OPINION: A family legacy 100 years and counting

Editor’s Note: Today the Albuquerque Journal kicks off its commemoration of a legacy created 100 years ago when Thomas M. Pepperday purchased the newspaper.

Part of the observance is a series to be published every few Sundays throughout the year that includes submissions from subscribers sharing their stories about their relationship with the Journal. The series also chronicles the Journal’s history and how it covered the major — and not-so-major — events of New Mexicans’ lives. 

After retiring as Journal editor in 2023, I’ve had the honor of working on this series and other aspects of the Journal’s centennial celebration. The research for this project has been rewarding and fascinating. It has allowed me to relive many precious moments – yes, I was at the Journal for close to half of its century legacy – and to learn more about the Journal’s innovative leaders, the risks they took, their incredible foresight and their devotion to journalism. I hope you enjoy his series half as much as I have enjoyed working on it. 

Welcome to “Centennial Sundays.”

The eagle is launched

The economy was roaring, alcohol was illegal and Route 66 started to snake across the country. In New Mexico, the first public burning of Zozobra promised to scatter folks’ woes to the wind. And at J.C. Penney, men could buy a dress shirt for $1.69.

The year was 1926.

On June 20 of that year, the Albuquerque Morning Journal became the Albuquerque Journal, launching its legacy as an independently owned newspaper retained by the same family for the next 100 years and counting.

Earlier in 1926, Thomas M. Pepperday purchased the newspaper, which had undergone numerous private ownership and name changes since it started in 1880 as the Golden Gate. 

That first June 20, 1926, edition unveiled a masthead with the Albuquerque Journal name and an eagle with wings spread wide. That eagle, and future permutations of it, graced the masthead for the next 100 years and remains today. 

But the 1930s brought the Great Depression, and Pepperday turned to his staff for help. He went to each person, one by one, inviting them to get another job elsewhere if they wanted. “But,” he reportedly told them, “if you’re willing to stay and accept whatever pittance we can pay, I guarantee you a job for life.” 

He apparently kept that word. Millard Hunsley, who was news editor from 1942-49, later recalled that when he was at the Journal, some printers were old timers who were really “antiques.” 

“But as far as Pepperday was concerned, they could stay forever,” Hunsley said.

Pepperday the innovator

It was in the early 1930s when Pepperday — who had far more experience as a businessman than as a newspaperman — tapped into that business acumen to make history. In doing so, he not only saved the Journal, but provided a template for dozens of other newspapers across the country to stay alive for years to come.

In 1933, Pepperday negotiated a joint publishing agreement with Scripps-Howard, which owned the city’s afternoon paper, The Albuquerque Tribune. The Journal and The Tribune consolidated their advertising, circulation and mechanical departments under a new, jointly owned corporation, the Albuquerque Publishing Company. Pepperday became president.

Meanwhile, the newsrooms remained separate entities. Pepperday, in his announcement of the deal, told Journal readers the plan would “in no way affect the editorial policy” of the Journal. It was a promise that continued until The Tribune closed more than 80 years later. 

More than 60 newspapers nationwide ended up adopting what became known as the “Albuquerque Plan.” Through the years, that plan prevented countless papers from shuttering, allowing more cities to remain two-newspaper towns for decades longer than would have been possible otherwise.

Extending its reach

Even as early as the 1930s, as the Depression worsened, Pepperday believed news should reach beyond the print newspaper audience. Once again he was ahead of his time as he sought to expand into multimedia.

KOB Radio was owned by the then-New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in Las Cruces when Pepperday in 1931 approached the college with a proposal. The college’s regents approved the plan to have the Journal take over operation of the station and move it to Albuquerque, which occurred in 1932. In 1936, the license was sold to Pepperday’s “The Albuquerque Broadcasting Company.”

A decade later, Pepperday started KOB-TV to partner with the radio station. KOB-TV came on the air Nov. 29, 1948 — the first television station in the region. Under Pepperday, the station brought the first network programs to New Mexico, installed the first high fidelity transmitter in the state and had the state’s first newscast. The stations moved to a “modern” studio building erected by Pepperday at Fifth Street and Silver SW.

Pepperday sold both to Time Inc. in 1952.

Today, the Journal continues to embrace Pepperday’s vision of collaboration, innovation and expansion. The newspaper for many years has partnered with KKOB Radio and KOAT-TV on initiatives such as increasing literacy, as well as promoting one anothers’ news coverage. Most recently, the Journal has invested in becoming a multiplatform organization. (To take advantage of all of our new products and offerings, consider downloading the jrnl+ app using the QR code located within today’s eagle foldout.)

Who was the visionary Thomas M. Pepperday?

Thomas M. Pepperday was a true Renaissance man. He was a former race car driver and one of the best-dressed men in Albuquerque. 

A quiet man who almost never appeared in public, he seldom allowed his name to be printed in his own newspaper. While he left most of the daily news direction to his editors, he was very interested in national and local politics. He knew many of the political leaders personally. While the paper would sometimes support a particular candidate, his news obituary stressed that such backing “never kept Pepperday from criticizing that man or his party if he thought the public was being damaged by some of the candidate’s actions.” It was a policy that has been followed by his successors through the years. 

Pepperday took an extreme interest in youth and started the Journal’s legacy of supporting the high school science fair and 4H club members. But he did most of his philanthropy privately and behind the scenes, rarely seeking public acknowledgement.

Born in Brooklyn, Thomas M. Pepperday first came to New Mexico to settle in Socorro after World War I. He was involved in different businesses, including an oil leasing business, when he moved to Albuquerque. 

After purchasing the newspaper, he owned and led the Journal for 30 years. 

Pepperday died of a heart attack hours after leaving his desk at the Journal in May 1956. He was 69.

Pepperday was known to work long hours, but on the Friday before his death he asked his nephew, C. Thompson Lang, to drive him home from the newspaper because he wasn’t feeling well. He did not come into the office that Saturday, which was unusual for him. He did return to work that Monday and Tuesday, and worked a full day before heading home Tuesday. He suffered a fatal heart attack just a few hours later. 

Thomas Pepperday was succeeded as publisher by his nephew, C. Thompson Lang.

(This content is based on stories from the Journal archives and a story that appeared in The Broadcasters’ Desktop Resource.) 

Coming March 15: C. Thompson Lang guides the Albuquerque Publishing Company through a period of rapid growth, during which the Journal becomes the largest and most widely read newspaper in the state.

Karen Moses is a retired Journal editor and can be reached at Kmoses@abqjournal.com.