Oklahoma's newspapers - yesterday, today, tomorrow and the next century

OKLAHOMA'S NEWSPAPERS
THE HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA NEWSPAPERS:  THE PIONEERS

Part 2: Creating the Oklahoma Press Association

BY M. SCOTT CARTER

One group liked to have a good time. The other group wanted to preserve history.
And though both represented the men and women involved in the state's newspaper industry, they didn't get along very well and would have, if given the chance, stayed in separate states. 
Yet before it was all over, both organizations joined forces and formed one of the strongest newspaper associations in the country.
Getting there wasn't easy.
The history of the Oklahoma Press Association is a tale that pre-dates the history of the state itself. And the OPA's founding, like the stories of the newspapers it serves, is a colorful 'it-could-only-happen-here' type of story.
At least that's what the old-timers say.
Long before Oklahoma became a state, it was the home of many newspapers. And long before those newspapers had a modern press association, they had two separate, distinct organizations that were "as unconscious of each other as if they were located in separate states."
Dr. Leo E. Bennett formed the first of the two associations - the Indian Territory Press Association - in 1888. Bennett was the editor of the Indian Journal.
"Those boys wanted an association so they could get together," said Ben Blackstock, former executive director of the Oklahoma Press Association. "They said they wanted an organization because journalism was a lonely business." 
The second group - the Oklahoma Territory Press Association - was founded two years later to "preserve the history of the territory," Blackstock said.
And for a while neither organization paid much attention to the other.
"This feeling of separation, no doubt, was the result of the prolonged and bitter discussion waged in the newspapers and at numerous statehood conventions which kept alive the ideas of two states versus one state," wrote newspaper historian L. Edward Carter in his book, The Story of Oklahoma Newspapers.
And the new state's growing pains made matters even worse.
While the ITPA was founded in 1888, history shows it really wasn't active until several years later. 
"Although the group planned to meet in June 1888, the efforts to settle the Oklahoma Territory, the meeting of the Cherokee Council and the controversy over leasing the lands of the Cherokee Outlet for grazing monopolized the attention of the editors and the proposed summer session was forgot," Carter said.
The result was an association that existed - in name only - for about seven years. Then, in 1895, the ITPA reorganized.
During that same time, their partners to the west - the OTPA - had already founded their own organization in 1890. And that organization, Carter wrote, was "established with the idea of including the press from both territories."
The process took a while.
When the OTPA convened its meeting in Kingfisher in 1893, it officially adopted the moniker of Oklahoma Press Association - with membership limited to the editors and publishers of Oklahoma Territory.
And while there was still debate over the possibility of a merger with the boys and girls in Indian Territory, the OPA made some history of its own by working to preserve its own history.
The OPA founded the Oklahoma Historical Society.
"William P. Campbell of Kingfisher proposed that the press group should organize the society as a repository for territorial newspapers," Carter wrote. The proposal was adopted and the state's historical society was born.
But when the state's pioneer publishers weren't preserving their history or debating the pros and cons of one state versus two states, they had other interests - they drank.
At least they drank at their annual meetings.
"The saloons furnished the wine," Carter wrote in his history. "(And the wine) was of the best quality and exhaustless in quantity. The breweries furnished the beer, and the supply was ample and the quality unsurpassed."
In fact, those early gatherings featured so much alcohol and "fun" that at least one publisher urged the members to adopt a more restrained approach to their yearly meetings.
"The people expect about as much dignity and sobriety in an editorial association as they do in a conference of ministers," said Tom B. Ferguson, who was then editor of the Watonga Republican. "The Oklahoma press represents the best thoughts of Oklahoma and the brethren at their public meetings should maintain the dignity of the profession."
The publishers may have listened to Ferguson, but they didn't stop drinking.
And they also continued their separate fights for statehood.
When it became obvious that then-President Teddy Roosevelt wanted a single state formed from both territories, officials from both groups changed their tone and began to talk of merging their respective organizations.
Then, in May of 1906, representatives of both groups met together in Shawnee to work out details of the merger. After meeting separately, the OPA and the ITPA voted unanimously to approve the merger and form the Oklahoma Press Association.
But neither organization had the resources for hiring a professional staff.
In fact, Blackstock said that from the time of the merger until about 1928, the OPA "didn't have any paid staff at all" and, instead, was housed at the University of Oklahoma's school of journalism.
It would take years, he said, before a professional staff was on board. But during that time, the publishers were exposed to their share of historic figures, including temperance crusader Carrie Nation who cornered them at their first, official OPA meeting.
"Mrs. Nation got the floor and for an hour harangued the publishers about accepting liquor advertisements," Carter wrote. "To stop her, a fake telephone call for her was announced."
Nation left the meeting, Carter said, and when she returned to the banquet hall, "most members had retreated to a nearby bar." Not to be outdone, Nation followed and "renewed her tirade against liquor."
Slowly things began to change.
The association matured and within a few years hired its first staff.
"They hired Harry B. Rutledge as a part-time journalism teacher and field secretary for the OPA," Blackstock said. "That rocked along for several years and Rutledge did such a great job that he was offered a job at the National Newspaper Association."
Following Rutledge's departure, Ray Dyer managed the organization and moved it to the Biltmore Hotel. "He had a borrowed desk and a borrowed chair," Blackstock said. "And that's how it got started up there."
Dyer would later hand the OPA's reins to Vernon Sanford, the third secretary-manager. Sanford, Carter wrote, would be lured away from the OPA by Texas publishers and be replaced by Morris P. Moore. 
Moore, suffering from poor health, would leave less that a year later.
Tom Rucker would replace Moore, only to be replaced  himself a few years later because, Carter said, "the OPA was literally going broke."
Rucker's former assistant, a youngster named Blackstock, would replace his former boss and the position of secretary-manager wouldn't change hands again for 44 years. 
"It was a hell of a job," Blackstock, now retired, said. "There was so much variety to it. It was always different."
A graduate of the University of Oklahoma's school of journalism, Blackstock holds the record as the association's longest-serving executive. But those first months, he said, were difficult.
"When I got there at the Biltmore, there were two women working for the OPA - a secretary and a bookkeeper," he said. 
Blackstock found himself in charge of an association that was bleeding money.
"It took me about three weeks, with the bookkeeper's help, to discover that we had enough money for payroll for about the next six weeks. Period. That was it."
But Blackstock, who describes himself as "pretty persistent" refused to concede.
"I knew if we were gonna' make it, I was gonna' have to sell some advertising," he said. "So I did."
Things improved, the OPA continued to grow and, over time, added new services and benefits for its members. During this same time, the association began to flex its political muscles.
"When I got there, the publishers never had a legislative program," Blackstock said. "Instead, they worked with the Senate leader, James C. Nance. I convinced them to start a legislative committee. That committee met all the time and came up with 14 bills."
Those bills, the publishers told Blackstock, needed to become law.
"Well, I'd never even been in the Capitol before," he said. "So I found the five most successful lobbyists out there and learned from them. And, by the time session ended, we'd got 12 of our 14 bills done."
 Blackstock also helped the OPA create its wildly successful short course program and developed new, unique ways of generating revenue. He's considered one of the most successful newspaper association executive directors in the country.
"One of the reasons we were successful, without a doubt, was that I had the freedom to experiment and try anything, even if it failed," he said. "That helped."
He was successful at looking after himself, too.
Once, when a few publishers complained about his salary - during a time when Blackstock was seeking a raise - he used theatrics to defuse the situation and, in the end, make his point.
"I was wanting a raise and a couple of 'em (board members) were raising hell about my pay," he said. "So I talked Bonnie (his wife) into dressing the kids in raggedy clothes and bringing them to the board meeting. Of course the board figured out pretty quickly what I had done, but I believe they saw the humor in it."
Blackstock got his raise.
"I never had a contract," he said. "I always figured I could live with a board vote of six to four."
And while he did encounter his share of problems, Blackstock left the association in good hands. When he retired in 1995, the OPA was, he said, an $8 million corporation.
"I feel like I did 'em a good job," he said. "It was successful."
That success continues today.
Mark Thomas, a former employee of Blackstock's, has served as the OPA's current executive director since 1995.