
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 10, 1994                   TAG: 9404120015
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: F-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FROM CAKE MIXES TO BROADCASTING, PARK BUILT A 'REGULAR FOLKS' EMPIRE

In 1948, after working in another unsuccessful presidential campaign for Thomas E. Dewey, Roy Park persuaded the country's leading restaurant critic to join him in a business venture.

The critic was Duncan Hines. The two formed Park-Hines Food Co. to market premium foods under Duncan Hines' name, and brought such conveniences to American households as ready-mixed cakes.

The pair eventually sold out to Procter & Gamble Co., the household products giant. That was also when Park noticed how much money P&G spent on advertising. According to Advertising Age, a trade magazine, Procter & Gamble spends about $3 billion a year on advertising.

From 1962 until his death late last year, Ithaca, N.Y.-based Park Communications built a radio, television and newspaper empire that covers 23 states.

Jim DeSchepper, station manager at WSLS in Roanoke, said Park took an intense interest in his media properties, reading numerous newspapers daily.

"Mr. Park, who was born in Hillsville, Va., and grew up right across the line in North Carolina, always operated from a regular folks' perspective," DeSchepper said, "and his communications companies were expected to remember that when it came to providing service."

While studying at North Carolina State, Park worked for the Associated Press, a job which landed him a post-college job with the North Carolina Cotton Council. One of Park's early successes came when he suggested the Cotton Council sponsor a "Cotton Ball" during which the women would wear cotton gowns and the men would don cotton tuxedos.

The council frowned on the idea, but let Park hold the ball and either take the financial hit or keep the profits. The ball was such a success that other states took up the idea.

Soon thereafter, Park's hustle caught the attention of the Grange League Federation - now known as Amway - when he began publishing a 15,000- circulation farming magazine. The Grange League set Park up in Ithaca in 1942 with an advertising agency to direct the league's promotion.

That's when Southerner Roy Park made Ithaca his home.

by CNB