R.I.P Newark Star-Ledger

Sunday’s print edition was the official end of the Newark Star-Ledger, but during the last few years that N.J. newspaper bore little resemblance to the powerful largest daily in the state before becoming a victim of the internet.

I grew up on Long Island, and treasured the fishing column written by Frank Keating in the Long Island Press. That paper was part of the Newhouse family print empire which stretched down to New Orleans. Ironically, when I lived in Massapequa Park, a Newhouse was one of my neighbors, though I never met him there.

Decades later, while living in N.J. , I subscribed to that 15 cent newspaper which included a great Sports section that even had the baseball box scores for every Major League game except for those on the west coast. Picking up the Sunday edition as Tony Soprano did from his driveway was exercise as it was about as heavy as the N.Y. Times –and grew to over a million circulation.

Instead of having just the normal one outdoor writer, the Star-Ledger had one for hunting and freshwater fishing, another for salt water, and sometimes even a boating editor. When Bob Duffy died suddenly, I applied for the Salt Water column and with an extensive background of writing for Saltwater Sportsman, Fishing World and other magazines, was given that position which I enjoyed until the loss of advertising to the internet spelled doom for a newspaper that was a mighty force for almost a century. The last time I saw it the price was up to $1.50 for an issue with only a few pages and very little information. ****

A small craft advisory is up in NY/NJ Bight through Tuesday afternoon. The forecast is for northwest winds at 15-20 knots plus gusts to 30.