We put up with live animals, including chickens, in the window wells,
and either freezing from being below ground or burning up from our
location next to the building’s main furnace. And I recall with some
embarrassment national clients stumbling down the musty steps to the
basement side entrance. They could see what my father thought about the
outdoor division. And I remember the day when my six-year old niece
came to the basement to visit. After open-mouthed silence, she looked at
the exposed pipes in the ceiling and asked, “Doesn’t Grandpops like you?”
At any rate, 1982–83 were turnaround years, going from a loss of over
half a million because of the problems and huge maintenance expenses I
re-inherited in 1982 to a small $40,000 operating profit in 1983. Which
was a good thing since the improvement on the outdoor bottom line helped
to contribute to the overall fiscal health of Pops’s empire, which at this
time included over 30 newspapers along with television and radio stations.
It was time for a great leap forward.
CHAPTER 26: GOING PUBLIC
Six years before he took his company public, my father told Business
Week in an interview that he “cherishes his ability to spend his money as
he pleases and turned down brokers who suggested going public in the
bull market of 1968 for that reason.” He explained: I like the freedom of
not being responsible to other people. I want to be able to make a deal on a
handshake. People will think I’m a real square, but I didn’t think my stock
was worth as much as the brokers thought it was. They wanted to sell it at
