In 1986 we were full up.  The old house at 216 E. McCarty was our headquarters; the farm reports were being done from our original headquarters near Derry's home in Marian; We'd rented two others locations close to 216–one two doors west and the second above Modern Litho Print on Madison.  We were running from location to location to get stuff done; and, while serviceable, the three Jefferson City locations didn't have great appeal to visitors and potential employees.  And Centertown wasn't an ideal location for studios and backhaul.  We needed something better. 

I built the building along with Dan and Darrell Gordon, two Jefferson City commercial Realtors.  They owned half and I owned the other.  Construction took a year; we moved in 1989.

–clyde

The Kansas City Times did a nice piece on us in 1986 that highlighted our company, but particularly our farm programming and Derry Brownfield. You'll enjoy reading this, I think, because it quotes Derry many times; and he is one quotable fella.  My favorite:

"When your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep becomes your downfall"

–clyde

It was the summer of 1985.  Ronald Reagan was President.  Interest rates for all of us — not just credit card interest, but home loans, business loans, car loans — were well above 12 percent; some nearly 20 percent.  The economy was on the skids. Money was tight. And Derry Brownfield, my beloved partner for 13 years, was struggling under his farm debt.  He came to me one day and asked if I'd buy his stock. He needed the cash to avoid the Federal Land Bank taking all of his land–what he'd accumulated over a lifetime.  We had no way to value the company without a formal valuation.  So, he set the asking price at exactly what he needed to pay off his land debt:  a half-million dollars.  Might as well have been Ten Million dollars because I didn't have any money; and the company couldn't borrow five-thousand, let alone $500-thousand!  So, we prayed about it.

Two years prior, 1983, we built the Kansas City Royals distribution system (some 125 points) for the rights holder, Stauffer Communications of Topeka; back-hauling the baseball broadcasts to Jefferson City and sending them out from here.  Stauffer's chief engineer wanted control of his own network and had begun considering building his own up-link facility in Topeka.  Our agreement with Stauffer had a buy-out clause.  Guess what the amount was?  $500,000! 

I went to Stauffer soon after Derry came to me and inquired if they wanted to purchase the complete system–a little earlier than scheduled. They did. Yet, I had another problem:  The equipment was subject to a lien held by Harris Corporation, the manufacturer.  We'd paid on the debt for two years–never missing a payment, but there were many years to go.  So, I went to the guy I'd done the purchase deal with at Harris, Larry Boudre', and told him what was happening–the whole story. 

Amazingly, Boudre' did the unthinkable: he released us from the lien. So I sold the system to Stauffer, continued to make monthly payments to Harris, gave Derry a check for $500,000 and transferred all of Derry's shares to Learfield as treasury stock. 
 
Again, relationships played a big part in bringing all the elements together; strong, honest, open, relationships with Derry, Stauffer, Harris, and Boudre'.  Everyone trusted each other. The objectives were honest and realistic.  The deal came together in less than two weeks.  In fact, I remember going to Topeka, signing the agreement and wire-transferring the cash (fairly unusual in those days) back to our Jefferson City bank.  I'd previously written a check to Derry and on the afternoon of the day of foreclosure he stunned the officials at the Federal Land Bank by walking in with a check to pay off the entire loan. 

Derry is loyal and honest.  He continued to work hard for us for twenty-three years.  Just recently he moved his daily program to independent studios near his home.  His sale back to Learfield made me the sole shareholder of the company. 

–clyde

Recall there were four men who helped Derry and me start this business financially:  Buell Baclesse, Jim Wunderlich, George Stiles and Jack Murphy.  Jack died in July, 1975, and his wife, Lela, took his shares.  Remember, Buell, Jim, George and Jack owned fifty percent and Derry and I owned fifty.   They'd each bought in for $3,000 in 1972.  While there'd been no distributions, there were monthly director's fees starting at $150 and increasing through the years to $500.

The early eighties saw a change in the makeup.  In December, 1981 Buell–wanting to liquify his portfolio, offered–under the Shareholder Agreement–to sell his shares back to the Corporation for $40,000.  The Corporation agreed.  Then in August the following year, Lela offered hers for $50,000.  George offered his in November of 1984 also for $50,000.  And Derry offered his on August 9, 1985. 

Both George and Derry were cattlemen.  They'd amassed significant land holdings by leveraging existing land to buy more over the two prior decades.  But the terribly high (15-20-percent) interest rates of the Carter era, brought down their scheme.  The cattle business couldn't pay the interest on the notes and they quickly were close to default.  George took bankruptcy and had to sell his assets, including Learfield.  Derry was more fortunate as I'll tell in a later story.

The shareholders did pretty well on their stock in our company; judge for yourself:  they paid $3,000 for their investment, received annual director's fees of $6,000 and ten years later sold out for about $50,000!  
Here's the other side:  they personally guarantied the financial success of a very risky business run by a 28-year old!  Without them, there wouldn't have been a Learfield.  While they were well-compensated for sure, it was worth every cent!

Which brings me back to a macro view of free enterprise.  High risk; high reward.  Some states–wisely, I believe–offer tax credits to people (like Buell and the others above) when they invest their money into fledgling, new, upstart business ventures.  These "angel investors" are oftentimes the only financing available for an entrepreneur.  I've gotten great satisfaction recently by investing as an angel-investor in upstart businesses.  Most fail.  But some have really been home-runs.  How am I doing financially?  On balance, I'm ahead.  But the real fun is the satisfaction I get by mentoring and being with these, mostly young, entrepreneurs. 

–clyde

Prior to ’77 we were rockin’ along.  We were slowly growing, and always profitable.  Then we bought Missouri Life, and began losing money month after month.  Almost every entry in the minute book reflects this frustration.  In fact at the March, 1979 meeting Derry suggested finding a broker (PDF) who’d sell our whole company!

I continued to wheel and deal, successfully bidding on M-U in September, 1980; doing the Chrysler deal, moving my office to the Missouri Life Building and charging the company rent for a building I personally owned.  And while Derry and the other board members were in the loop, I was moving fast; often getting deals done prior to telling them.  All that probably would have been okay had the company been hugely profitable, but it wasn’t.  We were struggling.  And, we weren’t getting any help from a sluggish national economy. 

So, I got my hands slapped.  A summary of these frustrations (PDF) was sent to each Board member and included things like employee duties and pay; the new Mizzou deal; the Chrysler deal (see my previous Chrysler blog entry); the rent for our building, and finally a summary of what Derry thought needed to be done about all this.  He wasn’t after blood, but he wanted changes; he wanted to be consulted before deals were done and he wanted to be involved.  Derry’s plan was considered at the April, 1981 meeting and approved.  It was the five others against me.  I submitted.   

Was I wrong? Yes.  Was I prideful?  Yep.  As the leader of this venture did I deceive the other shareholders?  Could have.   Did I do so purposefully?  Absolutely not.  Was this hard for me?  Yes, but I knew they loved me.  What did I learn?  That I was under authority and needed to submit to that authority.  Have I followed that spirit going forward?  Most of the time, but not always.  What else did I learn?  Being under authority has its purpose and submission is empowering, is cathartic, and freeing. 

–clyde

George died yesterday. He was a friend of mine and to many. He was one of Learfield’s incorporators and initial board members.

When I first met him, Derry had asked him to become a shareholder in our venture and we met at Home Savings to go over the details–the six of us. George had moved Jeanne and their large family to Jefferson City so he could serve as State Veterinarian. Their real home was in Windsor where he was a substantial cattle man. George was a big man — tall and imposing. One son, Phil, remains in Jefferson City working for the city’s Parks and Rec.

George was a good board member and loved his association with us and the friendly political banter with Buell and Jim–our two strong Republicans.  He was helpful in getting our buy-sell agreement hammered out.  He sold his stock in the early eighties and left our board.

Of the initial six, only Derry and I remain.