Background
Gaylord was born on March 5, 1873 in Muscotah, Kansas, the son of George Lewis Gaylord and Eunice Edwards. His father grew tired of fighting drought and grasshoppers and moved the family to Grand Junction, Colorado, in 1879.
newspaper publisher radio and television entrepreneur
Gaylord was born on March 5, 1873 in Muscotah, Kansas, the son of George Lewis Gaylord and Eunice Edwards. His father grew tired of fighting drought and grasshoppers and moved the family to Grand Junction, Colorado, in 1879.
After working at farm chores and as a store clerk, Gaylord enrolled at Colorado College, where he joined the debating society and was editor and business manager of the college newspaper.
In his junior year, Gaylord joined his brother Lewis in the purchase of a local newspaper with a $6, 000 loan from a Missouri banker who was impressed with the young man's business acumem. The venture was successful from the outset; the brothers sold the newspaper for a handsome profit and moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, where they purchased another journal, for which Gaylord again served as business manager. During the Christmas holidays in 1902, Gaylord read a newspaper article telling of opportunities in the Oklahoma Territory. Within days, he took a train to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a small village that was trying to become capital of the prospective state over the claims of the territorial seat at Guthrie. With two partners he purchased an interest in the Daily Oklahoman early in 1903, and the newspaper soon moved to new headquarters with a larger press. Gaylord used "extra" editions to build circulation as he campaigned for removal of the capital to Oklahoma City. The Indian and Oklahoma territories were combined in 1907, and Oklahoma was admitted to the Union - another reason for an "extra, " as was the 1910 referendum that moved the capital to Oklahoma City. Statehood found Gaylord in full control of his newspaper, with a new printing plant on North Broadway that would become the focus of financial and political power in Oklahoma for several generations. In 1911 he took control of the weekly Farmer-Stockman, and in 1916 he purchased the bankrupt Times, thus adding an afternoon newspaper to his profitable enterprises. Gaylord's conservative nature was reflected in his newspapers' policies. He was an energetic booster for his community and for the petroleum and cattle industries that were the mainstays of the state's economy. Gaylord invested in oil leases and livestock himself, and in 1928 he purchased radio station WKY, despite his advisers' warnings that linking a newspaper with a radio station would lose money for both. Within two years, the radio station was making a profit; in 1949, he obtained a license for the first Oklahoma television station, WKY-TV. Gaylord was instrumental in bringing new sources of water to Oklahoma City when the dwindling supply from local wells hindered the town's growth. He led a group of business leaders who promoted a $1. 5 million bond issue in 1916 that provided for a reservoir, and in 1959 he was a leading voice in the construction of Lake Atoka with a hundred-mile pipeline to carry water to his hometown. Early on, Gaylord saw the need for a meat-packing industry close to the sources of range cattle, and he urged the building of a large stockyard on the western edge of Oklahoma City. A link with railroads already existed, but he was also instrumental in bringing several railroads to Oklahoma City so that, in the 1920's, four competing lines offered both freight and passenger service to the state capital. When the presence of railroad tracks cut the downtown district into inconvenient sections, Gaylord spearheaded a drive to move the tracks eastward, and the present-day civic center in Oklahoma City was built on land vacated by the railroads. While his business ventures flourished, Gaylord at times found himself at odds with organized labor and the state's voters. When William H. ("Alfalfa Bill") Murray ran for governor in 1930, Gaylord accused him of being "an unconscionable liar" unfit for office. Murray won and the two reconciled when the governor ordered the National Guard to occupy a toll bridge on the Texas-Oklahoma border. Gaylord became an opponent of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, and his editorials endorsed Republican candidates even as the Democrats' power in Oklahoma gradually eroded through elections in the years following World War II. Along with his oil and cattle investments, Gaylord started a trucking company to carry his newspaper to the furthest reaches of the state. He also bought television stations in Texas, Florida, and Wisconsin. In addition to gifts to Colorado College, Gaylord showed a personal interest in the education of his employees' children. Associates told of his announcing scholarships for staff members, or making loans to an employee and then raising the man's salary to match the loan. He also gave large sums to the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority as anonymous gifts, but the source was revealed at a Federal Communications Commission hearing regarding another matter. On his ninetieth birthday Gaylord became the first publisher to produce an American newspaper entirely by computerized type-setting, and in 1974 he predicted the demise of printing. On his one-hundredth birthday, Gaylord spoke to a joint session of the Oklahoma legislature. Gaylord continued to manage his many interests until, at the age of 101, he died at his home in Oklahoma City. He was buried there after a funeral that included eulogies from President Richard M. Nixon and the Oklahoma congressional delegation.
On December 29, 1914, Gaylord married Inez Kennedy. In time, a son and two daughters were born to the couple. His wife died in 1974.
