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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-09-30, Page 22o Jo, .the business was .always exciting For Jocelyn A. Shrier, real growth her husband in this new venture. is measured by how much better "Bob really was the boss. He ran the you've become. •business and he knew what was best for That's why, looking back over the future. I trusted his judgement and I her 22 years in the newspaper business, believed in Bob," Jo says. . she's proudest of the fact that The Jo sat down with an accountant and Goderich Signal -Star has become a leader worked out on paper how the new press in the field, an award wining newspaper ,would be financed and how payments that is much loved and appreciated by the - would be met. people of Goderich and area. "'After that, I was over the concern of the increased debt," recalls Jo. "In fact, I There's no denying that since buying The think I got over the concern long before Goderich Signal -Star in 1965, the Shriers Bob did." have seen their company grow in size and - scope. From their one newspaper start, Robert G. Shrier and his wife Jocelyn have built a multi -publication group and developed a fine printing establishment known across Canada for its quality and service. But through the years, the excitement and the satisfaction for Jo Shrier has been producing a quality newspaper in Goderich and area for the peopl who live here. "I'm really proud of The Goderich Signal -Star," she said just prior to her retirement effective October 1. "It's really nothing I've done in the way of coaching. It's no credit to me. The people have made it happen. But I'm,very proud of it." When Jo met and married her newspaper advertising salesman husband in 1958; she knew and shared his dream of one day owning a weekly newspaper. On their way For Jo, the most exhilarating day in her business life was the day the couple signed on the dotted line and became owners of The Goderich Signal -Star in 1965. "I felt we were on our way," she recalls.. "I have never forgotten that day, the way The acquisitions begin The press was the start of the expansion at Signal Star Publishing Limited. _ The purchase of The -Clinton News - Record came in 1966. The Shriers agreed that to ensure that another offset press did not locate too close to Goderich, it was im- portant to secure Clinton by buying the newpaper there. The purchase of The Kincardine News, The Lucknow Sentinel and The Mitchell Advocate followed in that order, but only after much discussion and soul-searching by Bob and Jo Shrier. "I suppose it was partly because I wasn't deeply involved in the business at the time," says Jo, "or maybe it was because I just wanted to be out of debt." "Bob had a dream that I just didn't have," she admits, "and security has always been extremely important to me." By the time SSP bought The Huron Ex- positor in Seaforth, it seemed like a natural move to Jo. She offered to go to Seaforth as general manager every day for a year until the publication was on track. "We promised each other after Seaforth there would be no more acquisitions," it felt to be starting our own business. I remembers Jo. was fairly jumping up and down. Really on Then The Walkerton Herald Times came a high." on the market and Bob and Jo were once Even though the Shrier's two children, a more caught up in the excitement of bring - son Rob and a daughter Anita were still ing another newspaper on stream within "very young, Jo pitched in at The Goderich the SSP group. Signal -Star in a big way. She worked in the In the late 1970s when husband Bob office, keeping the books, proofreading the became heavily involved with work in the copy, writing the weddings and generally Ontdrio Community Newspaper Associa- helping out where she could. tion, Jo became his administrative assis- She remembers just how much she en- tant and began to work fulltime again in joyed it. the business after a few years of only part "It was exciting," she said, "not like an time involvement. ordinary office. You knew what was going She was well qualified for this appoint - on in town. There was never- a dull ment, having earned her Certified General moment." Accountant's designation in 1978. What's She also remembers some of the fears. more, she was eager to accept the She was particularly worried about her challenge that went with financial manage- "When you know people, when you know husband, the newspaper's only ad ment of agrowing company. their families, when you know their per - salesman. She wondered what would hap- Surprised by husband sonal needs, if you have sensitivity for pea pen if he became ill and couldn't service However when Bob finished with OCNA ple, it is hard to make tough management the advertisers who were so vital to the in 1981 and told his wife of his desire to be decisions," Jo says. success of the new business venture. less and less involved on a day-to-day "That's what it's like to be in business in "We had a huge debt and I was not com- basis with the company, and his hope that a small community," she says. fortable with debt," admits Jo. she would take over the reins as general A changing person Jo felt she was capable of doing many manager of Signal -Star Publishing One of the great benefits of her work jobs around the newspaper, but she never Limited, Jo was less willing. with SSP has been the tremendous oppor- thought she had any aptitude for selling. "I didn't want Bob to step out," she tunity she has had to develop as a person. That was why she was particularly reliev- says, "and I couldn't understand why he She says the person she has become ed in 1966 when Howard Aitken joined the wanted to." because of her iniolvement with the com- b and shared duties as an advertis- Still Jo abeepted the responsibility pang is a much more capable individual in Jocelyn Shrier on with her husband's management philosophies, despite the fact her own ideas were somewhat different. "My idea of growing is getting better, not getting bigger," she says. Bob had built a tradition where staff members were urged to think and to dream, to realize fulfillment through the resources of the company for which they were employed. This meant that employees were poised to expand and create new challenges, while the new general rivnager was more disposed to holding the line and becoming more profi- cient at doing things well, better than ever before. The most difficult period was 1982, when even multi -national companies were ex- periencing slowdowns and losses. "I hadn't foreseen the recession that came in 1982," says Jo. "I was not familiar with business cycles and nothing like this had ever touched Goderich before." "What was even more scary was that I couldn't see the end of it," remembers Jo. "The whole thing was out of our control and we had so much to lose." Jo was worried there would have to be staff layoffs in 1982, and she wasn't happy about the prospect. PAGE 3 She is especially gratified gratified by her ac- complishments within the industry, par- ticularly as it pertains to the provincial and national newspaper associations. "At Signal I was Bob's wife, and though I followed Bob into the business and into the Ontario Community Newspapers Association (OCNA) , what I accomplished within the Association was done on my own," says Jo. She describes herself as a "private per- son" who is not given to maintaining a strong public image. Yet in her OCNA work, she became adept at representing the organization all across the country and speaking before audiences of varying sizes on behalf of the Association. In her year as president of the OCNA from the spring of 1985 to the spring of 1986, she tra'elled 45,000 kilometers and attended meetings from coast to coast. Her aim as president of OCNA was to plant the seeds that would get the board members more involved in the work of the' Association. Now, two years later the crop is about to be reaped as board members from newspapers all over Ontario are tak- ing a very active role in the everyday operation and management of OCNA's head office in Oakville. In fact, Jo has committed herself part time for the next few months to the OCNA where she will be working with the con- troller on the financial affairs of the Association and among other things, on the organization of the fall meeting and the spring convention of the members. She is also president of the Ontario Com- munity Newspapers Foundation, a group dedicated to improve the quality of the community journalism across the country, and initiating measures to stamp out il- literacy in Canada. "The recent publicity on the question of illiteracy is very helpful if we are going to raise money from the general public in this regard," says Jo. Off to see the world There's plenty of travel on her agenda for the new year, most of it in conjunction with the newpspaper business. In January, she and her husband will represent The Goderich Signal -Star in Hawaii at the Suburban Newspapers Association meetings. In March, they will be attending the OCNA convention in Toronto. In April, they travel with the Earl Mor- rison Association of Publishers to meetings in Bermuda. In May, the couple is off to the Interna- tional Press Institute meetings in Turkey and in October, they will be in Africa for meetings of the Gommonwealth Press Institute. "I'm hoping I will retain involvement with the industry long after I retire," says Jo who admits that her hobbies of knitting, playing bridge and watching the Toronto Blue Jays play ball will hardly consume all her time. "I have so many choices," says Jo. "I can do whatever I want to do after October 1. It's overwhelming. Decisions are so usmess, , g salesman.handed to her by her husband. She carried than would have been possible without it. But she soon had something else to think about. There was more to -husband Bob's dream than just owning a weekly newspaper. Bob saw the future for newspapers to be in the offset printing pro- cess, a full scale change from the letter press operation at The Goderich Signal- Star. Bob believed that to get ahead, the com- pany would have to convert to cold type in the composing room and buy an offset press. He also knew that kind of major in- vestment would not be possible for every newspaper in the akea, and envisioned the day when Goderich `would have a central printing plant to serve this part of the province. Oddly enough, though it meant going even deeper in debt, Jo Shrier suPeorted • Advisory boards help SSP Three of the Signal -Star Publishing Limited's seven newspapers have formed advisory boards from among their reading public. The Walkerton Herald -Times, the newest newspaper in the SSP group, named the first advisory board in the organization. This board was put in place during the fall of 1985, and has 12 persons from Walkerton and area who sit down periodically with Herald -Times staff to discuss the content of the newspaper and its service to the community. The Goderich Signal -Star formed its ad- visory board in 1986 with 15 persons on its mailing list. On average, 11 persons sit down every three months to talk about the newspaper and its role in the community. The Huron Expositor at Seaforth has an advisory board formed in 1987. Advisory, boards have been recommend- ed for many years by newspaper publishers and editors across North America. Their purpose is to facilitate bet- ter understanding between the newspaper and the people it serves week after week. much easier to make if you don't have a lot of choices, if you don't have a lot of, experience on which to draw." For those who know Jo, it's a foregone conclusion she will not let her experience go to waste. She will inevitably become engrossed in using the knowledge and the skills she has acquired, to make things bet- ter for someone or something somewhere. For in Jo Shrier's book, getting better at what you do is the measure of an individual. By those standards then, Jo Shrier has been an unqualified success in every way while in business, and her destiny most assuredly will be to seek excellence in whatever she does wherever she is.