OH Taxonomy
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...
R. Thomas Lockie’s grandfather started a small music store in downtown Los Angeles in the 1920s. The store was later owned and operated by Tom’s father who played “keep the store in business” during the Great Depression. Tom’s father was a movie studio musician who specialized in playing the piano...
Richard Collins had a colorful career as a jazz trumpeter in the evening while he studied for his masters degree by day. Two topics always fascinated Dick, music and research, so he sought to study both. He earned his masters in Library Science and spent most of his career in southern California...
Neil A. Kjos, Jr. took over the music publishing company that his father, Neil A. Kjos, Sr. had formed in 1936. He began by developing and adding the best-selling Bastien Piano publications to a catalog that had previously focused exclusively on instrumental and choral publications. Development...
Bob Popyk knows enough about the music industry to write about it! Bob had several music retail stores before selling them in 1979 to form a sales and marketing strategies business. Since that time he has been active writing columns for Music Trades magazine and providing sessions at several NAMM...
John Galante was the accountant for the Story & Clark Piano Company beginning in the late 1950s. John oversaw the growth and development of the piano industry during those years and witnessed first hand the powerful team at Story & Clark as they worked to compete with the home organ boom,...
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...
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...
William Fuller began working as a salesman for the Wurlitzer Company in 1953. His original idea was to gain some sales training and look for a job in the office, which was based in his hometown of DeKalb, Ill. William really enjoyed traveling to dealers throughout his territory, which changed...