Cincinnati Business Courier reporter Steve Watkins says goodbye to readers after 38 years in journalism and more than 30 years as a business reporter.
Watkins writes, “There are two things I often say when people ask me about how I got into business journalism. One is that I barely knew how to read the stock tables – remember those? – in the newspaper when I joined the Greater Cincinnati Business Record in September 1990. That might not have been ideal, given that I would be covering banking and finance. The other is that I lucked into this part of journalism.
“I began my career by working for two years at the Greensburg Daily News in Indiana. In May 1989, I moved to Greater Cincinnati and joined the Press Community Newspapers, first covering Fairfield and later Price Hill and Delhi Township. I was ready to move up in the world and the Business Record had an opening. It just happened to be what was available at the time, but I couldn’t have planned out a better decision.
“Business journalism is a niche that has thrived even as general circulation dailies have slumped. When the Business Courier’s parent, American City Business Journals, bought us in May 1996, the papers merged and I was able to stay on.
“I left at the end of 1999 to do a three-year stint at Investor’s Business Daily in Los Angeles before returning and rejoining the Business Courier. They couldn’t keep me away.
“From the start, I relied heavily on the help of people in the business who were willing to take the time to explain the stock market, banking, finance and countless other topics.”
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