ABC's Robert G. Burton: championing print in a TV world

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, March, 1987 by David Tuller

Few of Burton's past or present colleagues are neutral about his managerial style; they either love it or despite it.

"With some managers, when you leave after a meeting, you have to guess what they want you to do,' said James Casella, one of Burton's fans and the president of the ABC Consumer Magazines unit. "With Bob, you know exactly where he stands and what he expects.'

But a number of former employees cast Burton in a far less favorable light. "He motivates employees the way many football coaches motivate players--through fear, threats and innuendoes,' maintained Mitch Drobner, who served under Burton as vice president of personnel and administration for two years before being fired. Added Anthony Morgano, "If you can't make your goals because of problems arising from market conditions, working for Bob can be very difficult.'

Burton has also been criticized for an excessive interest in short-term profits. For example, under Burton's direction, Miller Publishing's payroll had shrunk from 125 people six years ago to less than half that in 1986.

According to Thomas Quirk, who left his post as senior vice president of sales and marketing at Miller rather than accept a demotion, the demand to meet quarterly goals was so fierce that ABC fired essential staff members and "would not invest in editorial, promotion and circulation in an effort to improve the company's long-term prospects.'

Burton disputed that claim, but several advertisers said they are buying less space in Miller magazines. One major advertising executive called several of them "the number-three publications in two-book markets.' And, said Ed Bergelt, the retired founder of Bergelt Advertising Inc., "Miller is not the publishing company it once was. A lot of good people have left. In the ad sales department, they brought in 20-year-old kids to replace 50-year-old veterans. The new salesmen did not have the knowledge, experience and contacts to sell the publications, and they lost a lot of business to competitors.'

Similarly, Miades said he left in disgust when Burton replaced Chilton's subscription fulfillment department with an outside vendor. "These were 100 little old ladies who were on the low end of Chilton's skill and economic scale,' he recalled. "The old Chilton would not have put them out. In my judgment, that was immoral, and after that I felt the business had nothing left for me.'

Burton said that he felt awful about the firings, but had no choice. "It really bothers me to have to fire people,' he said. "But if I hadn't cut costs as I did, those companies simply wouldn't be here today.'

Burton, a native of Illinois who lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, with his wife and three sons, travels up to 40 percent of the time, a total of 180,000 miles a year. Last year he spent a great deal of time in California, establishing a city magazine network consisting of Los Angeles Magazine, San Diego Magazine and San Francisco Focus. In November, ABC Publishing began selling advertising space in all three magazines as a package.