Grit still delivers same family values

Q: Can you give a few of us seniors some history on the old newspaper known as Grit? We remember it from our childhoods and some of us read it for years, but we’ve always wondered how it started and why it disappeared.

A: In this day and age when image is everything, you really have to wonder how something called Grit ever lured enough readers to survive its infancy.

Yet despite a name more suited to road-paving material, Grit not only survived but wound up calling itself “America’s Greatest Family Newspaper” — and probably deservedly so. At its high point in 1969, it boasted 1.5 million subscribers. But its renown in newspaper circles went well beyond sheer numbers. For example, it was a pioneer in introducing offset printing. When it published a picture of the American flag in June 1963, it became one of the first U.S. newspapers to run a color photograph. It also featured a host of popular features, including such comic strips as Donald Duck and Blondie along with a regular column by noted publisher (and “What’s My Line?” panelist) Bennett Cerf.

And don’t go writing the publication’s obituary just yet. Starting in September 2006, Grit switched from the weekly tabloid format you probably remember into a slick, sophisticated, bimonthly magazine that continues to this day. If you’re interested in reliving old times, I’ll give you subscription information later, but first you must hear a tale about a poor immigrant whose own grit and determination turned a wild idea into a publishing phenomenon that has lasted more than 130 years.

Dietrick Lamade was born Feb. 6, 1859, in Goelshausen, Baden, Germany, the fourth child of Johannes and Caroline Lamade. When he was 8, his family moved to the United States, hoping for a better life in Williamsport, Pa. But on New Year’s Day 1869, his father died of typhoid fever, leaving Caroline to care for nine children. So to help keep his family afloat, 10-year-old Dietrick began earning $3 a week as an errand boy for a German-language newspaper and later became a printer’s apprentice.

By 1882, he had become assistant composing room foreman for the Williamsport Daily Sun and Banner, which that very year started a Saturday edition it called Grit. (Unfortunately, the reason for the name has been lost to history.) Confident in his growing publishing skills, Dietrick then left the Daily Sun to help revitalize a small weekly newspaper, The Times. But within weeks, The Times’ publisher died, leaving 25-year-old Dietrick with no job, a wife and two hungry children. At about the same time, the Daily Sun ceased publication of Grit.

Desperate, the young newspaperman went for broke. He convinced two men — the former editor of Grit and another printer — to help him buy the Times’ printing plant as well as the Grit name from the Daily Sun. His plan: to relaunch Grit as an independent Sunday newspaper.

At first, the idea went nowhere. After a few months, he had gone through seven partners and was facing a mountain of debt even though circulation had climbed to 4,000 the first year.

Then, realizing that he’d never survive as a purely local paper, he began coming up with radical ideas that changed everything. In 1885, Lamade offered a contest in which readers sent in coupons for a chance to win prizes. On Thanksgiving 1885, three out-of-towners and two local readers were awarded the five grand prizes. More important, circulation grew to 14,000, and Grit wound up with $400 in the bank and no outstanding bills. To reward themselves, Lamade and his partners gave themselves a raise — from $12 to $15 a week.

Then, in 1891, Lamade hit upon the idea that even I remember as a youngster — asking kids all over the country to sell the paper in return for earning a few cents on each copy sold. By 1900, its circulation had soared to 100,000 as its new sales force combined with its editorial policy to keep rural readers happy.

“Always keep Grit from being pessimistic,” Lamade once explained during an employee banquet. “Avoid printing those things which distort the minds of readers or make them feel at odds with the world. Avoid showing the wrong side of things, or making people feel discontented. Do nothing that will encourage fear, worry, or temptation. Whenever possible, suggest peace and good will toward men. Give our readers courage and strength for their daily tasks. Put happy thoughts, cheer, and contentment in their hearts.”

It’s a philosophy that served the Lamade family well for nearly a century. By 1932, circulation was up to 400,000 with a work force of 200. In the 1950s, Grit boasted 30,000 carriers delivering 700,000 papers. By that time, Dietrick had passed the publishers’ baton to son George.

“To compete with metropolitan dailies or national magazines was never Dad’s aim,” George said once. “He wanted only to serve those villages and hamlets removed from the influences of big cities. Grit has had for many years the largest concentration of circulation in small towns of any publication.”

But the publication has had to change with the times. In 1944, it switched from broadsheet to tabloid. It began publishing three editions — one for Williamsport and another for Pennsylvania along with its national edition.

Then came the biggest changes of all. In 1981, the Lamade family stepped down as publishers, and, in 1983, the paper was purchased by Stauffer Communications. After 111 years as a Williamsburg landmark, Grit’s offices were moved to Topeka in 1993. Then, in 1996, Stauffer sold Grit to Ogden Publications. which is owned by Ogden Newspapers, based in Wheeling, W.Va.

Finally, in 2006, Ogden converted the paper into its current semimonthly magazine. But while many former readers might be surprised by the new format, the company says it still delivers the same values readers have come to expect from day one: community, family, positive outlook and sharing. And if you could use some of those old-fashioned ideals, you can buy a subscription at www.grit.com or call 800-456-6018. It’s $19.98 a year — or save $5 by paying in advance.

Today’s trivia

Which well-known Kansas city has a biblical name that means “city of the plains”?

Answer to Saturday’s trivia: Did you have any idea that the wildly popular computer game Tetris comes from Russia? It’s true. In the early 1980s, Russian game designer Alexey Pajitnov was working for the Dorodnicyn Computer Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow when he developed a game that challenged players to build structures by manipulating four-block tetrominoes that kept falling down a matrix. He called it Tetris — a combination of the Greek “tetra” meaning “four” (each piece contains four segments) and “tennis,” Pajitnov’s favorite sport. Tetris became the first entertainment software to be exported from the USSR to the U.S., where it was published by Spectrum HoloBye for the Commodore 64 and IBM PC. In 2007, the Imagine Games Network (IGN) named it second only to Mario Brothers on its list of the 100 Greatest Video Games of All Time.

This story was originally published March 20, 2016 at 3:44 PM with the headline "Grit still delivers same family values."