A Story from Our Local Community on WBIR: Jack Neely Shares a Piece of Knoxville’s History

Many of us enjoyed seeing First Presbyterian member and local historian Jack Neely featured on WBIR this week, sharing a fascinating piece of Knoxville history connected to New Year’s Eve.


In a segment aired December 29, WBIR’s Robin Wilhoit highlighted the story of Adolph Ochs, the Knoxvillian whose life shaped the future of American journalism and the legacy of the New York Times. Ochs began his career as an 11-year-old paperboy and printer’s apprentice at the Knoxville Chronicle, in the building that is now Scruffy City Hall near Market Square.


Jack shared how Ochs, the son of Jewish refugees from Bavaria, learned every part of the newspaper business through long nights at the press. By age 19, Ochs had revived a failing newspaper in Chattanooga and later went on to purchase and transform the New York Times, which his family still owns today.


We are grateful for Jack’s work preserving and sharing the stories of our city and for the ways his passion for local history helps us better understand where we come from.