Opening message from then-UPI President William J. Small:
At a time when fundamental changes in the United States and the world are affecting the format, content and scope of the news industry, it is fitting for United Press International to review its editorial course over the last year and half and look forward tothe opportunities ahead.
The year 1983 became one of record performance by UPI. The upward trend continues to accelerate. The company wrote $33 million in new contracts for 1983, doubling the 1982 total. In the first quarter of 1984 an additional $15 million was written, alreading equaling half the 1983 total. It was also the first quarter in nearly four years in which UPI posted a net increase in every client category over the previous quarter.
During 1983, UPI enrolled more than 65 new daily newspapers into service. In the last three months of the year, 31 newspapers switched to UPI. The company is currently averaging 1.7 new newspaper clients each week. In another crucial gain, more than 700 radio and television stations have signed or re-signed with UPI over last year. Client surveys revealed a growing satisfaction with UPI's editorial performance. A substantial majority of once-critical editors and publishers said at the end of 1983 that the quality of the UPI service had improved notably.
This report on editorial performance is intended in part to present a more complete picture ofthe editorial expansion launched by UPI.
It should also serve to emphasize, unequivocally, that every innovation or change introduced by UPI is market driven. Change is introduced only when it has been demonstrated that it will improve the quality of the news product and its value to subscribers. Responsiveness, sensitivity to market needs and good service are the basic principles we are determined to reinforce within UPI.
In additional to recapturing the trend of growth, UPI has made significant strides in reducing operating costs through efficiency and technological innovation. Monthly operating costs have been reduced by more than $800,000, while 100 journalists have been added to the UPI network.
Many of these innovations will become benchmarks of the industry simply because they make sense. One of the, the use of the portable Equatorial micro earth station to replace the extremely costly three-meter dish, already has become a new standard. This case illustrates well the principal benefit of competition: in its presence, innovation is accepted where it would otherwise be resisted. As Marshall Mcluhan once said, "Organizations left alone move into the future looking through rear-view mirrors." UPI looks head.
The report that follows will show that UPI has moved beyond the once-valid criticism that wire services are slow to make the improvements needed by clients.
UPI has maintained and solidified the best of its traditional strengths. Like any great ship that has turned, it must regather momentum. But the journey has begun.
Continuity and acceleration will follow.