Born To Be a Newspaper Man

by Martin J. McGowan Jr.

New Richmond News

It wasn't long after I left KTCA-TV and was looking around for something else to do that I had a call from Sam Kaufman, publisher of the Skyway News. This was a free circulation paper containing mostly advertising but some news and columns that was circulated in pickup boxes around the skyways in downtown Minneapolis.

That wasn't the paper Sam wanted to talk about. He had purchased the New Richmond News at nearby New Richmond, Wis., just across the river from Stillwater. He needed an editor there and asked if I would be interested. Not having anything else to do I said we should talk about it. He proposed that I would invest $25,000 to become a part owner. The arrangement would run for a year during which time I had to decide if I wanted to purchase the remaining interest and own all the paper or else leave and have my investment returned. I needed to run this by my attorney, Esko Ranta, to see if he approved. He approved but his services would be needed again before the year was up.

Ranta is a story in itself. I sort of inherited him from my father. Ranta first appeared in Appleton doing the accounting for the Minnesota Farms Co., a company owning farms in western Minnesota and North Dakota, and some in Montana. Then R. G. Risch, owner of the theater in Appleton, also engaged Ranta for accounting. It was then that my father also engaged Esko to do the accounting.

Esko had some large accounts and I was puzzled why he wanted to be bothered by such small accounts as ours. One of his accounts was a large grain farmer in North Dakota. He was the accountant for the Minneapolis Lakers basketball team before they moved west. Esko would fly to Hawaii to play golf with Max Winter, owner of the Lakers, just to keep on good terms with that account.

Just down the hall from Esko's office was a small office for Joe Robbie, an attorney from South Dakota who had run for Congress in Minneapolis. Robbie was an entrepreneur who parlayed his connections into owning the Miami Dolphins pro football team and eventually a stadium named after Robbie. This proved to be a lucrative account.

But back to Sam Kaufman and the New Richmond News. My first week there proved to be an interesting one. I walked in and while the News for that week was being printed in another building nearby that was the central printing plant for the News, the papers at Hudson, Amery and other towns in the area. I first learned that the main press foreman was on his last week and there didn't seem to be any provision for his replacement. While I was mulling that prospect the press stopped. I asked if the issue was done and I was told no. The reason the press stopped was because they had worked 40 hours that week and Sam had told them he would not pay any overtime.

I was incredulous. "Do you mean you are going to quit before the press run is done? When will the run be finished?" I asked. They didn't know.

I told them I would pay them myself if necessary to but get the press running so the papers would get out on time. Printing was resumed and I had my first confrontations with Sam.

It soon became apparent that the only reason Sam bought the New Richmond paper was so he could have his Skyway News printed there at a non-union shop. The real money was in the Skyway News and the newspaper was just a means to an end.

Occasionally Sam would come to New Richmond to play golf. I don't know who he got to play with him but in the course of a round he would tell one of the local merchants playing with him, "I've got you down for a page ad in the News this week." I'd never heard of such gall. As I became better acquainted with the local merchants I learned that they detested Sam. That and the presence of a large shopper from Frederic, Wis., which circulated in the area made it very difficult to sell advertising.

Sam called regular weekend meetings, usually on Sunday at his office, to either berate me or urge me to sell ads like he tried to do. I joined the Kiwanis club and regular meetings were held at the Rivers Edge supper club in Somerset, hoping to make some better connections with the merchants that mattered.

I became good friends with Jack and Mary Raleigh who ran the club. Jack was a former fight promoter in St. Paul, who really was the front man for the club. Mary ran the kitchen and supervised the meals. One time she invited me to bring all our family to the club for a meal. I told her the size of our family but after some urging we accepted. Mary urged everyone to have a big meal but Betty had coached the family not to do so. When Mary noticed nobody was ordering the best meals she said, "Did your mother tell you to order hamburgers?" We finally compromised and ordered something a bit better than burgers.

The Raleigh sons ran the tubing on the Apple river, which was a swift flowing river that took people from the club down to Somerset.

Somerset had an annual Green Pea Soup festival. The year I was there I was asked to judge the floats in the parade.

One night working late during the winter the road was icy as I returned to St. Paul. Coming down a hill into Somerset from New Richmond I lost control of the car and slid through a service station platform. The road turned slightly there but I went straight ahead. The collision caused me to hit my chin on the steering wheel. I wasn't hurt but I did get a gash on the chin that left a scar still visible. Betty had to drive our second cars to Somerset to take me home. The car was towed the following day.

I was getting some suggestions that I could do better in New Richmond if I owned the paper alone. Betty and I attended holiday parties and started looking at homes to buy. One home that looked interesting was the home of former Gov. Knowles.

Our decision was made for us. The end of the year when I had to make a decision was drawing near. One Monday morning there was a note on my desk from Sam. He ordered me to be out of the office that day. It came as a surprise but I was glad to accept his order.

The next thing was to get my money back from Sam. He wasn't in any hurry to return my $25,000. It turned out that most of Sam's money came from his wife. She was a very fine person and Betty and I enjoyed visiting with her at social gatherings. She thought Sam was crazy to buy the newspaper in the first place. She thought he was silly to redecorate an office for himself in the cold, unheated basement of the News building. It took a bit of pressure from Esko Ranta to shake loose the money, but it finally came and that episode was concluded.

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