As part of the walk down memory lane we’ve taken this week with our “throwback” Homecoming designs, we’ve reached out to past Post editors. They’ve regaled us with old newsroom tales and memories of the biggest news on campus during their tenure. Although our ’80s throwback issue already ran, here are some stories from Charlie Pinyan, who was editor of The Post from 1984–85.
Coverage
Some of what I recall was the way international news had a local angle: There were protests over whether to include a Palestinian flag on the College Green with the flags of nations of students at OU. There were protests over U.S. involvement in Central American conflicts … and when we invaded Grenada. If you read the letters to the editor from the early 1980s (my era) you’ll see (sadly) how many international conflicts were argued over that are still unresolved. But the good side was that there were so many students from so many nations that you got to personally meet and interact with people from around the world.
Notable Stories
A Libyan student was murdered and the body placed in an underground tunnel on campus. I don’t think it was ever solved. My city editor remembers coverage of the rape of a student in New South Green by a baseball player from Marietta College. He was visiting OU. Got drunk Uptown. Meets a girl. She tells him to come to her room. Gets to the Quad. And GOES IN THE WRONG ROOM.
One of the favorite stories from our staff was not our coverage but the advantage of being up all night working on the paper: Late in the afternoon, they start playing funeral music on Soviet radio. UPI runs an “urgent” about the music. Soviet President Andropov dies about 5 a.m. And The Post is the only morning paper in two time zones stupid enough to have the story. Because we didn’t put the paper to bed until 5:30 a.m. That’s right… Except the headline was crooked and was the inspiring “Andropov Dies After Long Illness.” Long was tilted up if memory serves.
How was coverage different?
No TV in the newsroom, no such thing as cell phones or Internet, floppy discs that kept breaking… I’m sure it’s hard to imagine all that.
What was it like in the “Old Baker” basement?
Well, in my era (1981–85) there were lots of cigarettes (I didn’t smoke) and beer (well, the drinking age was 18) in the newsroom, but not in the Production Room. (P.S. Same / Different — RJ Sumney ran the Production room…) We had our own “graffiti wall.” And we loved to roast one another with published “Post profiles” at graduation time.
You know what? It was a quality paper that was well-read. Our slogan was “First on the beat, first on the street — daily!”
Personally: the friends I made from my time there are some of the best friends in my life — and have remained so going on about 30 years…
Professionally: we “knew” we would all end up running The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal… But of course that didn’t happen. My friends and I have gravitated to a variety of jobs and careers (for example, I am a Catholic priest — ordained in 1992). But our years at The Post shaped our lives in so many profound ways.
