One of our own stepped into the breach on Tuesday, and, as is traditionally the case with our own members, gave an excellent presentation. Business Journal Publisher Jeannie Falknor, pinch hitting for Osprey's Dave Rizzo. told us all about her own publication.
     She began her talk with a "shamefully promotional" appeal. "They won't let me back in the office without a subscription or an item for Table Talk," she said, "so I hope you will help me out on both fronts. You can subscribe or whisper Table Talk tips to me at the end of this meeting."
     The BJ, she said, will be 15 years old in 2001. "While I don't think BJ years are equivalent to dog years, I do think the BJ has more maturity than you would see in most 15-year-olds," she said, "and how that maturity developed is something I'm going to talk about."
     American City Business Journals — which she said is not well known "by design," has roots "that are as entrepreneurial as any dot-corn." Some roots are in a Houston garage back in the 1970s when an entrepreneurial guy who was interested in business and figured other folks were too started some weekly papers that reported only business news.
     "It also has roots with an Indianapolis entrepreneur who set out to prove to his father he could make a million dollars before he graduated from college. He started a company called College Marketing, which sold credit cards, magazines and other items to college students. He sold that company to Playboy and ended up making his million and getting a seat on Playboy's board. He and an older partner also started several business journals. Neither had journalism backgrounds.
     In Kansas City, two real estate entrepreneurs (one of whom was a vet) who also saw a market for business news started business journals and called their group American City Business Journals. One of their newspapers was established in April 1986.
     Over time, many of (he papers in these three groups came together under the American City company. In 1989, Ray Shaw, AmCity's chairman and CEO, bought the company.
     Formerly with Dow Jones for 29 years — the last 10 as president and CEO — Shaw had retired to the Queen City where his sons (owners of Shaw Publishing) lived. They wanted to buy the Charlotte Business Journal, "but the deal was to buy all the business journals as a package," Falknor said. They bought ACBJ and moved the corporate headquarters from Kansas City to Charlotte in 1989.
     Ray, an experienced, talented journalist and businessman, brought high standards. "A period of tremendous growth followed with numerous acquisitions, startup of new products as well as improved journalistic quality and circulation of the existing business journals," she said.
     Privately held ACBJ is the nation's largest publisher of metropolitan business newspapers, with 3.2 million readers. It's in 41 markets — from Honolulu to Seattle and San Francisco to Denver and Phoenix to Dallas and Nashville to Boston and Philadelphia to St. Louis and Kansas City to Miami and Atlanta.
     "In each market," the veteran journalist said, "our goal is to be the primary source of local business news, to provide unparalleled service to readers and advertisers and to be actively involved in our business communities."
     In addition to the business newspapers, ACBJ also operates Street & Smith Sports Group, publishers of three motorsports periodicals, the Sports Business Journal and five sports annuals. All of these publications have national and/or international circulation. AmCity also publishes the Sports Biz Daily, a daily faxed product to over 20,000 subscribers who pay $1,050 to get daily news on sports.
     In 1995, the Shaws sold ACBJ to Advance Publications and Ray Shaw remained as chairman. Advance also operates Conde Nast Magazines, The New Yorker, Newhouse Newspapers and cable television operations, (o mention a few of its holdings.
     So here we are today, she said, at More-head Street near its intersection with Tryon in the two-year-old American City Building. Corporate headquarters are on the fourth floor. The Business Journal on the second.
     ACBJ has a website — bizjournals.com — that was featured in Forbes Magazine this year as one of its Best of the Web sites. "I hope you will visit the site if you haven't already," she said. Through it you can access content not only in the Charlotte Business Journal, but in all the business journals.
     "The site name changed recently. It had been amcity.com. But we know the brand for us is business journals, not American City," the publisher said. Ray Shaw "believes that in each city, including Charlotte, the brand should be the business journal and not the corporate name."
     Also part of the company is a national advertising network serving all business journals as well as about 30 others not owned by AmCity. Called the Network of City Business Journals, it has offices in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Washington and Charlotte. It works with national advertisers who want multiple markets.
     President Don presided at the meeting. Susan Hutchins introduced guests and visitors, and John Rogers gave one-liners for health and happiness. Chuck Lineberry led the song and John Stedman gave the invocation.
     Others at the head table included Pam Syfert, Katie Tyler, Tom Hunter, Edgar Love and Richard Rankin who introduced Jeannie Falknor.
     Mary-Stuart Brooks made an appeal for volunteers to tutor at the club's new project at the new Sugar Creek Charter School near North Tryon and Sugar Creek.

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