Category Archives: Learfield

Learfield affiliate conference call

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In 1984 I went to work for Learfield Communications. At that time the company operated state and regional radio networks and had recently switched from delivering that audio programming by satellite (from land lines). Among other responsibilities, I did affiliate relations which meant keeping our affiliate radio stations happy. One of the big technical challenges in those early days was the quality of our satellite audio feeds. Really bad with some of our networks. In an effort to address these concerns I set up a closed circuit conference call — sometime in the late ‘80s — during which engineers from our affiliate stations could call in and ask questions of our technical staff. Kent Malinowski was head of our satellite division (Mark Lucas and Cathy Zeiler worked with him); and Charlie Peters, Learfield’s chief engineer)

I’m archiving the audio of this call here for posterity. No idea who might ever listen to this bit of Learfield history (or why).

Part 1-30 min

Part 2-23 min

The SMAYS Award

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The company I worked for holds an annual meeting of their sales reps that includes an awards ceremony. The awards are called the Clydes in honor of the company founder (Clyde Lear). Sort of like the Oscars but, well, the Clydes. One of the categories — Digital Sales — is named after me. I was pretty annoying in the late 90’s and early 00’s on the subject of the Internet. Lots of eye rolling back then, big part of the company’s revenue today. This is, I’m convinced, a short-lived vanity. It already seems odd to refer to something as digital when everything is, and has been, digital for a long time.

Derry Brownfield Show: World Wide Web

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The Internet has become so much a part of our lives it feels strange to say/write the word. Hard to remember a time when it was new and strange. The interview segment below is from 1996 and is a tiny time capsule from those early days of the “world wide web.”

On September 11, 1996, Allen Hammock was the guest on Derry Brownfield’s radio show to talk about the Internet and the “World Wide Web.” Allen and his partner, Dan Arnall, had recently joined Learfield Communications to “explore opportunities” on this new thing called the Internet. Allen and Dan were recent graduates of the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO. They created the first websites for our company and worked with our IT department to stream audio for our various radio networks and programs, including The Derry Brownfield Show. This 13 minute segment (edited from an hour-long show) touches on: Personal Communication, Privacy and Security, computer viruses, and getting “on” and “off” the Internet.

On November 22, 1996, Derry did a follow-up show featuring Solveig Bernstein, talking about privacy (and other topics) on the Internet (still newish at the time). Ms. Bernstein was the Assistant Director of Telecommunications and Technology Studies for the Cato Institute.

15 years of Day-Timers

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I burned fifteen years worth of Day-Timers today, the culmination of a months long project. I went through each day from 1984 to 1999, creating a corresponding entry in my Google Calendar. By ’99 I had started keeping notes in Act! (now on a rusting hard drive in some landfill).

I considered shredding these but the wire binder made that impractical. So I put them in a wash tub, soaked them in gasoline and burned them.

In addition to being a long, tedious (and pointless?) task, I found it a bit stressful. The pages were filled with more unpleasant memories than I would have imagined. Don’t get me wrong. I worked for a great company, with some really wonderful people. But, in retrospect, I wasn’t having as much fun as I always though I had. Does that many any sense at all?

Flipping through those old pages brought back some physical sensations. A little stomach clinch over some bad news… tightness in the neck muscles as some unpleasantness unfolded. I was glad to get through the final month. And the burning ritual seemed therapeutic.

Senator McCaskill honors Bob Priddy

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“He’s a journalist and I’m a politician and if you’re a journalist then you don’t make friends with politicians. You keep your distance because you have to be objective and you have to be willing to ask questions that you know is going to irritate them.”

Apart from the tribute video (and Bob), there was only one speaker at Bob Priddy’s retirement dinner this past Monday. U. S. Senator Claire McCaskill. She was very good.

For those who know Bob and couldn’t be at the event, you can watch it here.

Bob Priddy honored

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Bob Priddy is the best journalist I ever met and one of the best people I’ve known. He was the guest of honor last night at an event in Columbia, MO. Bob is retiring in a month or so, after 40 years as the news director of The Missourinet.

The event was cooked up Senator Claire McCaskill and Clyde Lear, the guy that started the company Bob worked for and it was, as they say, a special night. There was a great tribute video that I hope makes it to YouTube so I can share it here.

I started working with Bob and Clyde in 1984 and was very proud to do so, as you can see from this photo. I had just come from a small town radio station and getting to work with Bob Priddy at “the network” was my idea of making it.

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I (sort of) tried to recreate that photo last night but in the excitement of the evening, I got the order wrong. No matter. Still proud to call these two men my friends.

Bob Priddy: How it began

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In December (2014) Bob Priddy will retire from his job as news director of The Missourinet. The network’s first and only news director. In this interview Bob talks about how the network began; interesting people and big stories; politics and history. I was privileged to work with Bob for almost 30 years and he’s one of the most talented and interesting people I’ve met. The interview runs just under half an hour. Hardly enough time to reflect on his amazing career.

Charlie Peters

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charlie-petersCharlie Peters died this morning. Cancer got him. It got him and wouldn’t let go. Today he escaped. He was 53. Charlie and I worked together for almost 30 years. We didn’t socialize but I thought of him as a friend. A whole bunch of folks thought of Charlie as a friend. There’s probably somebody, somewhere that didn’t like Charlie but I never encountered that person. Charlie was the kind of person most people want to be. I guess I can’t really say that. He was the kind of person I would like to be.

Someday all the people that knew and loved Charlie will be gone. He — like the rest of us — will become a twig on a family tree somewhere. If some early 22nd century artificial intelligence stumbles upon this post, what would I like for it to know about Charlie? (I’m assuming smart machines of the future will eradicate every trace of Facebook)

Charlie was smart. The kind of smart that can understand and fix just about anything with parts. For most of the last 30 years he was in charge of engineering and technical service at the company we worked for. He was a huge factor in the success of the company.

He had fighter pilot nerves. I never saw him panic, even when the situation clearly called for panic. Charlie had that inherent confidence that he could fix just about any technical problem. And he could.

Charlie was quiet. He knew how to listen without offering an opinion. But when he did speak it was usually direct. Straight to the point. He’d just say what the rest of us had been tip-toeing around. Plop! Right in the middle of the conference table.

Charlie’s rock put a lot of warm, gentle ripples in the pond.

Charlie remembers The Big Dish Drop (video)
Game Day 2005, following completion of new sports operations area (3 min)

Goodbye Joyce Steinman

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joyceJoyce Steinman is retiring from Learfield Communications (the place I worked for 29 years) after 34 years on the job. Friends and coworkers lovingly roasted her yesterday to say goodbye. Lots of funny stories, lots of love.

I had the sense I was watching a dying tradition. Will people work at one company for 34 years? Can the same strong bonds be formed in the mobile 21st century?

Our company was very successful and it was a lot of fun. Joyce gets a lot of credit for both.