Bloomberg's Gulf War Radio

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When anyone asks what Bloomberg News was like in the beginning, there is one story that everyone who was hired in 1990 tells.

Let me set the stage.

Mike Bloomberg started his eponymous financial services company in 1981. At first, he focused on providing prices for bonds. Later, he realized customers needed news to explain price fluctuations, so he signed a deal with Dow Jones for articles. 

Dow eventually began to see Bloomberg as an emerging competitor to their Telerate platform. They told Mike they wanted to cancel the contract.

It was a defining moment in the history of the company. 

Mike decided to build his own news operation, hiring Matt Winkler from The Wall Street Journal. Matt started recruiting in March of 1990. I was number 15, joining in November. 

The first Bloomberg News story was published in June by MaryAnn Busso. She can’t recall the subject. Her beat was corporate bonds. 

Matt struggled to find experienced journalists because few people wanted to take a risk on a startup. As a result, the initial team consisted of some people from the industry. Simon Walsh had traded oil; Joan Rogers had sold mortgage bonds; Christa Sheehan worked in munis. 

Tim Quinson and Dave Wilson covered stocks; Gerard Meuchner wrote about government bonds. David Kleinbard, Ken Kohn, and I summarized newspapers. The editors were: Marc Meinero, Nora Macaluso, and Ann McCracken. Jim Murphy was the bureau chief. 

In January of 1991, the world was rocked by the first Gulf War. 

We were faced with a conundrum. We didn’t have a bureau in the Middle East or an office in Washington. We knew how to cover markets, not wars. 

We were crowded into a tiny room at 505 Park Avenue. It was so small we suspended the fax machines from the ceiling. If anyone needed to use the bathroom, everyone else had to get up. It was packed like an airplane aisle. Mike personally hand-delivered the paychecks. 

The solution to covering the war was as practical as it was ridiculous: someone brought in a transistor radio, and we tuned into the AM radio station 1010 WINS to listen for Scud missile attacks. The editors sent out headlines based on the radio flashes.

To improve reception, we angled the antenna out the window into an air shaft. No one wanted to sit near the open window because it was freezing. 

 It’s hard to say if that system was effective, but clients seemed appreciative.

We all remember that radio story because it illustrates so perfectly the lack of resources in the early days, as well as the pluck and determination of the team to find a way to compete. 

The crew: 

Editor-in-Chief Matt Winkler

Bureau Chief: Jim Murphy

Editors: Nora Macaluso, Anne McCracken, Mark Meneiro 

Reporters: Maryann Busso (Corporates), Teresa Yrastorza (FX), Joan Rogers (Mortgages), Simon Walsh (Energy), Christa Sheehan (Munis), Gerard Meuchner (Rates), Tim Quinson (Stocks), Dave Wilson (Stocks)

Newspaper Summaries: Ken Kohn, Dave Kleinbard, Ted Merz 

BRIEF OBSERVATIONS

THE 1990S: Me in the 1990s. Note the world stress ball and giant monitors.

TOWER OF LONDON: Don’t just be the first. Be the only.

THE UNDERGROUND: Love that the idea came from an electrical engineer.

ASTEROID: The near miss is incredible.

YOU GOOD: The kids tell me this all the time.