POWERGRAMS

Powergrams. The September 1999 newsletter told about 300 employees at Corporate Headquarters signing the Birmingham Pledge for racial equality and equal rights. On April 30, 2001, Powergrams announced that Charles McCrary had been named president and chief operating officer. The Jan. 14, 2002, issue saluted CEO Elmer Harris for reaching retirement after 44 years with Alabama Power. There have been at least 20 editors of Powergrams, as well as scores of editors in chief, managing editors, assistant editors, circulation managers, artists, writers and contributors, all who had other duties for Alabama Power. F.D. "Mac" Mahoney was the first editor, leading the magazine from 1920 to 1922. Clarence Kilian served by far the longest, beginning with two co-editors in 1937-38, continuing with only one of those during 1939-42, then being editor alone until retiring in 1962. Current Editor Chuck Chandler has had the second-longest tenure, now reaching 17 years. Some of the editors went on to executive positions after directing the magazine, such as Julia Thomas Segars, Mary Story and John Hudson. Women have played a prominent role in Powergrams from the start. Helen Bethea was named editor in 1926. Rochelle Rodd Gachet was associate editor in 1935. Victoria D. Smith was editor's assistant beginning in 1953, became editor in 1965 and remained in that role until her death in 1970, when she was a past president of the Southern Association of Business Communicators. Carolyn Foster is the woman with the longest tenure, being editor from 1976 until 1982. Powergrams has been printed in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and materials through 100 years, moving after the first decade from a monthly booklet similar to today's issues, to a weekly newspaper during the Depression, back to a magazine from 1937 to 1992, to big and small, weekly, biweekly and monthly newsletters through 2015 and then back to a magazine in 2016. Masthead designs are the most frequently revised aspect of Powergrams, from the original employing a background photo of Lay Dam that was replaced the following year by Ireal Winter's artwork of the Lay powerhouse. An electrified-font Powergrams lasted one issue before Winter's drawing of Mitchell Dam was added alongside Lay Dam in 1923. A decade after Commercial Manager Ashton Collins invented Reddy Kilowatt 4 Powergrams has chronicled APC construction projects from hydro to nuclear.

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