The Backroom Story Behind Hawes Spencer's Launch Of The Hook Newspaper In Charlottesville, Virginia

Editor’s Note: This is part two in a four part series.

When Hawes Spencer walked into the C-VILLE Weekly offices on Monday, January 7, 2002, he didn’t know that his life was about to change forever.

Spencer, the editor of the C-Ville Weekly at the time and a co-owner of the newspaper with partners Bill Chapman and Rob Jiranek, entered the newsroom located at 100 South Street around 8:30 am that day.

“I was doing my job at the helm of the C-Ville Weekly, and one day I come in, and my two partners said, ‘You’re fired!” Spencer remembered. “And I said, “WHAT?!?!'”

Spencer acknowledged that the three co-owners were bickering over how to allocate corporate profits. Spencer, who was seen as the “face of the newspaper,” wanted to share the profits, he said, but Chapman and Jiranek had other ideas.

“I wanted ‘one for all and all for one’ and they were arguing for more for them and less for me because I was just an editor and they were publishers. … So they fired me.”

An argument could certainly be presented that Spencer made a strategic error when he welcomed partners into his newspaper business. Spencer owned 90% of the newspaper from 1990-1994 when it was still called the C-Ville Review (Chapman, who launched the paper with Spencer as roommates, owned 10%). In September, 1994, Spencer whittled his ownership to one-third shares to accommodate Chapman and Jiranek as equal partners.

When the dust settled, Chapman and Jiranek conspired to boot Spencer from his company, Spencer said. They eventually succeeded on Thursday, January 10, 2002 when Spencer’s wife at the time, Mary, a beloved former WVIR NBC29 news anchor, was nine months pregnant with their third child.

Pissed-off, frustrated, motivated and needing to provide for his family, Spencer, who is self-proclaimed ADHD, sprung into action. Within three weeks of his official pink slip, Spencer had conceived the idea for a new newspaper, assembled what he calls “a dream team” of talented newspaper personnel, developed the name and brand identity for the publication, created the content for the first issue, including a “legit cover story,” and printed the paper to compete head-to-head with his former partners.

And just like that “The Hook” was born.

“The name was literally chosen, maybe, 10 days before the publication came out,” Spencer remembered. “Here was the nicest thing of all. … The day of [first] publication, my third child was born.

“The assistant art director made a sign that said, ‘Congratulations, Hawes. Two babies in one day.'”

This Hawes Spencer interview on The I Love CVille Show powered by Intrastate Pest & Service Co’s is a compelling look into the world of Charlottesville, Virginia journalism from 1990 – 2013, including the behind-the-scenes conversations and strategic maneuvers that led to the demise of Spencer’s relationship with Chapman and Jiranek at the C-VILLE Weekly and later Spencer’s rise to power as the publisher of The Hook newspaper.

The Hook enjoyed 12 years of prominence and readership before it crumbled in 2013 like the many print publications that struggled to adapt to the internet and smartphones.

You can purchase Spencer’s book by clicking this link: “Summer Of Hate”

If you liked this article, you might also enjoy Journalist Hawes Spencer Discusses His New Book: “Summer Of Hate” And Other Charlottesville, Va Events On The I Love CVille Show and Entrepreneur And Charlottesville Enthusiast Roger Voisinet Joins Jerry Miller On The I Love CVille Network
At I Love CVille, we feature the best of Charlottesville, Virginia. You’re going to love the I Love CVille network.