Organs
Victor Tibaldeo Sr. loved to talk about the accordion boom of the 1950s, an element that helped establish his music store. The Miami-based store also was one of the country’s most successful organ retailers when that instrument hit its boom in the 1970s. Victor always said it helps to be in...
Milton Thomas has had a long and well-respected career in the music products industry. Milt served as National Sales Manager/Director of Marketing for the Lowrey Organ Company before becoming Vice President of marketing for the keyboard musical instrument division of CBS Musical Instruments. He...
Lloyd Robbins became executive vice-president of the Rodgers Instruments Corporation in 1997. Rodgers is part of the Roland Corporation and is dedicated to creating its unique and successful line of church and home organs. The company, which is based in Portland, Oregon, was formed in 1958. Over...
Frank Huffman was the quintessential traveling music salesman! With charm and always a few good jokes, Frank has made his way across the United States, first for Wurlitzer and then for Baldwin. Standing next to Frank in a smoke-filled bar, one could meet all the other travelers who knew him by name...
Vern Schafer joined the family business of moving pianos as a teenager, but had the dream of running his own piano store. While still running the Schafer Piano Movers Company, Vern set out to learn all he could about the ins and outs of the piano retail business. Soon after opening Colton Pianos,...
Layton V. Rawlins was the founder of Rawlins Piano Company in Southern California and a veteran of the piano industry. Layton witnessed many of the biggest changes within the piano business over his 50 plus year career. He was always proud of the strong friendships within the industry that he...
Kenny Chilton was deeply passionate about the electric organ. While working at a piano and organ retail store in the Los Angeles area in the late 1960s, Kenny was approached by a research team working with the Mattel Toy Company. After answering a series of questions over several days he was asked...
Richard Bennett served many roles during his long career in music, perhaps most notably as the sales rep for Wurlitzer towards the end of the 1960s. His involvement in retail and his philosophy on customer service have had a lasting effect on his success and the success of the dealers he would call...
Ted Krumwiede was a veteran of the piano industry working for Kimball and Story & Clark in the important re-birth of the piano business following World War II. Ted had training and a real passion for marketing and found success telling the great stories of the companies we worked for. Ted was...
Lowell Simpson spent his entire life in music. As a child he played music as well as sang and in fact, continued to sing over the decades even after working as a sales manager for several industry manufacturers. From 1965 until 1978 he served as a sales rep for the Wurlitzer Company. He traveled to...