LARRY TAISHOFF: AN APPRECIATION

Larry was the Taishoff far fewer knew. Everybody in broadcasting knew his father, Sol, the legendary founder and editor of Broadcasting magazine who dominated the trade press and the industry from 1931 to 1982. But if Sol was without parallel on the editorial page, Larry was the motive force in the publisher’s office. The two were in lock-step from the time Larry graduated from Duke University until Sol celebrated his magazine’s 50th anniversary. That was when Larry scored his biggest fiscal triumph, selling Broadcasting to Times Mirror for what was then—and may still be- the highest price ever paid for a business magazine, $75 million.

As for me, I knew Larry well, both as an employer and a friend. He recruited me to take the editorial reins for the magazine’s second generation, and never faltered in my support. “It begins with editorial,” Larry would declare time and again, especially when there was a dispute with the advertising side. “Make the editorial as good as you can and everything else will follow,” was his mantra. We did, and that made all the difference.

Our association didn’t end with Broadcasting. As a philanthropist and broadcaster-for-life, Larry became the principal support for the Library of American Broadcasting, which I now serve as president. Indeed, for one 10-year period he was virtually the sole support, and his generosity is still reflected in the Library’s balance sheets. If that institution is to become the towering edifice he had in mind, it will be largely because for so long he bore so much of the burden alone.

The Taishoff legacy began virtually day and date with the broadcasting industry and has yet to be lost after 75 years. Broadcasting, the magazine, didn’t just cover broadcasting, the medium. It was its heart and soul. Broadcasting, the future, will need both.