That's a wrap.

• Author: Schley, Stewart

THIRTY-THREE YEARS, 30 MAGAZINES, HUNDREDS OF EMPLOYEES, 11 AIRPLANES AND COUNTLESS COLUMNS LATER PROLIFIC COLORADO PUBLISHER PAT WIESNER IS PUTTING DOWN HIS PEN. AND PICKING UP HIS GUITAR.

IF YOU'VE WANDERED AROUND THE MAGAZINE SECTION of any Denver bookstore, you've probably seen Pat Wiesner's work. Over a 20-year run, he published more magazines in more categories than anyone in Colorado. Some of them, like the former Wiesner flagship Colorado Homes & Lifestyles or this magazine, ColoradoBiz, are still found in retail magazine racks or on coffee tables in offices and waiting rooms. Others, more obscure titles like Trucking Times or TeleCarrier, were mailed directly to a controlled pool of readers inside their business and trade categories. If a budding industry or an overlooked affinity group attracted Wiesner's attention, he was game to publish a magazine for it. There was Stitches, an apparel industry magazine ("The Canadian-US. Trade Pact: How Will It Affect Embroidery?" pondered a 1988 headline). There was Model Railroading (exactly what it sounds like); Healthcare Informatics (for CIOs in the health sector); Recreational Business (bed and breakfast operators); and Senior Market Adviser (financial planners).

At its peak, Wiesner Publishing had more than 150 employees and produced more than $20 million in gross annual revenue. Twice, Wiesner sold groups of magazines to other publishers in deals worth more than $20 million each. For a bootstrapped private company in a notoriously difficult industry, those are impressive numbers. "It was a good business," says Wiesner, who studied engineering and physics in college. "We got lucky with a couple of magazines."

But the Wiesner Publishing story isn't all about the P&L. The company's origins, its growth during the heyday of the 1990s and the 2002 sale of its remaining assets to a partnership led by Wiesner's son, Dan, are intertwined with Pat Wiesner the person. And who he would become.

IT'S SPRING, 1982. WIESNER'S OUT OF A JOB AFTER PARTING with a Denver trade magazine publisher, Stan Searle, over a disagreement about compensation. With a mortgage and kids, Wiesner has to figure out the next chapter. He starts this way: rents a small office above a Littleton electrical service shop for $200 a month. Buys an Apple IIc computer. Gets hold of a list of executives and employees who work in the barely born satellite communications industry, which Wiesner thinks has big promise. He knows about it from his work with Searle's company, which published titles for related categories in the communications and cable TV space. During afternoons, Wiesner lights a fresh cigar and types out the names and addresses, saving 1,000 entries at a time - the maximum allowed by the floppy diskettes that store data from the computer. Wiesner is working one of the three pillars of the magazine publishing stool: the circulation part. He'll get to the others, editorial content and advertising sales, later. But the distribution side is key. By mailing his yet-unborn magazine to 10,000 people, Wiesner figures he'll reach most of the market. And that will give him a solid story to tell advertisers who want to sell their gear.

It does. With two partners, Wiesner launches Satellite Communications, a trade magazine for the budding industry. It makes...