HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1974-06-13, Page 62Page 30S
Prefile of a pubiisher.f.:
continued from page 1
of the Free ' Press placed a
telephone call' tb' The Ottawa
Journal and..'learned that
Shrier's e,Xnployers there
thought he Was at work that
day and hadn't I2een informed
he was taking tirrie off from the
mat room to go to seek em-
ployment elsewhere. He didn't,
get the Free Press job - and he
was released from his duties at
The Ottawa Journal ;as well.
�.V But it wasn't such a bad
break after all. Right at that
time The Guelph Mercury was
looking' for an ad salesman.
When he was just about 17,
Bob Shrier turned up for an in-.
w - terview' at the office of Bob
Hamill, general manager.
"What makes ,you think you
can sell?" asked Hamill of
Shrier.
At the invitation; Shrier
began his oration about his
abilixy
to',sell, his philosophy.
about selll g, his plans, his'
ideas for advertising campaigns
for customers.... •
"Stop", ordered Hamill.
"You're hired."
Shrier went to work for Bill
Lupton, then ad manager of
The. Mercury, now general
manager of The Oshawa Times.
"He taught me the greatest
lesson I ever 'learned", says
Shrier, -of Lupton.
The first day on the job,
Shrier was handed a list c�l:f six
clients: That flay he saw four of
them, the second day he saw
t he same fou r plug one more
ancf t he third da.y, because he
dido't want to he a pest, he saw
only the one remaining
customer on his list of six.
"'There was nobody else on
rm• list'' reasoned Shrier. "I
had nothing else to do ."
Bill Lupton thought other-
wise. He- brought the inex-
perienced Shrier into his office
and . laid it on the line.
"`"Get up off your behind and
look for new ° amounts", or-
dered Lupton.
After nine months- at The
Mercury, Shrier had an account'
list,of 413 names - 36 new ones!
—When he was transferred to
The Galt Reporter, he'd gone
full circle. He was back home
again and working with a man
who was destined to be the one
who would turn Shrier's life
around. °
• Ed Mannion, now president
of Canadian Magazine, was' the
advertising manager at Galt
when .Shrier went to work at what was meant by "future
The Reporter. Shrier was possibilities are excellent",
happy and" content -for the -first ''`They can mean jus`l about
six' months there, but it wasn't
long before his work began,:to
slip, his interest. began to wane
and his decision was reached,to
quit this bus'iness'before he was
fired.
Unknown to Shrier, Mannion
called one of Shrier's most.
respected clients, a department
store manager by the name of
Cee Smith. He asked Smith to
give Shrier a pep talk the next
time he saw him, urging him to
stay in the newspaper game
because he had the talent to get
somewhere in that field. Smith
obliged and after talking to the
apathetic ad man, Smith
discovered he'd done his job
well. Shrier went back to The
Reporter and asked to be
rehired as ah ad man.
"It is too late", Mannion
told .him, '"I've a young man
coming down from Timmins to
replace you but if you want to,
you can go to Timmins to take
his place."
There was it strike in Tim-
mins at the time, so Shrier
spent three months in Kirkland
Lake before taking up his post
in, Timmins.
t"Timn'tins was one of the
good things that happened to
me", says Shrier thoughtfully.
.was a maturing ex-
perience," ,
In Timmins he worked with
Brian Shelton who was general
manager there.
"He treated me like an equal
and taught me more -about the
business side of business than
anyone . else", remembers
Shrier.
;;After two years, he followed
Shelton to the'Sarnia.Observer:
That's where he met his wife Jo
and when`he went to Penticton,
B.C. as advertising manager of
The Herald, he had marriage
plans.
Two things stand out in Bob
Shrier's memory about Pentic-
ton. First, of course, was the
fact that in his second year
there he took Jo as his bride.
Secondly, he took The Herald
from a tri -weekly publication to
a daily enterprise; Those were
big happe • ngs, ,hot h' of which
made profok changes in his
way of life.
For the first time in years,
Bob Shrier began to lose sight
of that dream which had
become fixed in:.his 'mind - a
dream to own .a chain of
newspapers as well a.s "a
modern, well-equipped building
which housed a rotary web
'press.
"For awhile I vas influenced
by the corporate philosophy of
the Thompson company'',
Shrier muses.
But a two-year stint at The
Barrie Examiner was jrrst the
time he .needed to get hark on
track. That newspaperhad just
gone from a tri -weekly. to a
daily and Shrier was 'tran-
sferredfrom BC 'whe're he'd
had experience with this kind
,of change, to make'.the Barrie
operation sing.
"I began to get- itchyfeet
again", Shrier 'says. "I got my
old dream back again. I didn't
want to."'be a_ Thompson
executive any more.I wanted
to he my own boss.'
After watching The Globe
and Mail for awhile, . Bob
Shrier came upon' an adver-
tisement for an ad salesman
arid news manin a small town
where the "future possibilities
are excellent".
The man he contacted about
the ad was George ,Ellis,
publisher of The Goderich
Signal -Star. An eager Bob
Shrier asked Mr. Ellis exactly
nights thinking about it."
But the press turned out to
be.the key to prosperity for Bob
Shrier.
a
"It has made the new
building possible", he admits,
Then Bob Shrier's face fills
with1eriousness, ,His eyes brim -
with emotion. He remembers
the people who ,have worked
' with him at the Signal -Star
since the start people like
congratulations Signal -Star
on your official opening
"John Buchanan, V George Van-
derburgh, Lloyd Lounsbury,
Ruth Leonard, Shirley
Straughan, Phyl Steep.
He remembers the long daya
continued on page 31S
we were pleased to have been chosen
to upply all of your exterior brick
17
155 Anglesea St.
Goderich
Phone
524-8383
..z
,Congratulations
on your
Grand
Opening
Signal -Star
.what you want them to mean",
was Mr. Ellis' reply:,
When - Shrier related his
dream to George Ellis - `,ghat of
one day becoming owner of a
newspaper - the wise Signal -
Star publisher 'suggested - that
the' .Shrier family come to
Goderich, get the feel of the
town and of the Signal -Star
and then decide whether or not
they wanted' to b,.y the
newspaper.
In 1961, Bob and ,Jo Shrier
became 'established in
Goderici. Bob worked as an
advertising salesman and
reporter. His writing was
mostly -about sports.
In 1962, he bought a 10 per-
cent share in the company and
in 1965 he became the new
owner and publisher ,of The
Signal -Star.
"Buying the newspaper was
one thing , but 'buying that
press was the most terrifying
experience of my entire life",
Bob Shrier states with . sin-
cerity. "Spending another
$100.600 when I was already'
up to my neck iri debt was quite
a step. I walked a good many
Goderich street? a good many
Structural
' Steel'
' Supplied
By
EARL'S
WELDING
150 EXMOUTH ST.
SARNIA
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