Business Notes PROFITS

When Gannett President John Curley wanted to alert Chairman Allen Neuharth that their five-year-old national newspaper (circ. 1.5 million) had broken into the black, the telegram was as short and peppy as any USA Today headline: MCPAPER HAS MADE IT. Thanks mainly to a 45% increase in ad revenues over last year, USA Today converted a nearly $900,000 loss in April to a $1.09 million profit in May. That was a pittance compared with the losses of nearly $400 million that Gannett is reported to have suffered since USA Today hit the newsstands in September 1982, but the first earnings were a heartening victory for a paper that once was given little chance for survival.

At first USA Today was scorned for its short, punchy articles. Critics dubbed it "McPaper," the journalistic equivalent of fast food, but soon major papers began imitating USA Today's artful use of color and snazzy graphics.