From: owner-small-repairs-digest@smoe.org (small-repairs-digest) To: small-repairs-digest@smoe.org Subject: small-repairs-digest V6 #50 Reply-To: small-repairs@smoe.org Sender: owner-small-repairs-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-small-repairs-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk small-repairs-digest Tuesday, June 25 2002 Volume 06 : Number 050 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [s-r] Geoffrey Colvin (with Shawn mention) ["Susan Krauss" Subject: [s-r] Geoffrey Colvin (with Shawn mention) Thought folks here might be interested in this. Shawn's mentioned at the end. susan in alameda Will the new `Wall St. Week' be a hit? Commentary: Colvin, Gibbs attempt to replace Rukeyser By Jon Friedman, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 12:09 AM ET June 21, 2002 NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - You might say that the career of Geoffrey Colvin, the co-host of the new television show "Wall Street Week with Fortune," has been framed by a series of happy accidents. When Colvin, now 48, graduated from Harvard, he was looking for a job. He got a break when a former professor referred him to representatives of William Paley, the imposing long-time chairman of CBS. Paley hired Colvin to help him write his memoirs. A native of Vermillion, S.D, Colvin had hit the big time in New York, the media capital of the world. The job lasted for three years and it paved the way for him to join Fortune as a researcher. "It was a sheer accident," said Colvin, a friendly journalist, during an hour-long interview in his comfortably cluttered Fortune office, 15 floors above midtown Manhattan. As it turned out, Colvin never left Fortune and he is approaching his 24th anniversary at the magazine. In 1995, he rose to his current position of editorial director. He is a frequent speaker at the magazine's conferences as well as a commentator on the radio and TV. Along the way, he obtained an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business. Serendipity again tapped Colvin on the shoulder earlier this year. He explained that Maryland Public Television, the home of the prestigious "Wall Street Week" franchise, approached Fortune executives to talk about becoming a partner on a revamped version of "Wall Street Week" intended to combine the strengths of the two admired media brand names. Plus, since Fortune is now published by AOL Time Warner (AOL: news, chart, profile), the largest media and Internet company in the world, the marketing muscle of an MPT-Fortune alliance appeared to be limitless. The talks moved forward swiftly. The debut of "Wall Street Week with Fortune" will occur on June 28 at 8:30 p.m., Eastern Time. Colvin and Karen Gibbs, the respected business TV veteran of CNBC and Fox and now an MPT employee, will be the co-host of the program. "This will be a great bridge between the show and the magazine," said John Needham, president of Fortune Multimedia. "It has to help investors make sense of these complicated times and deliver them information they can use in an engaging and entertaining way." The new `Wall Street Week' The old show, hosted by Louis Rukeyser for 32 years until earlier this year, was occasionally criticized for sticking doggedly to the same format and recycling guests who seemed to represent a similar point of view. "You will see a wider range of guests and panelists" than on Rukeyser's show, said Colvin, who chooses his words carefully and often pauses before making a point to make sure he is expressing himself precisely. While Rukeyser seems spontaneous, Colvin appears thoughtful. "He had a stable of people who returned as panelists," Colvin said of Rukeyser. "We have no plans to replicate that. On the old show, you were highly unlikely to hear bearish sentiments or hear anyone recommend selling a stock. Those opinions, as long as they are well supported, will be welcomed." MPT executives would surely welcome a show that could make its viewers forget about the long shadow cast by Rukeyser. After MPT sought to change (read: reduce) the long-time host's role a few months ago, its relationship with him deteriorated into a soap opera. When Rukeyser, his pride stung, went so far as to use "Wall Street Week" as a platform to discuss the situation with his employer, it was clear he and MPT could no longer work together. He soon left. CNBC is happy to have him. Since its debut, "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street" -- which is on Friday nights at 8:30 p.m., Eastern -- has been the highest-rated program on CNBC so far in the second quarter. The show has reached an aggregate audience of 560,000 viewers each week, according to the network. Replacing Rukeyser Colvin, Gibbs & Co. may need all the help they can get to step out of the Rukeyser's shadow. He helped bring the nuances of Wall Street investment pros to Main Streets all over the U.S. While Fortune is admired for its creativity and comprehensiveness, not every print publication has successfully re-invented itself on TV. In 1988, for instance, USA Today attempted to clone its success on the tube, but the program by "The Nation's Newspaper" lasted only one season. Viewers have high expectations for any show calling itself "Wall Street Week." A study released this week by the MIT Sloan School of Management shows that Colvin has a challenge. The survey, conducted in conjunction with MIT Sloan's 50th anniversary, asked alumni to name a show that best represents the reality of the business world. Perhaps not surprisingly, "Wall Street Week" drew praise. "The now defunct `Wall Street Week' was the best, since it brought the value of capital markets to a broader audience," said Bill Springer, from the class of 1980. Packing a punch Fortune, which publishes 24 issues a year, packs a punch. Its demographics could make the most cynical advertising executive drool. Fortune has a circulation of 1 million people. On average, each of them boasts a household income of $347,500, a net worth of $2.2 million and an investment portfolio valued at $1.9 million. Will Fortune's assets translate into a success on TV? To make it, the show must be at once entertaining and informative. Colvin said he wants people to enjoy watching the show and come way from it saying, "Gee, I never knew that!" Who is Colvin? At least Gibbs has enjoyed a long career in front of the camera. But Colvin has never taken on a TV project this imposing. Colvin's friends and colleagues say he will approach the challenge with his characteristic wit and sense of calm. David Thomas, a media executive in New York and a friend of Colvin's from Harvard, says Colvin is a mixture of "highly disciplined and eccentric" qualities and that he accomplishes tasks by "effortlessly grinding away." Colvin marches to his own ... bagpipes. He is a proficient player on the bagpipes and stops work most days at 4 p.m. to have a cup of tea and draws for 15 minutes when he has the time. "He likes to engage a different part of his brain so he won't get stale," Thomas said. Colvin is a dedicated mountain walker who once crossed Switzerland on foot and has stood on canyon edges in Utah. Colvin said that former General Electric (GE: news, chart, profile) Chairman Jack Welch, who has had his life picked apart amid reports of his marital woes, told him over a dinner in Fairfield, Conn., "You're going to be living in a fishbowl - and you're going to love it." Not that Colvin is unfamiliar with celebrities. His sister is Shawn Colvin, the noted pop music singer. Asked if his famous sister has given him any advice as he tackles a new role, Colvin smiled and said, "Not really." Told that he may yet become even better known than Shawn, he laughed and said, "That'll take some doing." Maybe Shawn won't be known as Geoffrey Colvin's sister any time soon, after all. But if he rises to the occasion on TV, it won't be an accident. Jon Friedman is media editor for CBS.MarketWatch.com in New York. \ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from the list send mail to majordomo@smoe.org with 'unsub scribe small-repairs' in the message body. FAQ & other info: http://www. tisd.net/~casey/shawn/small_repairs.html *REMEMBER* all posts not directly related to Shawn must have the tag 'NSC:' is their subject line - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ End of small-repairs-digest V6 #50 ********************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from the list send mail to majordomo@smoe.org with 'unsub scribe small-repairs-digest' in the message body. FAQ & other info: http ://www.tisd.net/~casey/shawn/small_repairs.html *REMEMBER* all posts not directly related to Shawn must have the tag 'NSC:' is their subject line ------------------------------------------------------------------------