Frank Kane started the business, sometime before World War II, calling it “Frank Kane’s Weekly Letter.”
Born
in July 1912, Kane graduated with a B.S. from New York City College by age
19, and enrolled in St. John Law School. He left law school before
graduating, spent a couple of years as a columnist for the New York
Press, was editor-in-chief of New York Trade Newspapers Corp. and an
associate editor for the New York Journal of Commerce.
He
also worked in public relations, and, according to his grand-daughter,
spent time on Capitol Hill helping government officials lobby for the
end of Prohibition.
Kane was prolific writer, creating “Johnny
Liddell,” the New York detective, in 1944 for a pulp story, and went on
to write 30 books and many short stories about him. He also wrote
scripts for many of the top dramas during the Golden Age of Radio,
including six years as writer of The Shadow, and three years writing
Gang Busters
While his radio dramas had tens of millions of
listeners, and his novels sold tens of millions of copies and were
translated into 17 languages, it was Frank Kane’s Weekly Letter that
was most important to executives in the liquor industry, who considered
it the bible of the business.
Frank Kane died in 1968. Fifteen years later, in 1982, “Frank Kane’s Weekly Letter” was purchased by Joel Whitaker.
25 Years of Breaking News that Matters
Joel
Whitaker was an experienced prize winning newsman when he acquired
“Frank Kane’s Weekly Letter.” He had been editor of the world’s only
high school daily and editor in chief of the Indiana Daily Student.
After graduating from Indiana University, he went to work at the St.
Petersburg Times as a reporter, and later as an editor responsible for
national news coverage.
He moved to New York in 1968, the same
year Frank Kane died, as an editor at The Wall Street Journal, where he
wrote the Page One news summary. In 1973, he was hired as business
news editor at the Philadelphia Bulletin, then the nation’s
second-largest newspaper with a circulation exceeding 625,000. While
in Philadelphia, Whitaker graduated from Temple University School of
Law. After taking his bar exam, he joined the staff of Institutional
Investor as managing editor of Bank Letter.
He bought “Frank
Kane’s Weekly Letter” in 1982, and has been writing it ever since.
Over the past quarter century, he has broken a number of important
stories. He beat all other reporters, including those at The Wall
Street Journal, with the news the federal government would raise the
federal excise tax on beer, wine and distilled spirits. He warned of
the impact Mothers Against Drunk Driving would have on the alcohol
beverage industry.
At a time when many industry leaders
believed the alcohol beverage business was threatened with death,
Whitaker accurately predicted the “French Paradox” would change the
image of beer, wine and spirits to products which, when consumed in
moderation, actually promote human health. And he was the first
reporter to detail a pharmaceutical breakthrough – the development of a
drug that has the potential for ending alcohol abuse, a drug that
reduces the craving for alcohol experienced by alcoholics.
His
reporting has been honored by the University of Missouri, New Jersey
Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Newsletter
Publishers Association (now the Specialized Information Publishers
Association.
He was Council President in Fanwood, NJ, a
director and treasurer of the Newsletter Publishers Association and the
Newsletter & Electronic Publishers Foundation. He’s a member of
the National Press Club, the Army & Navy Club of Washington, DC,
and the Society of Professional Journalists.
Under
Whitaker, Frank Kane's Weekly Letter was renamed "Kane's Beverage
Week." Soft Drink Letter was acquired a few years later. In 2005, in
response to requests for daily news updates, Whitaker launched
"Beverage News Daily." Today, top beverage executives have a weekly
summary of the most important news in the industry on their desks by
8:30 a.m.nearly every business day.
Copyright 2009 Kane's Beverage News. All Rights Reserved