Kenton Bird sent in an application to The Argonaut before the fall of 1972.
However, the then University of Idaho freshman never received a response until December of that year.
“Rod Gramer (the newspaper’s editor-in-chief) called me and said he had found my letter in a drawer of the editor’s desk,” he said. “He asked if I was still interested, and I said ‘yes.’ The rest is history.”
Bird, who started as a general assignment reporter, became the newspaper’s editor-in-chief two years later.
At the time, The Argonaut’s office was in the basement of the Bruce Pitman Center — known then as the Student Union Building — rather than its current home on the building’s third floor.
“We were pretty much our own world down there,” Bird said. “There were no windows, so you never knew whether it was day or night.”
Bird said editors and staffers laid the paper by hand, using long columns from the Idahonian, which became the Moscow-Pullman Daily News in 1991.
During his tenure at the paper, Bird said the group bought their first phototypesetter, allowing them to make their own headlines.
“It was pretty primitive technology by today’s standards,” he said. “It was fun, and I knew we were learning a lot of valuable skills … We did a lot of creative things.”
Bird said there was a lot of camaraderie among the staff, especially on production nights.
File Photo
“I made a lot of mistakes at The Argonaut, so I didn’t have to make them after I graduated,” Bird said. “I learned to be part of a team and how to work with reporters, which is a lot like herding cats.”
John Hecht, who joined the staff in the fall of 1973, echoed that sentiment.
Hecht, a non-traditional student, came to UI after he left the United States Navy at 24 years old, majoring in interdisciplinary studies with an emphasis on political science and communications.
Hecht, who was enrolled in lower division journalism courses, said if stories produced in class were good enough, they were submitted to The Argonaut.
“It was sort of a feeder system,” he said. “But the thrill of seeing my name in print — seeing a byline in the story — caught my attention.”
Hecht later applied to the staff, which he said gave him a similar sense of teamwork he found in the Navy.
“As much as I didn’t like the military service, the camaraderie is pretty neat, and The Argonaut was very much like that,” he said.
Hecht, a self-proclaimed “why kid,” said working the paper allowed him to learn about a vast array of subjects, satisfying his innate curiosity — getting paid for it didn’t hurt, either.
Hecht applied to be editor-in-chief in 1974, but lost out on the opportunity and continued to work as a reporter, he said. He ended up applying two more times before graduating.
Hecht finished his undergraduate degree in 1980, taking a position at a television station in Alaska.
“You came out of The Argonaut, if you wanted, with all around communication skills — production, writing and design,” he said.
Hecht later returned to Moscow in 1983, pursuing a graduate degree in public administration.
During this time, he also found his way back to The Argonaut, becoming the editor-in-chief for fall of 1985 — a dream 11 years in the making.
“Everyone who remembered what a troublemaker I was finally left,” said Hecht with a laugh. “I was a good reporter, but a better administrator.”
Like Bird and Hecht, Christina Lords found her people at The Argonaut.
Lords, who graduated with her journalism degree from UI in 2009, joined the paper during her sophomore year after Shawn O’Neal, the then Student Media adviser, told her she should be working there and had the capability to be editor-in-chief one day.
During her first assignment, Lords said she was terrified initially, believing she didn’t have the proper skillset just yet.
However, she soon became “addicted” to storytelling, and in 2008, O’Neal’s prediction came true — Lords was the new editor-in-chief.
“I don’t when I would’ve joined without (O’Neal) pestering me,” she said. “Student Media really changed my life. I lived there — it was like a second home — you know, here were some other weirdos who loved this stuff as much as I do.”
She said working at the paper allowed her to actually apply what she was learning in her journalism courses, better preparing her for life after UI as a reporter and editor.
“There’s no way to graduate with a journalism degree without having some kind of experience that’s similar to (The Argonaut),” said Lords. “If you’re not working for Student Media — on the radio, in the magazine or the newspaper — what’re you doing? … You’ve got to find your people, and I found mine there, as well as my journalistic drive. It’s a place for everyone.”
O’Neal also played an integral role in Katelyn Jackson’s coming to UI and The Argonaut, specifically.
“After hearing about it, I knew The Argonaut was where I wanted to be,” she said. “It seemed like a great environment for me.”
In 2014, Jackson, then Hilsenbeck, transferred from Mount Hood Community College, where she was the editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper.
She said O’Neal informed her she wouldn’t have to pick a specific track — she could write, design and take photos. But Jackson primarily wanted an editor role — and she got it.
Coming into UI, she was the photo editor and assistant production manager. However, she wanted more — she wanted to be editor-in-chief.
Jackson said O’Neal told her, as far as he knew, a transfer student had never been the head of the paper before. She was determined to change that, and she did in 2015.
“Being the editor-in-chief of a newspaper is a great privilege,” Jackson said. “It’s one I didn’t take for granted or lightly. I really tried my best to do right by the staff, the paper and the community.”
Jackson said everyday spent in the newsroom was a memorable one.
The four editor-in-chiefs will return The Argonaut’s office Friday and Saturday, gathering with several others in celebration of The Argonaut’s 120th anniversary.
“I’m so glad it’s been around for 120 years, and I sincerely hope it’s around for another 120 years,” Lords said. “There’s no one who quite covers the university and the Moscow community like The Argonaut does.”
Hecht said he believes The Argonaut has lasted for so long because it a “good learning process and a great training mechanism,” which helps weed out people who aren’t dedicated or “stupid enough to want to be OK journalists.”
“In the classic sense, people want to be reporters to ask questions or do public service, explaining to their readers the world around them, how things work and how things affect them,” he said. “The Argonaut is a superb outlet because it has a real strong record of student independence … We put out some pretty good journalists.”
Bird said the independence of the paper from the academic sphere has allowed students to “sink or swim” without worrying about penalties. Editors aren’t “afraid to speak truth to power,” as well.
Despite the passing years, he said The Argonaut reflects the personalities of the reporters and editors who are on the staff each semester — risks might be taken less, but the quality remains.
“The process behind creating a paper evolves over time, but the process that you learn — planning, researching a story, doing the interviews, actually writing the story and then putting a newspaper through design and to bed — in that process you learn so much and it’s stayed the same,” Jackson said. “Thank you to the University of Idaho, thank you to all of the advisers and supporters of The Argonaut for providing this invaluable experience.”
Olivia Heersink can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @heersinkolivia