in high school, I was in the editorial department. I learned how to write the weather every day in the summertime, which is a bit of a drag because it's kind of hard to say 鈥榩artly cloudy and sunny鈥� for the entire month of June. And how many different ways could you say that?鈥�

C.T. Lang died unexpectedly at the age of 59, when Bill was 19. His older brother, Tom, was 24. At the time, Tom was in Hollywood, Florida, helping install a printing press for a newspaper there. Bill was at California Western University in San Diego. Tom took over for his father, while Bill, after spending some time at home, returned to school to get his degree.

鈥淚 came home for a year but returned to San Diego to finish college. That's what my dad wanted. 

鈥淎nd then I came back here, started working. I primarily started in the Circulation Department. Then in the late 鈥�70s, we decided that we were going to move here to where Journal Center is today. We moved the production part out here in 鈥�82, and we kept our Downtown (newsroom and administration) operation.鈥�

Two plants, more challenges

鈥淲e had two plants, two different areas. We had to take everything we produced Downtown and get it out to our production plant quickly so we could make the plates, get the presses going and deliver the paper. We didn't have high-speed internet lines. Internet was something not even thought of at that point.鈥� 

The plan was to use microwave transmission to send the pages 鈥� filled with advertising and news 鈥� from Downtown to the new production plant located along Jefferson, more than eight miles away. But you needed a clear line of sight for that to happen.

鈥淭he business manager and I went up on the roof (of the Downtown plant). We looked over and there's the tallest building. That's where we needed to bounce this off of. It was a hotel (now Hotel Albuquerque.) They put a repeater board on the very top of the penthouse of their building. So we bounced all of our information off the Hotel Albuquerque to out here.

鈥淲e just made it happen. Not many people did that at that time. It was kind of crazy, but it worked, and it worked flawlessly.鈥�

When the newspaper moved its news and administration operations to Journal Center in 1985, the organization used fiber optics within the plant to transmit information to plate makers, increasing speed and efficiency dramatically.

Starline Printing

Bill's next move was to take over Starline Printing, a business that the publishing company purchased to handle the growing number of advertising inserts, a major revenue producer.

鈥淲e wanted to do inserts, and we wanted to expand that. We recognized we needed to have a separate entity do it. And at the time Starline was going through some difficult times, kind of a change of ownership. So we bought the company. We added about 20,000 feet onto it, put some more presses in there. We started doing inserts. And then we expanded the commercial printing business.鈥�

At one time, the Journal produced about 3.5 million inserts a week out of Starline, including the majority for New Mexico, parts of West Texas and parts of Arizona.

 Taking over as publisher

While Bill oversaw Starline, Tom was the Journal publisher during a time of great expansion both at the Journal and in the newspaper industry generally. But Tom鈥檚 health began to decline in 2008, and by 2012, Bill had taken on his duties. Tom died in 2015.

By this time, the newspaper industry had started experiencing serious challenges as the internet expanded and newspapers鈥� slice of the media pie shrank. This was the Journal that Bill took over, forcing difficult decisions about cutbacks, while expanding digital opportunities. 

鈥淲hat's happened (to other newspapers) is they've typically been bought by larger corporations. I will tell you, in some cases they're not as community-oriented as perhaps they would be if they were locally owned. It's a shame. 鈥�

鈥淲e really have to project to the community that journalism's something worth paying for, and that it's important. And it's important what we cover. We still have the largest newsroom in the state. So, we're committed to doing that because it's important for the state to have that 鈥� good journalism.鈥�

Battling fake news

One of the biggest challenges facing newspapers is that most people now get their information free from the internet 鈥� and it is most often unvetted information. And whereas internet sites are rarely sued for spreading false information, newspapers face that very real threat. 

鈥淭hat's where I think so much of the so-called fake news comes from, because people can say what they want on the internet and they're not held accountable. We are held accountable.

鈥淪o the fact-finding part of it is a really big part of our business, because we want to be the reliable source. And what we want to do is give people facts 鈥� we think that's our job.鈥�

Active in the community

When it comes to being active in the community, Bill has taken a much different path than his brother. While Tom stayed away from participation on community boards, Bill has served 鈥� and led 鈥� several. He does it because he believes strongly in the mission of the organizations.

鈥淚've been fortunate to be on the Board of Trustees and actually the chairman of the Albuquerque Community Foundation. Same thing with the (University of New Mexico) Foundation. I've been on that board for many years. 鈥� As a research university, they really do a great job, but they don't get enough credit. And so we're still involved with the UNM Foundation Board and want to help them continue because their whole goal is scholarships. And the university wouldn't be as good as it is without that kind of contribution. Education for us is a No. 1 criteria that we look at along the way.鈥�

Bill says the benefits far outweigh any concerns about serving on boards. He cites the relationships he forms and the different perspectives he is exposed to 鈥� as well as what he can bring to the table. Even though he鈥檚 taken heat from other board members for some Journal stories, he does not let that influence the newsroom鈥檚 coverage. He just asks that the coverage be fair, thorough and accurate.

鈥淎 (negative) Journal story would come out, like, two days before the board meeting. It was always a challenge and a half at that board meeting. But I feel it鈥榮 important to be part of those boards because knowing those community leaders and them knowing that we contribute there, that's important for us to do that. 鈥�

鈥淎nd you listen for other opinions you wouldn't necessarily hear, which broadens your horizon about what's going on, which I think is important.鈥�

The Journal and personal contributions

Since Pepperday bought the paper, the Journal has provided financial support and extra coverage to organizations ranging from the Science Fair to the Spelling Bee to the Rio Grande Zoo to the National Hispanic Cultural Center. While not touting the support in huge headlines, news stories often include mention of the Journal鈥檚 role. What the Lang family does behind the scenes 鈥� which is sizable 鈥� is left unreported.

鈥淲e do what we think is right, but we also don't wave a flag a lot either. We prefer not to do that. And there it goes back to Mr. Pepperday. He didn't like that either. It was important that the Journal could take credit (for some contributions) and not him personally.

鈥淏ut I think 鈥� if you're involved with the community and you believe in the community, you can be part of it and you can try to help wherever you can.鈥�

 Why so many longtime employees?

The walls of the Journal鈥檚 cafeteria are lined with dozens and dozens of portraits of 25-year employees, each of whom is awarded with a Rolex watch on their 25th anniversary. All departments of the operation are staffed and have been staffed with longtime employees 鈥� some working there 40-plus years. 

鈥淲e had one who started before she graduated high school, and she stayed for 44 years. I mean, the stories are pretty impressive. And so I think that they're here because they like what we do. I know for me, I like coming to work because of the people, because they're interesting people. They're good to work with. They're passionate about what they do.鈥�

Today鈥檚 Journal 鈥� how to get it, how to read it

Under Bill鈥檚 leadership, the Journal offers a multitude of new products and ways to get the news. In addition to the printed paper, products include a website, two apps, digital newsletters, podcasts, social media news clips, and live-streamed interviews and forums with newsmakers.

鈥淲e're adapting to how people want to read (offering both print and various digital products).

鈥淎nd believe it or not, we have about 6 million views a month of people who get their digital print replica. So there's a lot of good traditionalists out there.

鈥淏ut we know there's a lot of people growing up on their phones. We have to serve both. 

鈥淎nd we're doing things like more live-streaming all the time. And we know we need to do that because it's what people want. So, we're always looking at adding more of those things and making information more valuable all the time. 

鈥淭here's no doubt our print circulation has gone down, in part because people are basically really busy. So, we have to meet them where they are, and that's usually on their phone, their computer.

鈥淏ut the Sunday print paper is still very strong because people have time to read it and they take the time to read it.鈥�

What is today鈥檚 role of the Journal?

Bill stresses local news, protecting free speech, acting as a government watchdog and being loyal to the community.

鈥淚t's no different than the role we've had for a long time. 鈥� We feel our real strength is what's happening locally. And people need to know what's going on locally.

鈥淚'd like to say that everybody who represents us in the government is above reproach, but unfortunately, we do find things that they do wrong. And that's our job. We're the watchdogs. We have to watch and make sure that things are really happening correctly. For the community, that's important.

鈥淎nd protecting free speech is kind of what we grew up doing. It seems like a very natural thing to protect people's rights.The transparency of government is important, and we've grown up thinking that way. That was instilled in me, and that's just the way it should be.

鈥淨uite frankly, we're very loyal to New Mexico and Albuquerque. We've been here a long time. We think that's a part of our roots. It's important that we're here.鈥�

 Looking ahead

Bill鈥檚 son, Pepper, got involved with the family business several years ago when he began taking the helm with the family鈥檚 local real estate holdings. It鈥檚 been over the past two years that he has added the newspaper鈥檚 operations to the mix. Bill says Pepper, who spent years in the U.S. Navy as a Navy Seal and has a master鈥檚 degree in business administration, has embraced his growing role at the Journal.

鈥淢y generation represents the third generation. The next generation, which is my kids and Tom's kids, is really the fourth generation. Our ultimate goal is for the next generation to take over and do what we do. That's why Pepper's here. We've got a whole lot of things we鈥檙e working on, to make sure that the next generation can continue on what we started. Because it's important.鈥�

Karen Moses is a former Journal editor and can be reached at kmoses@abqjournal.com.

Coming June 28: From March 2020 through June 2021, COVID-19 transformed the lives of New Mexicans. The Journal covered it all 鈥� from entering crowded hospitals to sharing victims鈥� stories to keeping track of key data.