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This is Fred Ball for Zions Bank, speaking on business.
One of my good friends is Dick Buys of Wave Publishing and The Wasatch Wave. Located in Heber, Wave Publishing has grown from a small, black-and-white weekly paper to a full service print shop with two newspapers.
In a recent conversation, Dick told me the story of how he got into publishing. As it turns out, his father-in-law asked him to help sell advertising for the Richfield Reaper for a few months. Dick said he fell in love with the business and decided to make it a career—a big change because he was an electrical engineer by trade. Dick and his wife Sue decided they wanted to own a paper of their own.
In 1974, with the closing of the Hecla Mine, the Heber economy sunk, making it affordable for Dick and his wife to purchase The Wasatch Wave. They jumped at the opportunity and it’s been in the family ever since. But what I most was fascinated to learn was that the paper had already been in Dick’s family for years and he didn’t even know it. While digging through some archives, Dick discovered that his great-great-uncle, William H. Buys, founded the paper in 1889. Now, 112 years later, Dick believes his uncle would have been proud that it’s still in the family. Dick’s daughter, Laurie is a fourth-generation newspaper editor and his other daughter Kari’s husband Paul is the general manager of the print shop.
Dick said the biggest and most dramatic change was the transition from a small, country newspaper and printing office to an operation that serves the Intermountain region. Wave Publishing recently expanded its print shop to include a state-of-the-art full color press and computers. Dick attributes the publishing success to hard-working employees and increasing technology. He said his employees are some of the best in the business and the new technology only makes the business better.
The Wasatch Wave has won numerous awards from the Utah Press Association including best editing, writing, design and photography. Last year they brought home the General Excellence award for their newspaper size. Dick’s hope is they’ll be able to become a daily newspaper in the future.
For Zions Bank, I’m Fred Ball. I’m speaking on business.
