Radio to the Web and back

Eric Straus pulls no punches. He”™s sitting in his Poughkeepsie Civic Center office with a radio logo behind him, wearing a “No Daily Newspaper” button on his shirt.

That”™s no surprise, considering Straus owned a string of 10 Hudson Valley radio stations and grew up listening to Murray the K”™s “swinging soiree” on WMCA, one of the stations once owned by his father, R. Peter Straus. His sister, Jeanne Straus, owns a string of weekly community newspapers that circulate from Orange County into New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

While Straus was out hawking his radio stations to potential advertisers, their biggest complaint “was the inability to bring in decent hires. They were spending a fortune with the dailies and getting poor results,” he said, referring to daily newspapers.

That started the dials turning in Straus”™ head at the same time the Internet began to gallop. After selling his stations to Clear Channel in 1999, Straus did his homework and built a niche that proved to be a win for him and the companies looking for decent employees: He and “geek guru” Steve Bywater built a Web site and created the software to promote jobs and attract job seekers on the Web.

“We wanted it to be local,” said Straus. “So people here in the Hudson Valley, and my former radio stations and I, promoted each other.” This turned out to be Straus”™ leap into cyberspace. The site, www.regionalhelpwanted.com, originally focused on the seven-county area he had broadcast in: Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland,Â Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester. From that jump-start, www.regionalhelpwanted has grown to more than 330 dot.com sites and has won Straus a spot on Deloitte & Touche”™s top 50 fastest-growing companies in New York, “OK, I”™ll take number 38,” said Straus with a grudging grin.Â He”™s sure he will be nearer to the top of the list in 2008.

Straus didn”™t stop with helping disgruntled advertisers find a better way to find job seekers. He also started www.cupid.com and www.predating.com.

Straus”™ Poughkeepsie headquarters employs 60 people. He spends most of his time traveling the country talking to radio stations, asking them to partner with his regional help-wanted site. “We have an agreement where the radio station gets 70 percent of the revenue and we take 30 percent.” It”™s worked out well for Straus, who grossed $400,000 in 2006 and predicts 2007 is outpacing last year”™s numbers.

And while he”™s heavily invested in his Web enterprises, the radio bug has bitten Straus again: He”™s bought three local stations. “I was born in the business ”“ it”™s in my blood,” said Straus. Though he never made it to the Brooklyn Academy of Music to see a “Murray the K” show during its heyday, he was an avid listener to his father”™s AM radio station when rock ”™n”™ roll was taking over the airwaves.

Straus, who makes his home in Rhinebeck, loves the Hudson Valley. While the Internet may seem to rule, Straus believes “there will always be a place for radio and newspapers, particularly community and weekly papers.” As a man who comes from a family whose dynasty was built on that foundation, Straus”™ view may be an indicator of what the future holds.