I heard also from my friend in Kinston that the newspaper was bragging because they just hired somebody to do the local sports, which back in the 70s, if you didn't have local sports, you didn't have a newspaper. And I understand there's only one or two people writing the newspaper here at the Sun Journal today. He had started with seven reporters, and by the time he left, there were two. He made the rounds of Freedom newspapers as editor. I have a friend who was my city editor here. The newspaper was read, and people remembered the stories and remembered your byline. And if it went to one household, you had about two, maybe four readers in that household. Rodriguez: The paper here is a very good example. Shaffer: In your author's bio in the book, it says “Tim Rodriguez was a journalist when newspapers counted.” What do you mean by that? So, if a lot of people got arrested, I was really pressed to make my deadlines. And then, if I had a a county commissioners the afternoon before I had to write that story up, and we had an 11:00a.m. Then I go over to the police department, copy down all their activities that evening, and it took about an hour and a half. Back then anybody that was ticketed, much less arrested, we put in the paper, so I had to copy down every ticket citation that the magistrate had issued. I go across the street to the magistrates office. We were downtown right across from the town hall, and I parked in the lot. Rodriguez: In New Bern, back in the day, I got up at about 6:00. Shaffer: Could you describe a typical day or week for a journalist on that beat? you might know there's no overtime in newspapers. Cops and robbers was a full-time job, and doing both was well. So, your duties with that small of a staff, I covered not only cops and robbers and justice, but Craven County and the Craven Commissioners. We had five reporters: a sports reporter, a social reporter, city editor, wire editor and managing editor. Back then this was in the mid- to late-seventies. I first started in 1971 in Petersburg, Va., at a daily called The Progress Index, and from there I came here. Tim Rodriguez: I got into journalism because I graduated from college with a degree in Spanish and asked myself now what are you going to do? But I always knew I wanted to write so the best avenue for that was journalism. How did you get into journalism and how did you end up on that beat? You were on the crime and justice beat, and for a time, you worked at the New Burn Sun Journal. Now, before we dive into the book, I'd like to ask you a little bit about your time as a journalist. Rodriguez is a former crime reporter at the New Bern Sun Journal, and he recently released “Never is Now,” a murder mystery novel set in the sleepy town of Random. I'm joined in the studio by Tim Rodriguez. Ryan Shaffer: This is PRE News and Ideas and Classical Music for eastern North Carolina.
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