Let’s have a tip of the glass for the hometown hero, the relatively little guy who shuns the mega-tours and life on the road, and focuses instead on serving the local community for fairs, festivals, theatre in the parks and one-off concerts.
Despite the differences in their respective regions, the number of full-time employees (ranging from one to 100) and length in business (10 years to 60 years), they have much in common. Most started out as musicians and offer a variation on Clearwing’s Gregg Brunclik’s “I started out as a musician but decided I wanted to eat” quip. And they all share a never-ceasing passion for quality sound, razor-sharp survival instincts and most indispensably, a sense of humor.
The readers of FOH have honored all these companies as a “Hometown Hero” by voting for them in our secure poll, overseen by the Parnelli Award Board of Directors (see www.parnelliawards.com for more information). And while only one will receive the Parnelli for Best Regional Sound Company in October’s, every one of these guys is a winner.
Gregg Brunclik, president
Clearwing
West Allis, WI
“We have lots of a good people,” Clearwing President Gregg Brunclik says, explaining the success of his company. “We wouldn’t be anything without good people.”
Of course, it all started with a drummer who had some sound equipment. Just a year or two out of high school, he moved from behind the kit to behind the mixing board. Some low-level touring in the 1980s gave him enough of the road experience to inspire him to focus on building a regional sound company from his hometown in Milwaukee. (This worked out very well, as his passion for sound is matched only by his passion for family, with baby number nine recently added to his impressive brood.)
“We’re blessed,” he says. “We’re a big fish in a small pond. We aren’t in the national touring business–that’s a tough market to break into, frankly. But we do strong sales every year and have found a way to be profitable.” Typically providing services to the likes of Natalie Cole, The Righteous Brothers, Gipsy Kings, Ja Rule, and Def Leppard, and supplementing that work with corporate work, festival and fairs keeps them nimble and not dependent to any one segment.
Most recently they’ve done Harley Motorcycle’s 100th Year Anniversary, and are reaching beyond their region in taking on the celebration of the 1607 Pilgrim’s founding of Jamestown, celebrated with a series of events on the East Coast. Recently Clearwing opened up a second office in Phoenix, and between the two offices there are nearly 60 full-time people receiving Clearwing paychecks.
“I think we offer a commitment to quality of service that’s lacking,” he says of his success. “As we all know, anybody can own gear. But the real key to success in this business is repeat business. It does no good to just do a show once.
“Otherwise, I’m trying to live right and hope the right things happen to me.”
Northeast
Richard Fitzgerald,
CEO Sound Associates
Yonkers, New York
Few hometown heroes have received as many awards as Sound Associates; fewer still have been around as long. The company is currently celebrating their support for four Broadway shows that received a total of 17 Tonys just this year. Then there is their 60th Anniversary in the business….
Founded in 1946 by Thomas Fitzgerald, son Richard joined the business after graduating from college in the 1960s and his brother, Peter, joined seven years later. Today Richard, CEO, and Peter, president, run the business that employs nearly 100–many of whom are family members. “This is truly a family-owned business,” Richard laughs. “There are three son-in-laws, cousins, nephews… recently we won an award for family-owned businesses.” More kudos came in the form of a prestigious Small Business Administration award, and a Tony for their work in developing technology to help the hearing-impaired enjoy a Broadway show.
“Our infrared hearing systems are in every Broadway theatre, most off-Broadway theatres, and many others,” Richard says.
They just finished preparing The Lord of the Rings in Toronto, which will move to London, and are in the middle of building the new musical High Fidelity. They also are doing “Legends” which will star Linda Evans and Joan Collins. Also on their roster is a Little Richard show, some local concerts and many events in Central Park (Shakespeare In The Park and Metropolitan Opera and Philharmonic performances).
“We have a good cast,” he says of their success. “We have a lot of good people who work hard.” Otherwise, they focus on the regional events and keep up with the challenges, which of course include the spiraling cost of equipment.
“Ten years ago you could take a musical out on the road for half a million dollars,” he laments. “Now it’s three times that. We moved Lion King just from one theatre to another here in town and it cost $1.5 million. The numbers are astronomical!”
Northwest
Tom Fortier, owner
Concert Production Services
Kennewick, WA
“I was a guitarist who didn’t sing, so I started getting to asked to do sound,” tells Tom Fortier, adding with a laugh: “Then I started getting more sound work than guitar work.” He started doing audio on the side in 1979, and in 1986 was hired to run a professional audio retail store called Music Machine, Inc. In 1993, the company became Concert Production Services (CPS) owned by Fortier.
Today they have three people working “pretty steady” and another seven when things get busy. When things are not–as they can be in tough, cold winters, “it can just be me!” Fortier says. Clients include James Brown, Doobie Brothers, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw and Charlie Daniels, among many others. CPS also does a lot of fairs and festivals.
Fortier thinks his proudest achievement at this point is “that my doors are still open!” he laughs. Otherwise, “there’s the Franklin County Fair where we run three stages, and we’re about to do our 19th year with them. Our prices are not the lowest, but people like working with us because we’re very service-oriented. People call asking specifically for us because we are fun and aren’t the bounce-off-the-wall production-types like we know exist in this business.”
He also credits his not-so-silent partner, Mark Hellinger, for the company’s ability to survive and thrive. Mark and his wife, Liz, own Audio Pile and also have a financial stake in CPS. “But number one, he’s my sounding board,” Fortier says.
“We’re a very ethical and honest company. I don’t go after competitors unless they fire at me first, and many are dear friends of mine. Also, we don’t get in over our heads. I’ve turned down events because I thought it would be a good opportunity for us to look bad. Rather than go too deep or too thin, I’d rather do everything right. We want an ‘A’ every time we go out.”
Southwest
Larry Hall, CEO
H.A.S. Productions
Las Vegas, NV
South Carolina-born Larry Hall came to Las Vegas to play guitar and made a decent living doing it. Then for fun, and for a few extra bucks, he started a “hobby”which would grow into one of the most respected audio companies in the Southwest. Today H.A.S. celebrates its 10th year and enjoys several million dollars of business a year. The company has three full time people, three part-time people and six others on call. (This is now his day job, though he still plays guitar with an Ozzy Osbourne tribute band.)
“I think it’s just because of my work ethic,” Hall says of his success. “Instead of doing just enough to get by on a gig and cutting corners, I overdo it a bit. And I have no patience for anything second-rate.”
He’s built lasting relationships with some big resorts including the Monte Carlo, Silverton and Caesars Palace, among others. There’s a medium amount of corporate work, but mostly “we’re all rock’n’roll guys, and happy to do the one-off concerts. That’s what our focus is.”
Like just about all hometown heroes, keeping track of the Benjamins is among his biggest challenges. “When you get to the point when you feel like your company is standing on its own two feet financially, suddenly that new toy comes out,” he says. “Getting work is not a challenge for us, but keeping up with new products can be because I try to pay as I go–I’m not interested in financing.” This philosophy no doubt keeps his company on the map and growing whereas others have teetered off into oblivion.
He says he reflects back on his days as a ditch digger, and “even a bad day here beats digging a ditch,” he laughs. “But I wake up every day determined to not do anything ‘half-ass.’ I do it ‘whole-ass,’ and the people who work here are the same way.”
Canada
Peter Hendrickson, owner
Tour Tech East Limited
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
“The coolest part about this business is that we get to work with a wide variety of characters from different parts of the world. Just when you’ve seen and heard it all another one comes along.” So says Peter Hendrickson who heads up Canadian Hometown Hero, Tour Tech East, and who has built the sound provider into a company with 45 full-time employees, 10 part-time and another 50 on call.
While the company’s bread and butter remains corporate gigs at Halifax WTCC and regional touring, they are branching out–opening a U.S. office in Bangor, Maine as well as operating two soundstage studios that are booked more than seven months of the year.
Recent gigs include Black Eyed Peas, Brooks and Dunn, Alan Jackson, Sugarland and 50 Cent, and Hendrickson is looking forward to good things in the near future. “I hope to see the U.S. touring side of the business grow stronger with the strength of our diverse inventory. The film studios seem to be doing fairly well and look well poised for more growth.”
Southeast
Stewart Tritt, owner
Tennessee Concert Sound
Brownsville, TN
Stewart Tritt has been working in sound his entire life, he says, going back to when he was in the sixth grade. But in 1987, at the young age of 19, and with the help of respected soundman and Showco veteran Bernie Bernil, he made it official and bought a small sound company in Nashville. In 1989 engineer Andy Roark joined, and the team has built a steady business covering Memphis to their west, Nashville to their east and beyond.
The company has six full-time people, most who have been with the company more than 10 years, and “I think that says a lot about us, especially in this business,” Tritt says. He adds that Bernil was a critical element of the company’s success as he brought some big clients to the table, and even was head of recording and taught live sound reinforcement for the University of Memphis in the 1990s. “He sped up the success of the business several years because of his reputation.”
“Our partnership has worked well because Stewart handles the marketing and office, and I’m the field guy with the expertise in live sound,” Bernil adds.
The challenge of these hometown heroes is the glut of sound reinforcement “companies,” especially in Memphis, where it seems anybody with a board and some speakers can lay claim to being in the business. Add to that the politics of getting the special event gigs, the inevitable price wars–it can be a struggle. But they have a growing list of important clients return, some for more then a decade.
“When the job is over, it doesn’t end there,” Bernil says. “We make ourselves available for questions or anything the client needs, pro bono.” Then he laughs and adds: “I can rub people the wrong way because I’m a direct guy in these kindler, gentler times. But we don’t settle for mediocre.”
