Reading Without Turning a Page

Diversification is the path most smaller companies take to expand their enterprises. Lacking the financial muscle with which big corporations can mount large-scale marketing campaigns or buy new small businesses, small entrepreneurs generally rely on finding new ways of applying the business methods which proved successful in their initial undertakings.

But some companies face a special problem when they attempt to diversify: their first successes have been in fields so highly specialized that it's hard to find new areas in which to apply resources and expertise.

That was the situation faced by Denver, Colorado businessmen Rudy Savage and Edd Perkins. And the way they solved their problems is an object lesson in adaptation, marketing, and creative entrepreneurship.

In the late 1970's, Savage and Perkings were running a small but profitable firm called Talking Books Publishing Co., which produced recorded narrations of books and magazine articles for the blind and physically handicapped. They operated four recording studios and turned out 100 books a year, plus various national and special interest magazines, all on flexible plastic discs.

The entire market for Talking Books' products was the federal government's handicapped materials program, and Savage and Perkins wanted to diversify into areas that afforded greater potential for growth.

They had developed a sophisticated operation which included an editorial staff heavy with advanced degrees and and a group of narrators skilled in the art of interpreting literature and other reading matter for audio production. The question was: for what other purposes could such specialized resources be used?

Savage and Perkins reasoned that if recording books and articles could solve the reading problems of handicapped people, it could at least solve a far more common problem which most people face, namely, not having enough time to read. They then conceived "Newstrack: The Talking Magazine," a recorded digest of articles on audio cassettes, which could be listened to while driving, relaxing, or engaging in any activity that takes up time or occupies the hands but leaves the mind free.

Their original editorial orientation was toward general interest, mass appeal features. But they soon realized that a recorded "magazine" would be most useful to business people, who have heavy demands on their time and who listen to the tapes in their cars while commuting. So they focused on business and management subjects, targeted their marketing efforts on lists of high-level executives and, in 1980, created Newstrack Executive Tape Service, with Edd Perkins serving as Editor of this new and dynamic audio business information digest.

During Newstrack's first decade of publication, subscriptions grew rapidly, and in 1991 Communications Briefings, Inc. of Blackwood, New Jersey purchased Newstrack Executive Tape Service from Talking Books Co., and moved its production to New Jersey.

Under the ownership of Communications Briefings and the direction of its new editor Jack Gillespie, Newstrack experienced additional growth. A number of creative and cooperative marketing strategies in promoting Newstrack were employed. Among the more notable strategies was with Avis Rental Car - in which business people renting a car would find a free Newstrack tape available in each car for their listening pleasure, along with an invitation to subscribe via an 800 phone number.

In 1993, Capitol Publications, Inc. of Alexandria, Virginia purchased Communications Briefings and moved its headquarters to Virginia. The production for Newstrack, however, remained in New Jersey.

For the next two years, other audio digest competitors came and went, further positioning Newstrack as the nation's oldest and most trusted digest of its kind.

In 1995, Capitol Publications, pursuing a desire to focus on its printed newsletter offerings, sold Newstrack Executive Tape Service to The Crucible Group, also of New Jersey. The Crucible Group continued to produce Newstrack in its state-of-the-art studio in Pitman, New Jersey under the editorial direction of Anthony Fulgeniti, who expanded the number of topic areas covered in Newstrack.

In January 1997, Newstrack President William Price assumed the Editor's helm at Newstrack.

In September 1998, Newstrack Executive Tape Service changed its name to Newstrack Executive Information Service, in order to reflect the array of recorded and transcript formats in which Newstrack is now available.

Today, Newstrack Executive Information Service has emerged as America's Foremost Audio Business Digest. Newstrack editors review over 300 key business publications every month. A selection and screening process produces the top 30 articles of the greatest value in areas of: Management, Marketing, Sales, Finance, Strategy, Trends, Technology, and much more. Each article is then condensed and professionally recorded in our studio to provide the business person with time and money-saving ideas and information collected from the finest sources available. In all, over 25 topic areas are routinely covered in Newstrack.

Originally, Newstrack was reserved for CEOs and top executives of Fortune 500 companies. In recent years, our subscriber base has grown to include small business owners, professionals, doctors, lawyers, investors, franchisees, entrepreneurs, college business students, and professors. We are now an endorsed vendor to the Chief Executive Officers Club of New York, National Association of Sales Professionals, Business Marketing Association, and the National Library of Congress. Many other fine professional and industry trade organizations have also recognized the value and quality of the Newstrack product.

The new millenium that is upon us will result in changes never imagined before in the history of commerce. Such changes will continue to require constant and efficient time saving skills on the part of those who would seize upon these future opportunities, and remain well informed.

In 2001, Newstrack entered its third decade, confident in its mission of providing a time saving source of business ideas and information for those who will choose to adapt and grow. Just as Newstrack's founders Rudy Savage and Edd Perkins chose to adapt and grow.