Kaman Music Corporation
John Roderick studied percussion at the Hart School of Music, which proved to be a great benefit for his long and successful career in the music products industry. John has worked for several top companies so far in his career including learning first hand from Charlie Kaman at Kaman Music, Jim...
Dale Kroke has been a passionate music maker since he was a kid. He studied music in college and earned a teaching degree before pursuing an advance degree in composition. His first job in the music industry was with Kaman Music in 1990, working with overseas distributors within the company's...
Allan Small played music as a young student and earned his degree in music education, then became a band director for almost a decade. As a band director in Pennsylvania he was involved with a program created by the Selmer Company called Bands for America. The training for this program was a...
Bob King worked at Hal’s Music in Mountain View, California after returning from Vietnam in the early 1970s. He was introduced to the wholesaling side of the industry and soon gained a job as a rep for Coast Wholesale. He stayed with the company for over 20 years and was there when Kaman Music...
Jim Gurley had more stories than just about any one else in the NAMM Oral History collection! He taught guitar in Los Angles area music stores while picking up guitars at Rickenbacker Guitars and in Leo Fender’s first workshop in the late 1940s and early 50s. Jim later became one of the first...
Bob Saunders began working in the accounting department for Kaman Corporation. He was asked by the company’s founder, Charlie, to work with his son Bill for the Kaman Music Corporation. After Bill retired, Bob took over as CEO and President of Kaman Music and ran the company for over a decade. ...
Hai Muradian sang in his Kindergarten class and soon realized he really wanted to be on the stage to entertain people. After singing and playing flute in rock bands as a teenager, Hai began working in the studios and touring with several bands for several years until he landed a job at a local...
Jim Hennessey was working for Kaman Aerospace when he was transferred to the Ovation Guitar division. Jim worked closely with Charlie Kaman on several projects and later worked in the advertising department for Ovation. Jim expanded his duties to run the endorsement program and helped sign over 300...
Donald Johnson was known throughout the industry as DJ. He began working in music retail in 1958 in the San Jose, California, area before joining Coast Wholesale in 1961. It was an interesting and historic time to begin calling on retail stores in the San Francisco Bay Area. The folk music boom was...
Lloyd Stark began his career in the music industry as a teacher in a small string shop in Berkeley, California, providing lessons on bluegrass instruments such as the guitar and banjo. With little experience as a salesman, Lloyd applied for a job at Coast Wholesale in the San Francisco Bay Area....