Beat Reporters
Platen? The typewriter cylinder, Reed informed us. “When they dry out, they make a noise like a machine gun.”
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Reed’s second reason for setting Nightside in the 70s is that the 70s were his time here. In 1976, Reed wandered into Chicago from Massachusetts with an English degree and an idea of trying journalism. He caught on at City News Bureau, screwed up, and was banished to the midnight shift at 11th and State. And there he met, one after another, Bernie Spirko’s type, “that dying breed of police reporter, and every newspaper has one, the character, the guy who goes to any length to get a good story.”
Any Life Left in Chicago Times?
That happy state ended suddenly 16 months ago when the Small family, $2 million poorer, ousted Fandell as president and publisher. Fandell sued; some magazine consultants told the Smalls that salvaging Chicago Times would cost them at least $2 million more; and to get out from under this albatross the Smalls quickly gave the magazine back to Fandell.
