The Oracle (University of South Florida)
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The Oracle, the University of South Florida's (USF) student-run newspaper, made history when its premier issue was published September 6, 1966. It was the first college newspaper in the United States to feature full color photographs on the front page of each issue, according to the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP).
The paper replaced the USF Campus Edition of the now defunct Tampa Times, which had previously served as the school's news publication. The Tampa Times had given the student newspaper three pages of its Monday editions, the front page and pages one and two of the second section, to feature USF campus news and made a special press run specifically for papers to be distributed in designated racks on campus and at nearby venues. The university had not yet formed a school for mass communication so publishing the newspaper was the responsibility of a modest journalism effort, offering four or five basic news writing and editing courses, run by its English Department.
Early in the summer of 1966, Dr. Arthur M. Sanderson, director of student publications and English professor, entered into an agreement with the St. Petersburg Times to print an entire stand-alone newspaper which would be distributed on campus each Wednesday. Associate communications professor and Oracle general manager Steve Yates, editor-in-chief Harry Haigley and photographer/reporter Tony Zappone collaborated in naming it The Oracle, a Greek term signifying an infallible authority, among other things. Its first staff consisted of about 20 student volunteers and paid staffers who used a small office space on the second floor of the University Student Center as headquarters. Yates became the academic faculty coordinator of the paper and kept offices, along with Sanderson, in a room adjacent to the newspaper office for ease of consultation.
Editor Haigley assigned Zappone, The Oracle's first staff shutterbug, the task of creating one color photograph illustrating an aspect of campus life or events for each issue. It was a feature that no other university newspaper had at that time and was a cooperative effort with the St. Petersburg Times.
Each Tuesday, Haigley, Zappone and a third alternating staff member drove the 30 miles from the USF campus in North Tampa to the downtown St. Petersburg headquarters of the St. Pete Times to spend three hours supervising the composing room staff while they assembled the mechanicals and plates for the late night press run of The Oracle. The papers were trucked back to campus each week in the early-morning hours and set out in racks around the campus.
In 1967, during its first year of publication, The Oracle was awarded several of the Associated Collegiate Press' National Pacemaker Awards for "excellence in college journalism." Another historic effort by The Oracle was the production of a full-color campus feature magazine insert once each term, edited by Yates and Zappone, with contributions of copy and photographs from The Oracle staff and USF faculty members. The magazine was recognized by the Associated Collegiate Press as the only magazine insert published by a university newspaper at that time.
In September, 1970, the newspaper began publishing on Tuesdays and Fridays and in 1972 beefed up the student news and advertising sales staff sufficiently to publish Tuesdays through Fridays in a reduced tabloid-size format. In 1989 The Oracle was named to the ACP's Hall of Fame.
The newspaper has undergone several face lifts through the years but continues to uphold the standards set by its founding pioneers for excellence in reporting and graphic production. It is now published weekdays and has a daily circulation of over 12,000.
