Be careful with that hand-me-down potato soup recipe if it’s from The Western Producer dated Jan. 7, 1993.
The first clue that there is something wrong is the recipe item calling for brandy.
Oops.
And if you saw that photograph in the April 18, 1996 issue, showing an upside down dairy barn, be assured the world has not turned topsy-turvy.
Pardon us.
This newspaper prides itself on quality and takes great pains to avoid mistakes, but the fact is that errors occasionally occur.
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Sometimes we catch them before ink hits paper, but sometimes alert readers make us aware of the goofs. We comfort ourselves with the knowledge that over 75 years and millions of words, our record isn’t that bad.
The potato soup recipe that ran on cooking columnist Liz Delahey’s page generated several phone calls and letters. By then some staff members had already made the soup – in one case a double-batch – and discovered it wasn’t too tasty even after they added extra brandy.
The photo of the modern milking parlor was a bit more subtle, but closer inspection showed the roof tiles were actually floor tiles, and a length of rubber hose appeared to defy gravity.
A few years ago, a story about goats was accompanied by a photo. Readers quickly let us know the picture featured shorn sheep, not the goats that editors had intended. Yes, we felt sheepish about that one.
We have learned innocent-looking photos can be fraught with danger. The Aug. 9, 1990 issue showed a canola field near Creston, B.C. with mountains in the background and “wild daisies” in the foreground.
A farmer called to say good farmers spend a lot of money eradicating weeds like those pretty daisies, which happened to be scentless chamomile. So much for the scenic shots.
Nor are classified ads immune to mistakes. One of our advertisers wrote a polite letter asking us to change his personal ad because he felt it was intimidating to women.
He wanted his ad to say he was 6 feet 1 inch tall. Instead it said he was 6 foot loin.
Then there’s the ad for two black and one sorrow (not sorrel) horses. And the case where a Santa cutter for sale was placed not under antique sleighs, but instead under kitchen equipment, listed as a cookie cutter.
Most classified ads are taken over the telephone by Western Producer sales people. Once in awhile, accents can cause errors.
Advertising clerk Brenda McPhail remembers taking an ad for peas and beans. “Good for silage,” the caller said. “Good for salads” is what she heard – and what we printed.
“The guy was getting pretty strange phone calls,” she says.
Former editor Keith Dryden recalls the promotion of the new press in 1948, which would allow the introduction of colored comics. The paper emphasized this innovation with ads: “Tell your friends about the NEW Western Producer. Tell them about the NEW Features, Comics and Stories!”
Unfortunately, when the much-heralded color comics appeared, they were “1Ú8 of an inch off register” and blurry for several weeks.
Pressing problems
In 1977, another new press was ready to roll. Again, there was great promotion of anticipated improvements. Dryden said the promotional headline was “Look us over” but the same blurry problems haunted the Producer.
“One of the pressmen said we should change (the headline) to ‘Look the other way’,” laughed Dryden. “It was a mess. Eventually both presses served marvelously, but it took awhile to do.”
Sometimes Western Producer staff have been on the receiving end of practical jokes.
“I had recently been hired … to take the inside sale representative job in Calgary,” recalls Dwayne Smith.
After a few weeks, he was assigned to phone advertisers who had not advertised with the paper for two or more years.
Smith was to ask, among other questions, why the client had stopped advertising. One person pulled no punches.
“The man on the phone said our paper was one of the worst publications he had seen, the service was terrible, he never planned to advertise again. He went on with several other rude comments about the paper.
“Well, being new and getting caught off-guard, I was trying to think of what to say while he was saying all of this. I stammered out some comments as to how we could make things better.
“So while I was commenting on how this is too bad about your experience, and how I would like to still try to work something out, he said ‘Got ya!’
“Turns out he was just joking. He was happy with us. However, his company’s product line had changed and did not target people who read our paper.”
Over the years, readers have let us know when we’ve done things right or wrong and how we have influenced their lives.
Joe Gagnon, our advertising representative in Toronto, heard this story from a customer.
“This fellow grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan with several brothers and sisters. Their grandmother did the cooking and every morning made the same thing: porridge.
“Spread out on the table for every meal was The Western Producer, which served as the tablecloth. The kids all rushed to the kitchen table every morning to get a good seat – the chair facing the classified Personal column which helped in getting the awful tasting porridge into their bellies.
“Looking back, my friend now says ‘that wonderful old lady helped develop a bunch of loyal readers of The Western Producer’.”
This recipe ran in the Jan. 7, 1993 issue. It
accidentally included ingredients (those under
the line) from another recipe.
Potato soup
3-4 medium potatoes, quartered 3-4
3 cups boiling water 750 mL
1 teaspoon salt 5 mL
1 chicken bullion cube 1
1 16-ounce can undiluted 475 mL
evaporated milk
2 tablespoons grated onion 25 mL
2 tablespoons butter 25 mL
pinch of pepper
1Ú2 cup grated cheddar cheese 125 mL
1 teaspoon ground cloves 5 mL
1Ú2 teaspoon ground allspice 2 mL
1 cup brown sugar 250 mL
11Ú2 cups white sugar 375 mL
1 cup apple juice 250 mL
1Ú3 cup cider vinegar 75 mL
2 tablespoons lemon juice 25 mL
1Ú2 cup peach or orange brandy 125 mL
Cook potatoes, water and salt together in a covered saucepan for 25 minutes or until tender. Part chicken or beef stock may be used instead of water. Puree potatoes and liquid. Combine potatoes, evaporated milk, grated onion, butter and pepper
in a large saucepan. Heat but do not boil. Add water if necessary. Season to taste. Stir in grated cheddar cheese. Heat until cheese melts. Serve garnished with chopped parsley.
