I know - you forgot. This is Free Paper Week. It's not a national holiday, nor will anyone be getting any cards in the mail. But it is
something to cheer about for all of us at Carroll County's Prairie Advocate News. Free Paper Week (March 15-21, 2009) marks the beginning of our
72nd year serving Lanark, Carroll County, Northwestern Illinois and Eastern Iowa.
The history of The Prairie Advocate starts in 1937, near the end of the Great Depression. Even then, people saw opportunities during tough
economic times. That's why the Brown Family decided to start a free shopper. The first editions were set up and copied on a mimeograph machine, 2 sides of a
single sheet, 8.5 x 14. Their circulation area was Lanark, about 1000 copies.
As time went on, hand-set letterpress type, Linotype machines, and a flatbed printing press were added. The paper grew in size - the same tabloid
size that The Prairie Advocate is today, but only 4 pages. The Advertiser was printed and hand folded every Thursday. Ask Caralee (Brown)
Aschenbrenner about those early days. The Brown's were her parents, and Caralee worked at the paper. She hates Thursdays to this day!
Twenty years later, in 1957, my grandparents, Norm and Flossie Hoffman, found out about a small print shop and shopper's guide for sale from a
paper salesman in Highland Park, where Norm worked. Like many entrepreneurs, Norm and Flossie always dreamed of owning their own business. They
bought The Advertiser and moved to Lanark when I was 3 years old. That was the start of my love affair with Carroll County.
Lanark was my family's second home. We drove the 2-1/2 hours from North Chicago as often as possible. I remember downtown Lanark back in
the 1960's. It was great going to Harvey Downing's Auction Barn, and saying hi to Jim and Chick at E & L Super Valu. Bill Shearer's penny candy display
was the best anywhere. Champion's Dry Goods, LeRoy's Mobil Station, the Gambles store, D & D Hardware, and the Library on Locust Street were
other places I remember visiting with Grandma and Grandpa. Going to Carbaugh's Farm Service for an ice-cold bottle of 7-Up while out on deliveries
with Grandpa is a refreshing memory. I even had a derby hat and bow tie for Lanark's Centennial Celebration in 1961. One of my earliest
disappointing memories is chasing after the Oscar Mayer Wiener-Mobile for 2 blocks, but not getting a hot dog!
Then came the 70's. The Advertiser's printing customers came from all over the area, and the paper grew to 6, sometimes 8 pages of ads. Our
family still visited as much as possible, but with my involvement in high school sports, the visits were limited to weekends without games and holidays. When I
got my driver's license, I would drive out with my brother and 2 sisters to give our parents a break. Sometimes while driving on a clear night, we would pull
off at the junction of Rts. 72 and 73 between Lanark and Shannon and look up at the millions of stars that were hidden by smog and lights in the city.
After graduating from North Chicago High School in 1972, I went to North Central College in Naperville, where I met Lynn, my future wife
and business partner. We fell in love and were married in 1973. It was then that Grandma and Grandpa asked Lynn and I if we were interested in learning a
trade, and becoming our own bosses. After 16 years, they were ready to retire. We moved to Lanark in 1974. I worked as a tire builder at Kelly-Springfield,
and Lynn was a nurse's aide, both of us working on the 2nd shift. During the day, we worked at the print shop, learning how to operate the Linotype, Ludlow
and Heidelberg, remembering where each letter went in a California hand-set type case, and the fine art of typography. I was re-introduced to the
Lanark business community.
In 1975, its 37th year, The Advertiser was purchased by Lynn and I. Still a shopper's guide, we wanted to grow. Advertisers in Shannon, Chadwick
and Milledgeville liked our little paper. So we expanded, thanks to the loyal support from these businesses and our growing readership base.
The next 10 years went by like a flash. We were blessed with 2 kids, Mike and Sarah, got a dog, then 2, and bought a house. The printing business
and the shopper were growing, and we converted the printing operation to the modern "offset" method. Our circulation had expanded to over 3,000, and
the pages grew to 8 to 12 regularly. We learned that our customers and readers knew what was best for us. They told us what they wanted, and we listened.
They wanted news, and they liked our free paper. Why not become a newspaper?
What goes around, comes around. Caralee Aschenbrenner had an idea for a weekly article on the historical - and sometimes hysterical -
Northwest Illinois region. She called it "Please Don't Quote Me . . .", and would we be interested in printing it? We knew that to become a legal newspaper, we
had to have at least 4 of our 16 pages full of news and photos. This could be a good start. But a newspaper couldn't be called the "Advertiser." What would
we re-name our paper?
Caralee had a sample article to introduce the column to our readers, that by now, had grown to cover Mt. Carroll and Thomson.
"'Please Don't Quote Me' is planned to be a column of reminiscences and comments," she wrote, "based on information accumulated by design
or accident as a result of a long abiding interest in history."
But it was the last paragraph that made an impression on us. We had our new masthead, thanks to Caralee, daughter of the founders of The Advertiser.
She wrote, "Thanks to Tom and Lynn Kocal and the people of northwest Illinois, past, present and future, for making this opportunity, and for
being such a great place to live and to be a Prairie Advocate."
About a year later, we were accepted as a member of the Illinois Press Association as a legal newspaper, renamed "The Prairie Advocate."
Today, we are one of the largest free, legal, community newspapers in the state, with a circulation of 12,300 homes in Carroll, Jo Daviess,
Stephenson, Whiteside and Ogle counties, and Sabula, Iowa. Talk of the demise of the newspaper industry in the 1990's, because of the advent of the World Wide
Web, prompted us to respond with our own web site. "If you can't beat' em, join 'em," Lynn said. She's the only person I know who has extensively read the
4-inch think HTML-code book! Being on-line for over 10 years, www-pacc-news.com has more readers than the other newspapers in Carroll County
have subscriptions. The video section on-line is now our most-viewed page.
Not bad for a couple of 21-year-old kids. Yep, that long-haired, bearded hippy in overalls that waited on you in 1975 was me! But we didn't do it
by ourselves.
The best advise we ever got was from Harvey Downing a few weeks after we became business owners. "You'll do just fine," he said. "Just listen to
your customers." We took his advice to heart, and decided that we would always be a "grass-roots" newspaper. If our readers take the time to tell us about
an event, we better cover it.
The March 25, 2009 issue will mark the beginning of the 72nd year for The Advertiser/Prairie Advocate . . . the 34th year for Lynn and I. We count
our blessings every day for the wonderful people that have crossed our paths over the years. We appreciate more than we can say the support given to us by
our readers and advertisers. You can't have one without the other, and we've been blessed with both. It is because of your loyal support that we have been
able to grow our business, raise two great kids, and create jobs.
We've had employees come and go over the years, but we couldn't have a better core group than the five associates we have now. Liz Lang has
been with us for 29 years, and is responsible for the typesetting and graphics on most of the great looking ads you see every week. She knows what a Ludlow is!
Caralee Aschenbrenner's first episode of "Please Don't Quote Me . . ." was published 24 years ago. Caralee is one of our greatest "cheerleaders," and
we thank her for her love and support.
Tammy Burkholder, your marketing representative, has been helping build this business for 16 years. She always goes above and beyond for us,
but more importantly, for her customers. Craig Lang, "Sports Dude," has been following sports and taking photos for 15 years, and is as dedicated a they come.
Andrew Williamson joined our them 6 months ago, and is a marketing representative. With Tammy and Andrew helping you with your advertising
and printing needs, your odds of success increase dramatically!
From the bottom of our hearts, Lynn and I thank you. We are so very proud and appreciative that The Prairie Advocate News is welcomed into
your homes every week, and we look forward to many more years of being a hometown paper to the communities we serve . . .
. . . And we're happy that we're still free.
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