[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 16 (Tuesday, January 27, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 THE ST. PETERSBURG TIMES CELEBRATES 125 YEARS OF PUBLISHING EXCELLENCE

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                         HON. C. W. BILL YOUNG

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 27, 2009

  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Speaker, The St. Petersburg Times, my 
hometown newspaper, began its 125th year of publishing this month.
  Starting from humble beginings in the back of a Dunedin, Florida 
drugstore, 3 people--a doctor, dentist and printer--turned out 480 
copies of the newpaper's first edition. Today, The Times is Florida's 
most read newspaper.
  Following my remarks, I will include for the benefit of my 
colleagues, a column by Paul Tash, the Editor, Chairman and Chief 
Executive Officer of The St. Petersburg Times, commemorating the 
newspaper's growth and plans to celebrate its history over the next 
year.
  Madam Speaker, The St. Petersburg Times has dutifully recorded the 
history of our community these past 125 years, and as Paul Tash writes, 
``sharing in the success, suffering in the setbacks.'' Please join me 
in thanking all those past and present employees of The Times who have 
brought the news to our doorstep, in good times and bad, and even 
during the most trying of times.

             [From the St. Petersburg Times, Jan. 14, 2009]

              Our Common History: Tampa Bay and Its Times

                 (By Paul Tash, Editor, Chairman, CEO)

       This year the St. Petersburg Times turns 125 years old. To 
     mark the occasion, we are starting a weekly feature of local 
     history, drawn from the newspaper's own pages. In their 
     origins, neither the newspaper nor its community amounted to 
     much.
       The Times started out as a weekly in July of 1884. In the 
     back room of a drugstore in Dunedin, three men--a doctor, a 
     dentist and a printer--teamed up to produce the first 
     edition. The total circulation was 480 copies. As my 
     colleague Rob Hooker once wrote, ``Their paper was like the 
     community--small, humble and faced with an uncertain 
     future.''
       Over the years, however, the frontier villages scattered 
     around Tampa Bay grew together into a vibrant, dynamic 
     metropolitan region, and the Times grew with it.
       Today it is Florida's favorite newspaper, with the largest 
     circulation in the state. Nelson Poynter, a generous and far-
     sighted owner, protected its independence, and three decades 
     after he died, the Times remains rooted in this community, 
     not part of a chain or conglomerate.
       There have been rough patches along the way. Back in the 
     1930s--the last time a real estate boom collapsed into 
     depression--St. Petersburg city government defaulted on 
     millions of dollars in bond payments, and the public schools 
     started charging tuition. On the outskirts of town, a sign 
     went up warning visitors, ``Do Not Come Here Seeking Work.''
       Those hard times also hit the Times. Advertising dropped by 
     two-thirds. Since they had no cash, merchants paid their 
     bills with vouchers, which the newspaper parceled out to 
     employees as pay. At one point, the news staff dropped to 15 
     people, and the paper itself dwindled to eight pages.
       But over the long term, the trend lines have kept climbing. 
     Compare just two scenes.
       During the World Series in 1924, a crowd gathered outside 
     the Times' offices while an editor with a megaphone called 
     out the play-by-play, coming by telegraph into the newsroom. 
     Eighty-four years later and just a few blocks away, 40,000 
     fans gathered to watch the town's own team playing in the 
     World Series.
       For a century and a quarter, the St. Petersburg Times has 
     recorded the unfolding story of our region, sharing in its 
     success, suffering in the setbacks. Now we celebrate our 
     common history by offering these slices of it. And even in 
     this difficult stretch, we are betting that Tampa Bay's best 
     days lie ahead. That is one of history's lessons.

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