in the past year." This article reported that the paper had lost nearly $20,000 in its first ten months of operation but that the owners were "confident it will work out in the end." It explained the rationale behind free circulation and the paper's unconventional editorial philosophy: "Why doesn't the Reader print news? Tom Wolfe wrote us, 'The Future of the newspaper (as opposed to the past, which is available at every newsstand) lies in your direction, i.e., the sheet willing to deal with "the way we live now."' That sums up our thoughts quite well: we find street sellers more interesting than politicians, and musicians more interesting than the Cubs. They are closer to home." In its early years the Reader was published out of apartments shared by the owner-founders, Roth, McCamant, Rehwaldt and Yoder. The first apartment was in Hyde Park—the University of Chicago neighborhood on the south side of Chicago—and the second was in Rogers Park on the far north side. Working for ownership in lieu of pay, the owner-founders ultimately owned more than 90% of the company. In 1975 the paper began to earn a profit, incorporated, and rented office space in the downtown area that later came to be known as River North. In 1979, a reporter for the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Illinois, called the Reader "the fastest growing alternative weekly in the U.S." In 1986, an article in the Chicago Tribune estimated the Reader'''s annual revenues at $6.7 million. In 1996, Crain's Chicago Business projected revenue of $14.6 million. The National Journal's Convention Daily (published during the 1996 Democratic National Convention in Chicago) reported that the Reader was "an enormous financial success. It's now as thick as many Sunday papers and is published in four sections that total around 180 pages." This report put the circulation at 138,000. 1995–2006 The Reader began experimenting with electronic distribution in 1995 with an automated telephone service called "SpaceFinder", which offered search and "faxback" delivery of the paper's apartment rental ads, one of its most important franchises. Later in 1995 the paper's "Matches" personal ads were made available on the Web, and in early 1996 the SpaceFinder fax system was adapted for Web searching. Also in 1996 the Reader partnered with Yahoo to bring its entertainment listings online and introduced a Web site and an AOL user area built around its popular syndicated column "The Straight