Colourful people behind news stories
Over the decades, many reporters with interesting personalities have been part of the editorial staff of Koillissanomat. Some have gained legendary reputations, as stories about certain former reporters have always been passed on to new employees. Below is a short list of reporters who made an unforgettable impression on their co-workers.
Mikko Häme
”Mikko Häme was an individual with truly personal ways. His archival management was legendary by definition. His desk was flooded with documents. There were stacks of papers, tens of centimetres high. Mikko had a controlled chaos on his desk. If I went to ask him if he had the 1982 municipal report of Kuusamo, Mikko would look at his desk for a while and then just pull it out from somewhere in the middle. And also, Mikko could speak Icelandic, because he had studied at Reykjavík University. It was funny when he sometimes called his friends from there and spoke Icelandic. You couldn’t make out a word of it.”
Seppo Salminen
Voitto Mäntyniemi
”Voitto Mäntyniemi was then a reporter at Kaleva. He had a sort of from-janitor-to-journalist career. He was a universal genius, a calm person who could get anyone talking.”
Risto Pikkupeura
”He was a self-taught reporter, who used pure common sense. He had integrity and wrote good stories.”
Seppo Salminen
Kimmo Hämäläinen
”Kimmo Hämäläinen was once a summer reporter at Koillissanomat. Kimmo was always ready to do anything. Once we were working on a Friday issue, where a column called A Word for Sunday always appeared. Priests took turns writing it. On Thursday afternoon, we realized that the column had not arrived. We were wondering what we should do next. Someone then jokingly said to Kimmo that as he was able to write anything, how about writing tomorrow’s A Word for Sunday. Kimmo took a moment and then asked how many thousand characters would be needed. Kimmo could have written it, but we didn’t let him.”
Seppo Salminen
Arvid Ylisirniö
”Arvid Ylisirniö worked as a regional reporter for Koillissanomat in Pudasjärvi in the 1960s. He came from Posio by birth, and had tremendous knowledge about Lapland. He asked the sub-editor how much text would still be needed. The sub-editor replied that they needed five sheets. Arvi sat down at his typewriter and said that it would be ready in an hour.”
Matti Kyllönen
Pekka Lehtinen
”Pekka Lehtinen, who is currently a special reporter at MTV Oy, worked at Koillissanomat in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Among other things, he worked on the Koillissanomat youth magazine. We spent a lot of time together back then, sometimes until the wee hours of the morning. At that time, Seppo had the news manager’s office that had a sofa. Once we came from somewhere in the morning and Pekka went to sleep on the sofa in Seppo’s office. Seppo came to work, smoked cigarettes in his office while working, and said to Pekka that you wake up when you feel like it.”
Ensio Karjalainen
Erkki Pulli
”Erkki Pulli was then a regional reporter in Posio, and later a sub-editor. He was quite intense. You could hear him swear and curse, but he also did have a unique sense of humour.”
Risto Pikkupeura