Edward Gaylord
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edward Lewis Gaylord (May 28, 1919–April 27, 2003) was a billionaire businessman who built a media empire that included The Oklahoman, the Nashville Network TV Channel, and the Country Music Television Channel (CMT).
Gaylord inherted the Daily Oklahoman and other family assets worth $50 million in 1974. Gaylord graduated from Stanford University with a degree in business and continued his studies at Harvard Business School, but World War II interrupted his education.
Gaylord increased the family fortune to $2 billion by the time he died in 2003. He also purchased the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, when it was in dire financial straits and kept it operating. He created The Nashville Network TV Channel, as well as Country Music Television, or CMT, which is similar to MTV.
The Daily Oklahoman newspaper, renamed The Oklahoman, remains in the family. Gaylord's daughter, publisher Christy Gaylord Everest, now manages the property. Everest, assisted by her sister, Louise Gaylord Bennett, have updated the look of the paper. Over the years, the newspaper has been regularly accused of having a Republican/conservative bias in its news coverage and, more openly, on its editorial pages. The January/February 1999 issue of the Columbia Journalism Review contained an article, titled "The Worst Newspaper in America," which made a case for that conclusion.
The Gaylord family of Oklahoma City helped found the world-famous National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, has given the University of Oklahoma contributions totaling over $50 million in the last three decades and founded the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Edward Gaylord and his family were actively involved in the formation of the now-defunct Western Pacific Airlines. Recently, the home field of the University of Oklahoma Sooners football team was renamed Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium due to their contributions.
Despite his civic achievements, Gaylord was often accused of using his newspaper for personal financial gain. The most recent example was the paper's editorial support for the city to use public funds to help finance the building of a new Bass Pro Shop in Oklahoma City, although Gaylord Entertainment was a large shareholder of Bass Pro private stock.
