Celebrating Sixty in Print-

Merced County Times Anniversary is the Focus of the Museum Exhibit

The current staff and columnists of the Merced County Times, including a photo shot by Steve Newvine from a 2017 Our Community Story column on the late publisher John Derby (lower right). Photo: Steve Newvine

Day in and day out, the work cycle for a weekly newspaper is always the same. News is reported, copy is edited, the finished story goes through the layout process, and then the issue is printed and distributed

It’s a routine the staff knows backward and forward.  

The Merced County Times Sixtieth Anniversary exhibit, which is now open at the Courthouse Museum in downtown Merced, has an interesting story behind its creation.

The late John Derby, publisher of the Times, noticed that the Museum’s 2023 exhibit looking back fifty years to 1973 (Where Were You in 1973?) did not include any photographs shot by his paper’s photographers. 

https://www.mercedcountyevents.com/steve-newvine-1/where-were-you-in-1973-?rq=Where%20Were%20You%20in%201973%3F

The story, as relayed by current publisher Jonathan Whitaker at the new exhibit’s opening on May 23, ended with the Museum Executive Director suggesting an exhibit celebrating the Times on sixty years of service.

“John would go to Mexico every fall to enjoy his retirement,” Whitaker told the audience. “This year, John did not come back.” John Derby passed away in January.

The exhibit celebrates sixty years of publication, pays tribute to the staff that puts it together weekly, and honors Derby, who founded the paper in 1963.

John Derby was featured in an essay in this space in 2017 (Fifty-three Years of Community Journalism in Merced County — Merced County Events).

His story of creating the paper, preparing to end publication six months later only to be saved by an advertiser signing a one-year contract for advertising, expanding to specific community editions throughout the area, and the mantra “power of a positive press” are now all part of the weekly newspaper's legacy.

The Merced County Times exhibit includes two photographs from John F. Kennedy and Barrack Obama's presidential visits to Merced County.  

The Museum exhibit features photographs from the six decades the paper has been around. Select front pages from milestone events such as the creation of UC Merced and the visit by two US Presidents are featured on the walls..

Physical icons such as Derby’s typewriter and camera are also on display.

It is all on the second floor of the Merced County Courthouse Museum, and it will remain in place throughout the summer.

Selected front pages from the Merced County Times are part of the exhibit at the Courthouse Museum. Photo: Steve Newvine

Putting out a weekly newspaper in a community our size takes considerable effort and money. So, while all of the journalistic processes are going on, there’s an effort to generate advertising revenue.

At the exhibit's launch, readers and advertisers were thanked for keeping the Times alive over the decades. One group was not called out specifically, but they have played a role in keeping the paper going in recent years. This group is made up of individuals and businesses that are sponsors.

For the past several years, every January, the Times has asked for donations to help offset the costs of producing the paper.

Distributed free (and also available by mail now for eighty-nine dollars a year), the paper started the solicitation to help close the gap between advertising revenue and expenses.  

During the COVID years, the paper asked readers to consider an annual sponsorship. Sponsors pay one hundred dollars or more annually and have their names listed in the paper every week.

The sponsorship page from a recent edition of the Merced County Times.

Early in this experiment with reader sponsorships, John Derby wrote how the donated dollars helped during the supply chain crisis when the paper needed hard-to-find printing supplies.

The sponsorships continue to provide a steady stream of support for the paper.

The County Times took a short break on the evening of May 23 to reflect on its remarkable run, now entering its seventh decade of service.

Then it was back to work. The next issue needs to be reported and edited through the layout process, and then on to printing and distribution.

The cycle continues week after week.-

-Steve Newvine lives in Merced

He will be speaking at the highly anticipated Merced-AARP monthly meeting at the Merced Senior Center on June 26 at 10:00 AM. The group eagerly encourages anyone to attend.

His new book, Beaten Paths and Back Roads, is available at the Merced County Courthouse Museum gift shop.

Also, online at https://www.lulu.com/shop/steve-newvine/beaten-paths-and-back-roads/paperback/product-emmv6r.html?q=beaten+paths+steve+newvine&page=1&pageSize=4