Dean Singleton’s job offer to Gil Spencer
Friday, November 30th, 2007I was finishing up an interview on Nov. 6 with Gil Spencer, who was editor of The Denver Post from 1989-1983, when, unasked, Spencer explained how he came to be hired by Dean Singleton, owner of The Denver Post and Media News. He said:
I had left the New York Daily News and Dean called me and asked me if I would talk to him about coming out there. I said, “Where?” He said, “Denver.” I said, “Where’s Denver and do they have a race track?”
And so, he was coming to New York and I was to meet him in a bar. I had never met him, never seen him, and this child walks in, who looks like Peter Pan. Jesus Christ, this is the owner of this newspaper, and we talked for about 10 minutes, and I knew I was talking to a grownup.
And so then it got serious and he said, ok, I’ll tell you what, I’ll offer you 150 grand and you’ll get bonuses and goodies. And I said, “Forget it. I want 175 and I don’t want any bonuses or any of that.” I could hear his mind going around because I figured that some of his top people, in advertising and such, weren’t getting quite that much money.
And he said, “All right.” And I said, “We’re not done.” I said, “My wife had to give up her car when we came to New York. And if we’re coming to Denver, she wants a jeep. And it’s gotta be red, and you gotta pay for it.” That’s a true story. We got there and there was the Jeep. I love him for that. We had a good trip there. We had a lot of fun. The Rocky Mountain News was giving us a lot of trouble. As a matter of fact, we were ahead of the News at that point.”
