by Gary Hoover | Apr 5, 2023 | Articles, Data, Media & Entertainment
In our last newsletter, we took a look at the backgrounds of four media industry leaders, Shari Redstone of Paramount Global, Lachlan Murdoch of Fox, Brian Roberts of Comcast, and Bob Iger of Disney. Our exploration of the media and entertainment industries and...
by Gary Hoover | Feb 23, 2023 | Articles, Media & Entertainment
Warning: The individuals and companies discussed in this story are highly controversial. No industry has had more books and articles written about it than the media industry. These writings are often very opinionated: every industry analyst has a different...
by Gary Hoover | Jan 30, 2022 | Articles, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters
Read the first part of this two-part story here. In our last newsletter, we told the story of the great publishing house Harper Brothers, founded in 1817. In this issue, we continue our story with the tale of two powerhouse book publishers that arose over 100...
by Gary Hoover | Jan 23, 2022 | Articles, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters
Read the second part of this two-part story here. The history of book publishing in America goes back to the earliest days of the country. Thousands of book publishing companies have existed, mostly small but with an outsized impact on education, culture, and...
by Gary Hoover | Oct 28, 2021 | Articles, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters, Student Essay Contest
American business and entrepreneurial energy extends to every industry. Many great businesses have been created by immigrants from around the globe. The excellent company history below, which won third prize in our Essay Contest for High School students,...
by Gary Hoover | Jul 21, 2021 | Articles, Articles, Articles, Foodservice and Lodging, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters, Transportation
Today we republish an excerpt from the book I wrote twenty-one years ago, including some short but sweet diverse business history stories. The original has been slightly edited and we have added a few more pictures. (The complete book, expanded but only available as...
by Gary Hoover | Jun 5, 2021 | Articles, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters
In order to bolster their Amazon Prime Video streaming service, Amazon is buying the legendary M-G-M, probably the most famous of the great movie studios, for $8.45 billion. This will be the second biggest acquisition in Amazon’s history, exceeded only by its...
by Gary Hoover | May 26, 2021 | Articles, Biographies, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. Ahmet Ertegun did as much as anyone to shape the popular music that serves as the soundtrack for our daily lives. As the founder and leader of Atlantic Records for almost sixty years,...
by Gary Hoover | Dec 5, 2020 | Articles, Articles, Articles, Consumer Products, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters, Other Industries
Rudolph Wurlitzer and his sons Howard and Farny Wurlitzer The Wurlitzer Company is one of the most interesting companies we have studied. At their peak, their slogan was “Music for the Millions.” Here is the story of this formerly great company, based on...
by Gary Hoover | Aug 13, 2020 | Articles, Biographies, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. Preface: A Most Controversial Man In this story, we address the life and work of Walter Elias Disney, one of the most famous men in the world. Telling this story brings...
by Gary Hoover | Apr 24, 2020 | Articles, Articles, Biographies, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters, Transportation
Over the last two years or so, we in conjunction with the Archbridge Institute have produced a series of “long-form” biographies of great entrepreneurs. Each of these runs five to seven thousand words and takes twenty to thirty minutes to read. In this...
by Gary Hoover | Mar 5, 2020 | Articles, Biographies, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. On February 11, 1898, John Charles Smith of Toronto hit his head and died of a cerebral hemorrhage. The Irishman left behind his wife, Charlotte; five-year-old...
by Gary Hoover | Feb 28, 2020 | Articles, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters
Here is a quick note on an interesting twist in American business history. In 1948, the federal government trustbusters decreed that the big movie studios should not own movie theaters. In the preceding twenty years, the studios had put together big theater...
by Gary Hoover | Jan 31, 2020 | Articles, Biographies, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters
Fox News and the Fox Network have become part of the daily lives of millions. Yet few know where the name “Fox” came from, other than the historic Twentieth Century-Fox Studios. That movie-making part of the Fox empire was recently sold by Rupert Murdoch...
by Gary Hoover | Aug 23, 2019 | Articles, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters
Too often, when we see great entertainment or a great event, we forget that someone had to dream it up, organize it, and finance it. Fifty years ago this month, from August 15 through 18, 1969, the most famous music festival of all time took place in Bethel, New...
by Gary Hoover | Jan 2, 2019 | Articles, Biographies, Media & Entertainment
This article first appeared on January 2, 2019 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. Along with five younger siblings, Adolph Ochs was raised in poverty in Knoxville, Tennessee, by his scholarly but financially unsuccessful father and...
by Gary Hoover | Sep 28, 2018 | Media & Entertainment, Videos
by Gary Hoover | Sep 28, 2018 | Biographies, Media & Entertainment, Videos
by Gary Hoover | Sep 27, 2018 | Data, Media & Entertainment
New York City once had many newspapers, and they had serious circulation wars. Here is some circulation data, from 1894, 1928, 1962, and 2015. Source: Various Newspaper Directories New York Newspaper Wars Circulation History 1894-2015...
by Gary Hoover | Sep 27, 2018 | Data, Media & Entertainment
Here is a list of the companies which spent the most on advertising campaigns in 1979. Source: Advertising Age Yearbook 1981 Leading US National Advertisers 1979 (XLSX)
by Gary Hoover | Sep 27, 2018 | Data, Media & Entertainment
Here are the data slides from our video on the history of this industry. Magazine and Broadcasting History Data (PDF)
by Gary Hoover | Sep 27, 2018 | Data, Media & Entertainment
Here are the data slides from our video on the history of this industry. Movie Industry History Data (PDF)
by Gary Hoover | Aug 14, 2017 | Articles, Biographies, Media & Entertainment
This article first appeared on August 14, 2017 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. It was 1912. The wiry, soft-spoken, short (five-foot five-inch) immigrant with the thick Hungarian accent waited for hours to see the powerful Jeremiah...