One of the first things I learned about newspapers was that most people liked to see their names in print. This was true if the mention was favorable or at least innocuous. The exceptions were when the news was bad—the person was accused of a crime or fired from a prominent job or sued for divorce.
We filled up the daily paper with names. We published the honor roll at each school, the names of new members of the Rotary Club, the Elks Club, the Chamber of Commerce, different sections of the Women’s Club, the names of Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts who earned merit badges. We ran stories about family reunions and listed all of those who returned to their hometown for the event. We ran pictures of the high school French club, the debate team, the 4-H club, and anything else anyone could think to send us. We named those admitted to the local hospital.
When ladies auxiliary groups, clubs, and other groups met, the society editor wrote about them, listing attendees and describing what they wore. I could not edit her copy. I still do not know what a peblum is.
Our country correspondents sent names of anyone doing anything. If nothing else that week, we got a list of those who attended the same church as our correspondent. If we listed attendees at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, we were sure to get a letter from someone else in that community reporting names of those at the Boaz Chapel Methodist Church or the Pentecostal Congregation. I wondered if we should verify names and spelling. But we never did and complaints were rare.
When I went to college, my part-time job was in the publicity office. Again, names made news. With a student body of 1500, it was possible to send “hometowners,” as we called them, to every newspaper we could identify. Mere enrollment, membership on a sports team, any academic group, honor rolls, agricultural and other competitions, bands, orchestras, choruses, and even field trips.
The logic of all this was that the more mentions our college got in area newspapers, the more likely we were to attract students from those towns. I sent a hometowner to The New York Times for a student from the big city. I suspect that was a waste of energy. The college also had special events for high school students. If a dozen high school bands came for a music festival, out went hometowners with the names of band members, if we could get them.
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