Personalities Fever Pitch (continued from page 38) 94 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine that,andDonaldSussmanbought75percentofMaine TodayMediafor$3.3MinMarchof2012,investing$13M accordingtooneestimate,somebodyhadtobedevas- tatedalongtheway. Donald’s $13M investment, to my knowl- edge, is accurate. He updated the infra- structure. He turned over a publication that was very nearly breaking even. The only problem was the print problem, and he had the unions. He couldn’t just contract the printing to me because of the print unions. The severance package [Sussman would have had to offer the union printers] was too expensive. Togetthesavingsyouwereoffering,he’dhavetosell everythingtoyou. Yes. Butyouhadaplan. I took over the assets and some bank debt, and then I sold the [171,000-square-foot] MaineToday press building in South Port- land [in early 2016, to J. B. Brown & Co., with CBRE/The Boulos Co. as broker, for $4.9M, including a 21-acre campus] and took a [10-year] lease [with renewal op- tions] back. That was the money we used to buy the new press! Owning a building is not my core competency. With the new press, we’re saving $800,000 per year. It makes a red number slightly black. Since then, much of the MTM editorial staff has moved from its rented headquarters at One City Center in downtown Portland to share space with the rest of MTM at Gannett Drive in South Portland: “Most employees have been moved there from One City Center in Portland – where the company was paying $40,000 a month for rent and $100,000 a year for parking. Alliance will relocate to the South Portland plant in February–the Brunswick building was sold–and addi- tional presses are being installed to pro- duce the Alliance work.”–Pine Tree Watch HowdoyoufeelaboutCanadianpaper,andwhatarethe purchasingtrends? The real challenge is the tariffs on Cana- dian newsprint. I can’t speak for the West Coast, but I do know in the East Coast, all newspapers use Canadian newsprint. All the U.S. [newsprint providers] are at capac- ity. It’s such an unnecessary thing. Pacific Northern is owned by a venture capitalist, [so why not work for self-interest and] leave the industry in the wreckage if the tariffs are not rescinded. Howhavethetariffsaffectedyourpressesandpublications inMaine,andwhatadjustmentswillyoumake? Newsprint is the second-biggest expense out- side of labor. It’s already been a challenge. Geographyaside,where’sthecenterofyourbusiness? It’s close to wherever my minority partner Chris Miles is. He’s been running presses since he was a teenager. YougrewupaRedSoxfan.WhenTheNewYorkTimes interviewedyouandimpliedyouwerethe‘lastmanstand- ing’inadesolateworldthatwasrunningfromprint,you madesureyouwerepicturedinaRedSoxcap.Wereyou thinking“YankeesFans?” I didn’t realize the interview was about me. I thought he was going to be talking about [trends in print and publishing consor- tiums, consolidation]. Eventhoughyoucontrolanelectronicmediaempireas well,youseemachampionofprint. Now more than ever. I’m still the same per- son. I bowl on Tuesday nights. I’ve lived in the same house in Camden since 1989. With authority comes responsibility. You’repragmaticbutsentimental.Orelseyouand MarthawouldneverhavestartedTheFreePressonyour weddinganniversary. I know that’s been published, but it isn’t true. It’sfairtosayyou’reworkingthingsoutonalargerscale, then.ItfiguresintoyourgoingtoPamplona.Youcould havesharedsomeadventurewithyoursonsinMaine. Butthistimearoundyouneededabiggercanvas. There’ssomesearching. For our 25th anniversary, Martha and I walked the Camino de Santiago. I’ve checked into some Zen concepts, read some Bertrand Russell. It’soccurredtomethatyoucan’tpossiblyreceiveallyour newspapersdailyorweeklyanddisplaythemonacoffee table.Whenexecsfromyournewspapersvisityou,do youcatchthemlookinganxiouslyfortheirtitleonyour coffeetable? Nobody ever sees my coffee table. Whatelsedoyouliketo,um,Reade? I got the Al Franken book, but it was hard to finish. I liked Girl With A Dragon Tattoo. Itmustberewardingtohaveyourdadlivingnearby. I’d take you to MTM press. It’s a big building, so I could ditch you in there and get away. HowareyoudifferentfromGuyGannett,andwhatdoyou haveincommon?You’rebothRedSoxfans,forstarters. I’m not hands-on. I only have to make two people happy. Me and the bank. You don’t live in a Hearst Castle or in a Cape Elizabeth waterfront mansion like Guy Gannett. I can tell from Google Maps. How do you measure your success? I like creating sustainable business mod- els. I live in the same house I’ve lived in for many years. For success, I guess I’d ask my- self, “How many lives have you affected in a positive way?” Livebelowthefoldbutaccomplishthingsabovethefold. I like that. Howfarbackdoesthatapproachgoforyoupersonally? Completethissentence: InWestboroughHighSchool, youwerethekidwho(fillintheblank). Fell under the radar there, too. Anysports,extracurricularactivitiesatWestborough? Nothing very interesting. Everything’sinteresting.Yourschoolcolorswere navyblueandcardinal. The Rangers. No, I didn’t have extracur- ricular activities. I worked as a bookkeeper for my father, Brower Engineering. I swept floors where my mother worked, King’s De- partment Store. Manyofussufferfromillusions,butyoudon’tseemto. Youremailaddressendswith“rfbads.com.”Isithardwork tostaydowntoearth? [A smile.] ‘I sell ads’ is what I’m all about. Newspapers have always been a labor of love. I’ve never made money just publish- ing newspapers. How does the next generation of your family react to all of these acquisitions? You know, the ‘steward- ship’ thing. Does anyone in your next generation want to get into the business to guide us all toward the 22nd century? No! WiththeSeattleTimesneedingcash,didtheBlethen familytakea$200Mhitbydivestingthemselvesina hurryofBlethen-Maine—thePortlandNewspapers,etc.?If theyborrowed$213Min1998andsoldittotheRichard Connorgroupofinvestorsforsomethinglessthanhalfof