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Who Is McGraw-Hill?
Learn More About Channel 10's Parent Company
McGraw-Hill Broadcasting Group owns and operates four ABC network-affiliated television stations: WRTV in Indianapolis, KGTV in San Diego, KMGH in Denver, and KERO in Bakersfield, Calif.
Corporate History
Founder James H. McGraw (pictured, left), a teacher in upstate New York, began working in publishing in 1884, and purchased the American Journal of Railway Appliances in 1888. At the same time, co-founder John A. Hill (pictured, below right) was working as an editor at Locomotive Engineer. Over the next fifteen years, the two men pursued their separate careers specializing in technical and trade publications. In 1899, McGraw incorporated his publications under the heading of "The McGraw Publishing Company;" in 1902, John Hill followed with "The Hill Publishing Company."
The partnership was developing well, but the sudden death of John A. Hill in 1916 was a blow to the growing company. Business continued despite the loss, with James McGraw taking over as Book Company President. In 1917, the remaining parts of the companies merged to form the McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, Inc. and moved into the Hill Building on Tenth Avenue in New York City. Much as the companies merged, some of the publications that duplicated each other merged as well - Hill's Engineering News and McGraw's Engineering Record became McGraw-Hill's Engineering News-Record. James McGraw finally ended his long tenure with the company in 1935 when he stepped down as Chairman, though he retained the title of Honorary Chairman until his death in 1948. The family's involvement with the company continued, though, as he was succeeded by his son James McGraw, Jr. (Jay). Jay took over as President of the company two years later when Malcolm Muir retired. The 1930's and 1940's saw the continued development of McGraw-Hill, including the appearance of products in the aviation, health, and atomic energy fields. Jay McGraw retired from the Presidency and Chairmanship in 1950, and was replaced by his younger brother Curtis W. McGraw. The 1950's brought tremendous expansion in all areas, particularly in the field of educational publishing. Since the original merging of the two book companies in 1909, McGraw-Hill had been steadily increasing its offerings in textbooks for college level students. Many of its offerings were, of course, connected to the traditional strengths of engineering and science, but by the mid-1930's McGraw-Hill had developed specialties in business, management, and social science textbooks. With the development of the post World War II baby boom the extension of these efforts into elementary and high school publishing was the natural next step. With the acquisitions of the Gregg company (a publisher of vocational textbooks) and the California Test Bureau (a developer of educational testing systems), the company established a presence in the K-12 area. McGraw-Hill also purchased the companies of Warren C. Platt, a petroleum-industry publisher in 1953, and the future looked promising. Curtis McGraw, however, died suddenly in September 1953, and his brother Donald C. McGraw had to take over as company President. Under Donald the company continued to grow - a new office was opened in Virginia in 1957, and the Hightstown Distribution Center was opened in New Jersey the following year. The F.W. Dodge Corporation was acquired in 1961, and a foreign language-publishing unit was established in 1963. Donald McGraw retired as President and Chairman in 1968, and was followed by Shelton Fisher, who also held the position of Chief Operating Officer. Renamed McGraw-Hill, Inc., the company continued to diversify with new divisions, including the 1966 acquisition of Standard and Poor's, the provider of trusted financial information and analysis. Standard & Poor's impact was felt almost immediately after its acquisition when, in 1968, it helped create a new system to identify and track securities. The Committee on Uniform Security Identification Procedures (CUSIP) number was the brainchild of the American Bankers Association; Standard & Poor's provided the technological know-how and publishing ability to maintain the database and publish the annual list of CUSIP numbers.
Other key additions to the McGraw-Hill portfolio included the 1972 acquisitions of television stations in San Diego, Bakersfield Calif., Indianapolis, and Denver. The Company also moved to its present location at Sixth Avenue and Forty-ninth Street that same year. Shelton Fisher retired from the Company in 1974, and was followed as President by Harold McGraw, Jr., grandson of the founder and son of a former company Vice-President. After the company successfully defended against a takeover attempt by American Express in 1979, the 1980's brought new products and different approaches, including a switch from media to market orientation. Revenues topped $1 billion for the first time in 1980. Harold McGraw Jr. retired as President and CEO in 1983, but stayed on as Chairman until 1988 when he was named Chairman Emeritus. Joseph Dionne, who had been with the company in various capacities since 1967, followed Harold as President and CEO.
In 1989, working with Eastman Kodak and R.R. Donnelley, McGraw-Hill introduced Primis Custom Publishing - the first customized publishing system to allow professors to design their own textbooks. On the 1990s, Primis' share of the market grew to 18.5% and it was acknowledged as the leading U.S. custom publisher. In 1995, McGraw-Hill unveiled a new corporate identity campaign and became The McGraw-Hill Companies. The corporation also reorganized its divisions to better serve the public. The corporate Internet site was also launched in 1995, and a corporate Intranet site was created in 1996, the same year revenues reached $3 billion.
Joe Dionne retired as CEO in 1998 and was succeeded by Harold W. (Terry) McGraw III, bringing the leadership of The McGraw-Hill Companies back to the McGraw family. The son of Chairman Emeritus Harold McGraw Jr., Terry has been with McGraw-Hill since 1980. Under Terry McGraw, the critical issues of copyright/database protection and e-commerce have taken center stage. Similarly, The McGraw-Hill Companies' groundbreaking privacy policy has become a model for other companies to follow. In 1999, on the strength of businesses like Standard & Poor's, Business Week and McGraw-Hill Education, the corporation achieved its seventh consecutive year of record financial performance and reached an all-time high of $4 billion in revenue. The future of the enterprise looks bright as the corporation takes its e-business strategy into the year 2000 and beyond, and there is over a century of history to back up the claim that The McGraw-Hill Companies is one of the premier information providers in the world.
Copyright 2000 by TheSanDiegoChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
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2000 Leadership Award Recipients
Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a global information services provider serving the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as 
The McGraw-Hill Companies has been a leader in providing trusted information and analysis for well over a century. From the Industrial Revolution to the Internet revolution, The McGraw-Hill Companies has filled a critical need for information and insight by helping individuals and businesses in a broad range of markets. 
The two men had crossed paths frequently over the years and their mutual interest in science and technology led to an alliance in 1909. The book departments of the two publishing companies merged to form the McGraw-Hill Book Company. John Hill took the office of President; James McGraw became the company's Vice-President. The rest of the functions of the McGraw and Hill companies continued their separate existence, buying and expanding on numerous publications. 
Over the next ten years, the McGraw-Hill Publishing Company continued to expand and prosper. Acquisitions included the Newton Falls Paper Co. in 1920, and the A.W. Shaw Co. in 1928. Additional offices were opened in England and California, and new products like Bus Transportation were introduced (the picture at left is the McGraw Hill London office and nearby bomb damage in 1945). James McGraw retired as President in 1928 and was replaced by Malcolm Muir, but remained as Chairman of the Board. McGraw-Hill stock was publicly traded for the first time in 1929, which was also the first year Business Week was published. 