Photo by Jim Foucault. Silhouette is big old satellite uplink dish.
Category Archives: Learfield
Zena and Mike Mah
Zena is the traveling companion of Mike Mah, a pain management specialist who “practices healing techniques through martial arts.” They visited Learfield in 2006. Mike insists Zena rides on the motorcycle with him, hence the goggles.
Use text message to report the jerk behind you
Iowa State and University of Iowa football fans can now text university staff to alert them to problems. Like some drunk ass clown sitting behind you screaming obscenities. Or a lost child or something.
They just punch in 97178, then type the word ALERT, before sending a text message (including your seat location).
Hawkeye officials implemented a new text messaging system before the season, in order to give fans quick and discrete access to ushers as well as security and medical personnel.
The texting program is part of a larger communications agreement with Learfield Sports (company I work for) and FanDriveMedia. Full story here.
Websites: Fast, easy, inexpensive
A couple of weeks ago I got a call from one of the guys in our Minnesota office. He wanted a website to serve the advertisers of one of our networks. Said he didn’t really have a budget and he’d like to have it by the first home game, to be played in a brand new stadium (just over a week away). They were going to have lots of photos and didn’t have a good way to share them with fans and sponsors.
I purchased a WordPress theme (from Studio Press) for $65 and paid another hundred or so to have it customized (thank you, Rebecca). Ten days later the site was up and running (still adding content, obviously).
I’ve been at this long enough to be amazed that I could give the guy a credible website for $200 in a week-and-a-half. AND because it’s WordPress, he –or one of his interns– can update this site thorughout the season. I remember when this would have taken months and cost thousands of dollars.
Learfield’s “kitchen conference room”
When I started at Learfield Communications in 1984, the business was operated from a 3-story brick house on McCarty Street in Jefferson City, MO. The rooms were jammed with desks and partitions and the kitchen was the “common area.” In this photo (below), you see Clyde, Clarice Brown, Bob Priddy (all still with us) and a few others.
This image captures that time very well. There was very much a family feel to the company. The days of high-tech conference rooms were many years in the future. This is one of several images I scanned from a contact sheet (thus the poor quality). The original prints are undoubtedly buried in a box in some closet.