When it comes to the newspaper business, they always say, “You’ve got ink in your blood.”
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There’s many in Lloydminster that have been able to say that exact thing. The Border City has had an extensive list of prominent publishers and journalists who took their craft to the streets.
I think of the Joseph George Willards and George Franklin Baynton, pioneers in print media who put purpose to ink. Lloydminster has enjoyed having a solid print landscape for 121 years, that’s a long time. As we round out our final physical edition before I greet you with a history column next week in our digital edition, I wanted to talk about one pillar of print that I have yet to discuss.
The Keebaugh name has been synonymous with the newspaper for almost 70 years. If you know where I’m going, I’m sure you realize I’m talking about the one who began the Meridian Booster, Byron Keebaugh.
Taking it back to the beginning, Keebaugh was born in 1932, the son of a grain buyer. From a young age, he began working in a print shop and went on to study printing technology by the time he was 18.
He was determined and ready to move forward in the printing business, joining the typographical union and working the weekly newspaper circuit in places like High River, Hanna, Innisfail and Vegreville. He even had a short stint with the Vancouver Sun.
By 1955, he was an experienced compositor printer who owned the Cut Knife Grinder. His stay in the small town was short. Keebaugh left in 1958 and arrived in Lloydminster, where he opened Meridian Printing.
Just a short year later, he opened the Meridian Booster, circulating the first edition at the Lloyd Ex Fair’s parade. He would get the paper to the masses in some fairly unique ways.
For the surrounding area it was delivered by post. However, he came up with the idea to track circulation and get the paper to the people with his Booster Boxes.
They began sprouting up on street corners and in nearby communities.
Out of the gate, the Booster was a leading weekly paper in its market size. Keebaugh served as president of the Alberta Weekly Newspaper Association in 1984-85. He took that a step farther and served as the Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association president in 1989-90.
It would all come to an end in 1995 when he made the decision to sell Meridian Printing to Bowes Publishing. In retirement, he enjoyed spending time with his family and golfing. His long career saw him head many newspapers, the Bonnyville Nouvelle, Grand Prairie Booster, Meadow Lake Progress and the Vermilion Standard.
I guess he never found himself busy enough, he also served as a Lloydminster councillor, president of the Lloyd Rotary and he was a Kinsmen member.
Keebaugh was described as friendly, considerate, happy and kind. He truly was a man of the people.
Through a lot of my research into historical topics, I’ve cracked open plenty of editions of the Meridian Booster. I could always tell there was a level of care put into every page and every word. Sections were dedicated to regional coverage because he wanted to ensure everyone that might pick up a copy of the paper was represented. He always had solid local topics and dug into the details of whatever was going on in the
Border City.
Coverage was always robust and fair. The newspaper business continued in the Keebaugh name as son Reid, alongside his business partner Clark Wright, ventured into the world of print.
Lloydminster’s long history of print excellence will finally move into the digital era. I know for many this is a shock, but I think this is the best for the longevity of journalism.
One of the things I hear quite often is how do we archive our papers. Well, they sit in boxes and we aren’t the only paper that does that. Throughout my adventures in media, I’ve seen most newspaper companies who have their previous editions holed up in a plastic box somewhere.
Moving online means we can finally have active, rolling archives. Go online right now to our digital edition. What do you see? A catalogue of every edition of the last number of years for you to read at any time. We’ll be at your fingertips with the same great newspaper you’ve come to trust.
I wanted to end this off by saying a few thank yous. First, I want to thank all the amazing journalists and publishers who have paved the way. I mentioned just a few in this column but there’s been so many who made it all possible. Now it’s up to us to carry it into this new generation. Second, I’d like to thank all the readers, I know how important our work is to you and I never hold that lightly. We look forward to delivering you excellent, timely and thorough news online, every day and every Thursday for our full edition.
Finally, I’d like to thank everyone I had honest conversations with over the last week.
This may be quite the change, and it is, but it’s a step forward for all of us. Your support has always meant everything to us here at the Source. See you next week.
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