Communications News Pioneers the Total Communications Concept

Communications News, Sept, 1984

communications News, completing its twentieth year of service to communications system managers with this big "20th Anniversary Issue", pioneered the concept of "ttoal communications" . . . the art and science of getting the right message to the right person or persons in the right way at the right time!

When CN Publisher Bruce Howat founded Communications News back in October 1964, he was making a classic response to the old Henry J. Kaiser secret of success: "find a need and fill it".

While there had been telephone industry magazines and broadcast industry magazines for many years, in 1964 there was no publication which brought news about all forms of communications together in one package to serve the needs of the communications user, the communications system manager.

Looking back to the early 60's, Frank Burns confirms the need as he says: "As a novice communications manager at 3M I yearned for a publication to come along which would aid me in doing a better job and help me to stay abreast of the communications scene. Finally in 1964 it happened and my 3M associates and I looked forward to receiving each issue of Communications News and reading it from cover to cover. At last we had a publication which was covering the total communications waterfront."

"Total communications" means getting the right message to the right people at the right time . . . and in the most cost-effective way. And, from the start, the publishers of Communications News took the total communications concept to mean simply helping communications systems managers to do this. From the beginning our aim has been to present each month" all that is new and newsworthy in voice, and data communications".

Communications News has been "total communications" not only in concept but also in content, coverage, and circulation.

Every article, every item . . . even every cartoon . . . in every issue of Communications News is about some aspect of communications.

Every from of communications . . . telephoney, broadcast, cable television, facsimile, data transmission, two-way radio, satellite transmission, fiber optics . . . you name it . . . every form of communications is covered in CN's editorial content.

In circulation, too, Communications NEws has maintained total dedication to the total communications concept. to be a qualified recipient of CN, a person must indicate responsibility for the operation of a sophisticated communications system.

Evelyn Olschewski, Director of communications for Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, confirms the success of CN's total communications concept, saying: "Your publication pioneered reporting on the broad field of telecommunications and, through the years, has been a major source of news and education. Your contribution goes well beyond the communications industry in the help it has been to its readers in providing appropriate and cost-effective communications systems for their companies and institutions."

Al McCatty, Communications Manager for National Distillers, paid high tribute to Communications NEws when he said: "The most significant contribution Communications News has made to the science and art of communications has been to focus the attention of the business community on communications as a separate entity in the economic life of America. Communications is a constantly changing, dynamic field of activity where the state of the art is never static. New approaches, developments, ideas, products, services and terminals reported in Communications News keep the reader informed, and alert him to solutions for his own problems. This has brought about a change in attitude toward communications; a realization that the business community thrives on the exchange of information. Communications News has led the way the recognition of communications and communicators and their impact on the business community."

New publications open up for business in a variety of ways . . . most frequently using some existing mailing list as their base. CN did it "the hard way" . . . creating an entirely new list of 20,000 names. Early in 1964 CN researchers decided upon 28 areas of activity (later to become 30) in which there was need for sophisticated communications systems. Then they determined what companies or institutions should be reached in each category . . . including, for example, every telephone company every TV station, every CATV operation, every airline, every Class I railroad, every military base, and so on . . . and, in some area defining a "universe" such as police and fire departments in all cities over 25,000, hospitals with 300 or more beds, colleges with more than 2,000 enrollment, and so on. And then, thru directories, questionnaire and personal calls, the CN staff painstaking built this new list of communications systems managers name-by-name, finding the right person in each of the companies and institutions. Immediately upon publication, CN applied for Business Publication Audit of Circulation audit of its circulation and, since early 1965, has been audited by bpa.