The Los Angeles Times Building No. 3 at First Street and Broadway in the 1920s, courtesy of Water and Power Associates.

The Historical Society of Southern California will offer a daylong conference on “Journalism in Southern California,” from the 1850s to the present on April 16 at Occidental College.

I will be part of the morning lineup, offering my thoughts on newspapers from 1912 to 1962, an era of boom and bust in the news business.

Other speakers include:

A panel discussion with David Hayes-Bautista, Félix Gutiérrez, and Paul Bryan Gray  on “The Early Los Angeles English and Spanish Press, 1851-1900,” 9:15 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.

Merry Ovnick on “Journalist Edward A. Dickson: The Craft and Practice Behind Progressive Politics in Los Angeles and California, 1906-1916,” 10:15 a.m. –10:45 a.m.

Amina Hassan on “Charlotta Bass, Loren Miller, and the California Eagle: Distrust and Acrimony,” 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Larry Harnisch on Los Angeles newspapers, 1912 to 1962, 11:30 to noon.

Bill Boyarsky, Kevin Roderick, and Jim Newton in a panel discussion on “An Anecdotal History of the Los Angeles Times, 1962-2015,” 1:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.

Jim Newton on “The Future of Southern California Journalism,” 3 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Preregistration is offered through Eventbrite and is $50 for non-members, $40 for historical society members and Occidental faculty and staff, $10 for grad students with ID and free for undergraduates with ID. Lunch is $15. The deadline for preregistration is April 1.