 the Sorbonne in Paris, France. The youngest man ever to serve as president (Kennedy was the youngest elected), Roosevelt was then a very vigorous 51 who had just returned from a safari to Kenya. Over two months he made a whirlwind tour of Europe meeting with heads of state, ambassadors and social leaders.
The speech at the Sorbonne was vintage Teddy. He advocated living a strenuous life and hoped for peace and harmony among all civilized peoples. One passage from it is quoted frequently even today. It is practically one long rambling clause with punctuation from T.R., not I. The quote knew a man who fit that description perfectly. Roughly 30 years ago, a salesman for a magazine asked for an appointment. When he arrived a week later, I was startled at how young he was and how incredibly well prepared he was for the sales presentation. He knew more about my client’s business than the account supervisor at the agency. We talked for quite a while and I recall telling my wife that night that I had met a kid who would blast through our industry like a rocket.
It did not happen. Over the years he called on me from a variety of publications, cable entities, sales promotion firms, and finally internet startups. We would lose touch for a year or two and then he would always surface someplace new. When e-mail came on board it was rare for a month to pass without an excited message from him about some aspect of our changing industry. I used him as a sounding board for ideas and he was generous with his time.
I have never met anyone who struck me as being so alive. His energy and enthusiasm for our business stunned me and I am known as someone who loves it a great deal. One night we had dinner in Dallas followed by four hours of debate, discussion, laughter and several after dinner coffees. As I was driving home, I was humming something and cracked up when I realized it was “Lovin’ of the Game” that Judy Collins popularized so long ago.
Some key lyrics to refresh your memory are:
All my life I’ve searched around
Traveling hard from town to town
But I never found anything to tie me down
Still I would not trade my time
For a solid diamond claim
No, I would not trade my fortune
For the lovin’ of the game
My friend was not perfect. He had no patience, never learned how to stoop to conquer, and did not learn how to work around superiors who were inferior intellectually, morally, or in terms of work ethic. The rest of us usually did and survived and prospered. Money had little appeal—he loved the work and gave every day every ounce of energy that he had.
A couple of years ago I was sitting in my office on a Sunday afternoon putting together a presentation deck. The phone rang, and I knew instantly who it was by the big laughter filled greeting. He was driving through Atlanta on route to the Carolinas. Could I come downstairs and have coffee at Starbucks? Five hours later I put my caffeine laden buddy in his car and on the way to Raleigh. We had discussed the future of communications at a level of intensity and honesty that I never thought possible. I never saw him again.
When I began this blog, he was wildly enthusiastic. Some days he was full of praise; other times he had tart and brilliant criticisms. In January, the messages stopped and I got worried. When I sent him a few e-mails, they bounced back. Several weeks ago, another old media fossil wrote to me that our mutual friend was dead. He was felled by a massive coronary and he died very quickly while on the road. He left behind a much loved son whom he often told me about and, to my surprise, three ex-wives.
Since his passing I have received several messages from those who knew him. Most say gently that he was a hard worker who never made it. Others said he was an undisciplined dreamer who could have done well if he had swallowed his pride a bit and stuck it out with a few employers.
To me, he will always be Theodore Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena.” He was not as Roosevelt noted “one of those cold and timid souls who neither knew victory nor defeat.” He knew defeat but it never seemed to get him down for an instant. His sense of life and love of our business made us all look like timid souls. He never had a “big” job and his life was not long in years. But he never settled for mediocrity and never dropped his integrity for an instant or tried to rationalize his way out of things. I really miss him.
If you would like to contact Don Cole, you may reach him at doncolemedia@gmail.comNEW YORK — Privately held media giant the Hearst Corp. is buying Argyle Television Inc. and merging it into its TV station group to form a $1.8 billion public company called Hearst-Argyle Television Inc.The new company will have 12 stations covering 11.6% of the national audience, including nine ABC affiliates, making it the largest publicly owned pure TV broadcaster. And it has ambitions to grow, said both Hearst CEO Frank Bennack, whose company will retain control of the combined group, and Argyle chairman Bob Marbut, who will be chairman of Hearst-Argyle. Bennack said in a statement that Hearst — which owns cable network interests, 12 daily newspapers and 16 magazines, among other assets — intended to remain private, but consolidation in the TV industry over the past couple of years meant that “if we choose to be a consolidator, and we do, it is prudent and advantageous for Hearst Broadcasting to broaden the options to grow its television operations.” “The availability of the public markets along with the substantial cash flow of the new Hearst-Argyle should mean we can gain the benefits of scale through acquisitions more quickly this way,” he added. Hearst execs were not available for further comment, but Marbut said he “would like to be close to 20% (of the national audience) over time.” He said Hearst-Argyle will have a $1 billion “financing capability” for acquisitions. Argyle, formed two years ago by Marbut and Argyle president Blake Byrne with $70 million of equity raised for station acquisitions, built itself up to six stations by August 1996, when it declared its intention to review its “strategic alternatives” given the consolidation of the industry. Argyle stock, which had risen since that announcement, fell 50¢ to $27.50 Wednesday. While the management of the new company will be a combination of both, Hearst will clearly call the shots. Contributing stations worth about $1 billion — or three times as much as Argyle’s group — Hearst will have 86% of the stock of the combined company, and Argyle shareholders will emerge with 14%. Hearst will also have a class of stock not available to the public, giving it the right to control the board, although Marbut and Byrne will be directors. Argyle shareholders will have the opportunity to cash out. The combined company will offer $26.50 a share in cash to Argyle shareholders up to a total of $160 million, enabling about half the shareholders to sell. If too many Argyle shareholders want to sell, the offer will be pro-rated down to a mix of cash and stock in the new company. The cost of this offer, plus $200 million in Argyle’s debt and $275 million in debt contributed by Hearst will all be on the company’s balance sheet. But Marbut said that with cash flow of $160 million, the company would have relatively less debt than “most of the broadcasters who have been out there acquiring.” He said Hearst-Argyle would be prudent about future deals, but noted that “we are going to be strategic and aware of the fact that some of these stations (now on the market) will be gone forever” after their acquisitions. Marbut said that since Argyle execs began considering its future, the company had considered “every combination and alternative we could think of.” But he said that rather than simply selling out, “we wanted to have long-term growth opportunity in this industry and also to have a chance to get some liquidity” (to improve trading in Argyle’s thinly traded stock). While the new company will start out with a small number of shares, both Hearst and Argyle execs clearly plan to use the stock as a currency to do acquisitions. Argyle shareholders will be dwarfed by Hearst’s presence in the combination, but Hearst’s six stations — all in major markets such as Boston and Pittsburgh — contribute three-quarters of the cash flow. Argyle’s stations are predominantly in small markets; its biggest being in Cincinnati. The new company is likely to have to divest two stations: Argyle’s station in Providence, R.I., and Hearst’s station in Dayton, Ohio, because of overlaps with other stations. Hearst-Argyle said the two were likely to be swapped for other stations.
Hearst knits Argyle into TVhey i hear this is abandoned so may i adopt it? pm me so we can chat about it or simply jst put ur ansewer in a revew reply!
Your story has been one of great fascination for me. You writing flows well and overall the story is a solid one. There is just one thing bothering me... I canNOT believe you've discontinued this :( I was really looking forward to seeing this plot through the end.
For all demons in hell!
I don't know what's worse: that you did this, or that you haven't continued!
I really hope you will be, preferably soon.
