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Go Back (to archives)In 1977 I finished my master's degree in Educational Media. I had learned how to produce and use photographs, slides, motion pictures, video, sound, and related technologies. At that time, computers were just beginning to be used in business, but they were not part of the program I completed. I was enthusiastic about the uses of media for marketing, but soon found that it was an idea whose time had not yet come. Production of slide-tape shows with dissolves and other special effects was time-consuming and expensive. Companies did not have the required equipment or facilities to use these media effectively. I decided to go into real estate since I could be relatively independent and produce my own media to help sell my inventory. What I quickly found out was that in spite of the dramatic possibilities of cinema, video, and sound, the single most effective medium was still print. Print had been around for a long time, it was familiar, and it didn't require a lot of expensive equipment to reach its audience. This is a history of our experiences with print and how they led us to where we are now.
I got a real estate license in 1977, and Margaret decided to get one too even though she had another profession. That way we were able to work together on certain parts of the business, and we did make a good team.
As a way to market ourselves and our inventory, we started producing a little one-page paper called The Greedy Poet's Newsletter. In it we developed a character called The Greedy Poet (modeled on me) who wanted to be a poet, then when that didn't provide a living, became a media producer, then when that didn't work finally decided to use media in the service of real estate. The Greedy Poet had a wife, a meek little person who wore gingham aprons and always told him how wonderful he was (not modeled on my wife).
Each issue of this newsletter featured a story about this character in which we ruthlessly satirized ourselves, our customers, and different genres of writing while providing essential facts. We sent this out to our friends and acquaintances who we thought would appreciate the information and enjoy the humor. The newsletter filled both sides of a single page at first but soon expanded to 2 sheets--4 pages.
When I became active in the Tucson Real Estate Exchangors, I wanted to share my enthusiams for the concept of exchanging and decided more people needed to know about it. In April 1980 we began publishing a small tabloid newspaper called The Tucson Exchanger. It was one sheet (4 pages) and in it we had short articles explaining exchanging and other real estate-related topics, together with ads for real estate, items for sale, and services. Some of our friends were disappointed that we had dropped The Greedy Poet--they told us they had looked forward to the articles about him. So later we did put some of them into the Exchanger.
When we began publishing this paper, we bought a new state-of-the-art electric typewriter. It had removable metal type balls which could be changed to produce different fonts. Marge was thrilled to be able to have the choice of large type, small type, italic, and different styles. I said, "In another year or two, this will be obsolete--computers will do it all." She didn't believe me.
In order to produce the paper, we had to type up all the articles and ads, cut them out, and paste them onto a layout sheet. One aid we used was a little machine that made titles on photo-sensitive paper. It had a number of strips of film negative with a different alphabet on each one. To make a headline,we pulled a strip through the machine until it got to the desired letter, then pushed a button to expose it, and moved on to the next letter. When we were through, we developed the resulting print in 3 small bottles of chemicals. This somewhat cumbersome process made strips in different sizes that could be pasted on to make attractive headlines and titles. We also bought narrow rolls of decorative edging that could be unrolled and pasted onto the layout sheet to make borders for articles and ads. It was time-consuming to produce even these 4 pages, but it was fun too.
We printed 15,000 copies of The Tucson Exchanger and distributed stacks of them around town in supermarkets and other high-traffic locations. Our kids and their friends helped with the distribution. We published the paper until 1983, when we found ourselves too busy with other things to continue it.
In 1979 we bought our first computer, a TRS-80 from Radio Shack. Its square keys reminded me of Chiclets, and they often stuck in the down position. The computer had only enough memory to print about 8 pages, and Marge disliked the fact that the program would neither underline nor italicize text. To back up our files, we had to use casette tapes and a complicated series of steps. Our printer was a dot matrix, which was legible, but not of the quality necessary for making a master copy. So we continued to do our Tucson Exchanger layout with the electric typewriter.
In 1988 we started Printpower. We bought a used printing press, which we installed in an unused bedroom in our home. The salesman was a retired printer, and he taught me and my son-in-law Mike how to do it. He was amazing; he could print wearing a white shirt and tie and never soil them with a smudge of ink. At that time we also invested in a computer system consisting of computer, monitor, printer, scanner, and the software program Ventura Publisher so we could do desktop publishing.
No one in Tucson used Ventura at that time. Marge and I had to teach ourselves. When we got really stuck, we would call the company in Scottsdale that we had bought the system from, but they were only a week or two ahead of us in learning it, so we were basically on our own. Usually we're a pretty happy couple. We don't fight or get angry with each other about everyday things, but learning that software was an ordeal. We would try something, get frustrated, try something else, get more frustrated, and end up screaming at each other. It's a wonder our marriage survived.
Ventura was well worth learning, however. It's a very powerful and elegant program. We are still using it--now in Version 8. The printing press was eventually moved to a separate print shop, but Mike is still working with us and is preparing to take over our printing business in Tucson when we retire.
We had been visiting Puerto Peñasco for twenty-five years,
mostly just to go to the beach and camp, but in 1993 we started thinking about
it as a place to do business. NAFTA was on the horizon; the local
economy was good; building was occurring as never before; and we could see opportunities
everywhere. Since we have a business in Tucson that distributes flyers weekly
to the real estate community, we started printing and distributing a one-page
leaflet with information about Puerto Peñasco--how to get there, where
to get insurance, history of the city, etc. One page quickly grew into two;
then we decided to go to tabloid (newspaper) format. Our first issue of El Futuro,
published in October 1994, had four pages. Now, nearly five years later, we
are still publishing it, and it has grown to 5 or 6 times its original size.
We publish 10,000 copies every month.
By the time we started El Futuro, our computer systems were much more advanced, and we were able to create ads and format text electronically. There was still a certain amount of pasting up, however. After trying a number of different softwares, we have finally settled on two. We use Corel Draw for most of the ads and Corel Ventura to format the entire publication. We have had moments of frustration even with these sophisticated software programs, but by and large they do the job well.
Meanwhile, along came the Internet. I could see what a benefit it would be for Puerto Peñasco to have a server, and I began talking about the idea w ith local business people, writing articles in El Futuro, and educating myself as to the possibilities of this new medium. I thought I might have to start a server myself, but in 1996 Juan Vanegas and a partner started Infotec. It was a major step forward, and many local residents--both Mexican and American--have cause to be grateful.
For us, having e-mail and the Internet has made production of El Futuro much more efficient. When we have articles to be translated, we e-mail them to Romeo and he translates them and sends them back. They arrive here already typed, so that tedious step is eleminated. After the paper is published each month, I upload all the articles and ads onto our two mirror sites, which are, in effect, an entire archive of El Futuro. Besides the articles and ads, we have information about the city, frequently asked questions, a directory of hotels, restaurants, and mobile home parks, weather information, and tide charts. In addition, we have links from ads to articles about the businesses, to the directory, to maps of the city. Our two mirror sites are probably the most comprehensive collection of information about Puerto Peñasco that exists. Our advertisers can have their ads reproduced free on the Internet, so in addition to reaching 10,000 readers, they are reaching 150,000 Internet viewers.
When I first got my degree, I was disappointed that I couldn't make more use of the media I had studied. What kept me away from film, video, and sound was the high cost of equipment and production. The Internet and the computer have changed that. With the possibiility of making multi-media productions economically, the power of the film industry has now been put into the hands of the "little guy." We can all have access to an audience of 75 million people. As for me, my media training has finally been put to use. I've been able to adapt my knowledge of film shots to electronic page design; my experience with photo processing to electronic scanning and enhancement, my expertise with mechanical devices to the functioning of the computer itself. The Internet is a culmination of all media, print included, but as long as there are readers out there, the well written sentence is still worth a thousand pictures.
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