Susan Lovell - founder of the East Grand Rapids Cadence Newspaper
Dublin Core
Title
Susan Lovell - founder of the East Grand Rapids Cadence Newspaper
Subject
Susan Lovell - founder of the East Grand Rapids Cadence Newspaper
Description
HISTORY OF CADENCE by Susan Lovell
“In the early 1970s I was writing a newsletter for the East Grand Rapids School Board called the Three Rs: Read! React! Reply! The board hired me so they could communicate with the public regularly instead of only when they wanted a millage vote. I chose the Three Rs to encourage more interaction between families and the board. By 1975 I was being bombarded with legitimate requests from East students to put something about their activity in the newsletter; and it was increasingly hard to keep saying this one sheet publication had no room. Ann Frahm had just shut down her Advance weeklies so I called and asked her to just keep the EGR edition. Her answer started Cadence.
“East Grand Rapids won’t support its own newspaper.”
Any other word choice, Mary, wouldn’t have led to Cadence. But I don’t like to be told what won’t work! And I knew from the Three Rs how East people felt about their schools. My entire goal was to support EGR’s children from kindergarten on by sharing their various achievements with the community. I’m a big believer in positive reinforcement and the news in those days was pretty negative about young people. So I considered Cadence my form of PTA service. And we treated music as broadly as football. Every semester we listed all the honor-roll students at East High.
Ann Frahm was wrong. Because of EGR’s small population, our advertisers insisted on 100% distribution. And the only way we could do that was with what we called VIP Subscriptions; i.e.,voluntary subscriptions kept us in business. I decided to do a thank-you by printing the names of our VIP friends in the paper, and long as it was, that list was widely read! We also had many college subscriptions which helped our bank account. One EGR student at Harvard had a weekly entertainment party in his room by reading “Street Beat” out loud to all his friends from NYC, Chicago, etc. : )
As often happens in a small business, in 1990 some internal conflicts arose and I decided selling was the best option. We actually sold it twice as the first buyer couldn’t keep up the payments. Hank Meijer and John Morgan were the next buyers and, as you can see, Cadence is still being published [in 2017]—as an insert in the G.R. Press.
We were one of the first women-owned businesses around at the time and I would often get mocked about “going to your office?” It sounds like ancient history now, but many people expected us to fail. Yet I will always love the people of East Grand Rapids who embraced us from the get-go and supported us always. But I must say when we bought what had been Buob Plumbing on Bagley, even our EGR fans had fun with the all female newspaper moving into that particular building!
This got too long but I have to tell you, Mary, this was fun for me to write. I will always feel we made a difference to EGR’s young people. And I will always feel just as grateful to the community who trusted us to do that.
Susan
Susan Lovell. History of Cadence Newspaper as told to Mary T. Dersch, curator, East Grand Rapids History Room, October 18, 2017
“In the early 1970s I was writing a newsletter for the East Grand Rapids School Board called the Three Rs: Read! React! Reply! The board hired me so they could communicate with the public regularly instead of only when they wanted a millage vote. I chose the Three Rs to encourage more interaction between families and the board. By 1975 I was being bombarded with legitimate requests from East students to put something about their activity in the newsletter; and it was increasingly hard to keep saying this one sheet publication had no room. Ann Frahm had just shut down her Advance weeklies so I called and asked her to just keep the EGR edition. Her answer started Cadence.
“East Grand Rapids won’t support its own newspaper.”
Any other word choice, Mary, wouldn’t have led to Cadence. But I don’t like to be told what won’t work! And I knew from the Three Rs how East people felt about their schools. My entire goal was to support EGR’s children from kindergarten on by sharing their various achievements with the community. I’m a big believer in positive reinforcement and the news in those days was pretty negative about young people. So I considered Cadence my form of PTA service. And we treated music as broadly as football. Every semester we listed all the honor-roll students at East High.
Ann Frahm was wrong. Because of EGR’s small population, our advertisers insisted on 100% distribution. And the only way we could do that was with what we called VIP Subscriptions; i.e.,voluntary subscriptions kept us in business. I decided to do a thank-you by printing the names of our VIP friends in the paper, and long as it was, that list was widely read! We also had many college subscriptions which helped our bank account. One EGR student at Harvard had a weekly entertainment party in his room by reading “Street Beat” out loud to all his friends from NYC, Chicago, etc. : )
As often happens in a small business, in 1990 some internal conflicts arose and I decided selling was the best option. We actually sold it twice as the first buyer couldn’t keep up the payments. Hank Meijer and John Morgan were the next buyers and, as you can see, Cadence is still being published [in 2017]—as an insert in the G.R. Press.
We were one of the first women-owned businesses around at the time and I would often get mocked about “going to your office?” It sounds like ancient history now, but many people expected us to fail. Yet I will always love the people of East Grand Rapids who embraced us from the get-go and supported us always. But I must say when we bought what had been Buob Plumbing on Bagley, even our EGR fans had fun with the all female newspaper moving into that particular building!
This got too long but I have to tell you, Mary, this was fun for me to write. I will always feel we made a difference to EGR’s young people. And I will always feel just as grateful to the community who trusted us to do that.
Susan
Susan Lovell. History of Cadence Newspaper as told to Mary T. Dersch, curator, East Grand Rapids History Room, October 18, 2017
Creator
Susan Brace Lovell
Source
Susan Brace Lovell
Publisher
East Grand Rapids History Room
Date
April 15, 2023
Contributor
Susan Brace Lovell
Rights
Susan Brace Lovell; East Grand Rapids History Room
Format
Digital
Identifier
Digital
Abstract
HISTORY OF CADENCE by Susan Lovell
“In the early 1970s I was writing a newsletter for the East Grand Rapids School Board called the Three Rs: Read! React! Reply! The board hired me so they could communicate with the public regularly instead of only when they wanted a millage vote. I chose the Three Rs to encourage more interaction between families and the board. By 1975 I was being bombarded with legitimate requests from East students to put something about their activity in the newsletter; and it was increasingly hard to keep saying this one sheet publication had no room. Ann Frahm had just shut down her Advance weeklies so I called and asked her to just keep the EGR edition. Her answer started Cadence.
“East Grand Rapids won’t support its own newspaper.”
Any other word choice, Mary, wouldn’t have led to Cadence. But I don’t like to be told what won’t work! And I knew from the Three Rs how East people felt about their schools. My entire goal was to support EGR’s children from kindergarten on by sharing their various achievements with the community. I’m a big believer in positive reinforcement and the news in those days was pretty negative about young people. So I considered Cadence my form of PTA service. And we treated music as broadly as football. Every semester we listed all the honor-roll students at East High.
Ann Frahm was wrong. Because of EGR’s small population, our advertisers insisted on 100% distribution. And the only way we could do that was with what we called VIP Subscriptions; i.e.,voluntary subscriptions kept us in business. I decided to do a thank-you by printing the names of our VIP friends in the paper, and long as it was, that list was widely read! We also had many college subscriptions which helped our bank account. One EGR student at Harvard had a weekly entertainment party in his room by reading “Street Beat” out loud to all his friends from NYC, Chicago, etc. : )
As often happens in a small business, in 1990 some internal conflicts arose and I decided selling was the best option. We actually sold it twice as the first buyer couldn’t keep up the payments. Hank Meijer and John Morgan were the next buyers and, as you can see, Cadence is still being published [in 2017]—as an insert in the G.R. Press.
We were one of the first women-owned businesses around at the time and I would often get mocked about “going to your office?” It sounds like ancient history now, but many people expected us to fail. Yet I will always love the people of East Grand Rapids who embraced us from the get-go and supported us always. But I must say when we bought what had been Buob Plumbing on Bagley, even our EGR fans had fun with the all female newspaper moving into that particular building!
This got too long but I have to tell you, Mary, this was fun for me to write. I will always feel we made a difference to EGR’s young people. And I will always feel just as grateful to the community who trusted us to do that.
Susan
Susan Lovell. History of Cadence Newspaper as told to Mary T. Dersch, curator, East Grand Rapids History Room, October 18, 2017
“In the early 1970s I was writing a newsletter for the East Grand Rapids School Board called the Three Rs: Read! React! Reply! The board hired me so they could communicate with the public regularly instead of only when they wanted a millage vote. I chose the Three Rs to encourage more interaction between families and the board. By 1975 I was being bombarded with legitimate requests from East students to put something about their activity in the newsletter; and it was increasingly hard to keep saying this one sheet publication had no room. Ann Frahm had just shut down her Advance weeklies so I called and asked her to just keep the EGR edition. Her answer started Cadence.
“East Grand Rapids won’t support its own newspaper.”
Any other word choice, Mary, wouldn’t have led to Cadence. But I don’t like to be told what won’t work! And I knew from the Three Rs how East people felt about their schools. My entire goal was to support EGR’s children from kindergarten on by sharing their various achievements with the community. I’m a big believer in positive reinforcement and the news in those days was pretty negative about young people. So I considered Cadence my form of PTA service. And we treated music as broadly as football. Every semester we listed all the honor-roll students at East High.
Ann Frahm was wrong. Because of EGR’s small population, our advertisers insisted on 100% distribution. And the only way we could do that was with what we called VIP Subscriptions; i.e.,voluntary subscriptions kept us in business. I decided to do a thank-you by printing the names of our VIP friends in the paper, and long as it was, that list was widely read! We also had many college subscriptions which helped our bank account. One EGR student at Harvard had a weekly entertainment party in his room by reading “Street Beat” out loud to all his friends from NYC, Chicago, etc. : )
As often happens in a small business, in 1990 some internal conflicts arose and I decided selling was the best option. We actually sold it twice as the first buyer couldn’t keep up the payments. Hank Meijer and John Morgan were the next buyers and, as you can see, Cadence is still being published [in 2017]—as an insert in the G.R. Press.
We were one of the first women-owned businesses around at the time and I would often get mocked about “going to your office?” It sounds like ancient history now, but many people expected us to fail. Yet I will always love the people of East Grand Rapids who embraced us from the get-go and supported us always. But I must say when we bought what had been Buob Plumbing on Bagley, even our EGR fans had fun with the all female newspaper moving into that particular building!
This got too long but I have to tell you, Mary, this was fun for me to write. I will always feel we made a difference to EGR’s young people. And I will always feel just as grateful to the community who trusted us to do that.
Susan
Susan Lovell. History of Cadence Newspaper as told to Mary T. Dersch, curator, East Grand Rapids History Room, October 18, 2017
Date Created
April 15, 2023
Date Copyrighted
April 15, 2023
Date Submitted
April 15, 2023
Files
Collection
Citation
Susan Brace Lovell, “Susan Lovell - founder of the East Grand Rapids Cadence Newspaper,” East Grand Rapids History Room, accessed May 17, 2024, https://egrhistoryroom.omeka.net/items/show/91.