Ken Thiele

It's not only listeners who are increasingly tuned into high-technology for their needs. Advertisers are as well, such as those who take advantage of Skyview Networks' state-of-the-art tech to document live-read advertising during play-by-play broadcasts as well as newscasts and syndication. Here, Pres./Founder Ken Thiele describes how he went from a would-be airline pilot to sales, a traffic watch service and now, Skyview Networks.

What were you doing before launching Skyview Traffic and what made you start the company?

In 1982, I graduated college with a degree in aeronautics and planned to land a job as an airline pilot, but that didn't pan out. At the time, there were too many well-trained military pilots flooding the civilian market. Instead, I got a job in sales with Rotaway Aircraft, a company that produced build-it-yourself helicopters: 50 boxes, 10,000 parts, and 500 hours later, you had a helicopter that could fly. It was great experience to cut my teeth in sales and really taught me there is no substitute for hard work.

It was at this company I met my future business partner, Dave Chamberlain, who was working in the marketing department. He also hosted a weekend shift on a local Rock station. We always kicked around ideas; one day in a local bar after our shifts we started brainstorming. Ultimately we put together a traffic watch service that launched in 1985. With a small business loan of $250,000 from a bank, we bought a helicopter and broadcast equipment. In November of '85, we went on the air with five stations in Phoenix, which then grew to 28 stations in Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas, Nashville, Louisville and Memphis. Eventually, we'd sell our company to Metro Networks. We put in long hours learning as we went, and when the right opportunities were presented, we took them.

What provided the impetus to start Skyview Networks?

Just before we sold the company, a friend of ours named Al McCoy -- the voice of the Phoenix Suns, Arizona Broadcasters Hall of Fame inductee, and Suns' Ring of Honor member -- said his radio network, distributed via phone couplers, was unreliable and had poor audio quality. He asked what we knew about satellite technology. We didn't know much, but knew we could pull it off. We told Al, "Of course, we'll take care of it."

So, we hopped on a plane to Washington, D.C. and attended a conference on satellite technology, where we found a vendor up for the challenge. We told him we needed a satellite uplink and 35 downlinks installed and operational by October. He asked by what year; we told him by the end of the month. We had a fully functioning satellite platform in 30 days that ran through the Suns'1995-96 season for Al McCoy.

Al then introduced us to Chick Hearn at the Lakers and Ken Pries at the Oakland A's. Word of mouth spread and our fledgling satellite uplink division picked up momentum. By '97, we had established ourselves as a leader in the traffic marketplace. We sold the traffic division to Metro, which was eventually bought out by Westwood One.

We decided that we still had a viable business with the satellite uplink, which we still owned. So what could we do with it? The idea for a play-by-play sports inventory management system was born when Jerry Colangelo was awarded the Diamondbacks franchise. Since he already owned the Suns, he trusted Al McCoy's recommendation to bring us in with this franchise. The Diamondbacks were already tracking millions of dollars in inventory using an Excel spread sheet. We immediately knew this presented opportunity. We began developing proprietary software to manage this unique inventory, getting billing out the door faster. The majority of teams owned the rights to their broadcast, which was a catalyst in our success. Teams began to utilize our inventory management system to effectively manage and bill in-game inventory.

Once we had deals with the majority of major league baseball, we looked for other radio specific opportunities, where we could create additional solutions, such as live reads management. Consequently we developed a system that could capture on-air advertiser mentions as they occurred, organizing and making them searchable in a game-day folder. This provided proof of performance to advertisers. It also showed the power of radio and live-reads in a broadcast. It was another product that was a huge success.

At the same time, we continued to expand our relationships across Major League Baseball and now we work, in one form or fashion, with every team in the majors, and also branch out into other sports. We have a business model where we charge cash and inventory, and now we sell play-by-play sports on a national level in all professional leagues.

One of our biggest growth areas is in our sales division, which has developed deep relationships with the top planning and buying agencies in New York, to create integrated campaigns with our teams, and more recently, ABC Radio. Now, for example, if a client wants to air a radio campaign and also wants to have some form of fan integration, like Jumbotron promotion, we are a one-stop shop to provide those services. Then there are radio shows that would like to come on board for national syndication; we take pride in providing them a 360 degree solution. We can handle the entire sales effort, along with supporting them through our other multi-faceted distribution and technology services.

How can your clients access the live-read documentation you provide?

They have individual logins to our database. Logs are available within 24 hours following a broadcast. For example, the live read may be that the home runs are "sponsored" by a fast food chain and when one occurs, fans receive a free burger and a soft drink. Since the broadcast is coming through our board ops, the audio is immediately captured and catalogued into a specific game-day folder.

Are you concerned that so many of these types of live read spots can lead to on-air clutter?

It's all in the execution. When there are too many things in the sponsorship basket -- time and temperature, a parking lot report, and possibly a title broadcast, and other advertiser activation --it can lead to clutter. Franchises avert this by selling in-game sponsorships. These activations provide pristine environments, giving advertisers access to legendary voices such as a Vin Scully live read, which is a very special thing.

What's the key to being successful in this business?

If you just take baseball, there are 30 clubs out there and it's a very tightknit community. Your word and reputation are everything. We were very fortunate at the beginning to work with people who have extraordinary credibility. It meant something when they endorsed us. When we started with the Oakland A's, Ken Pries invited us to the MLB Rightsholder meeting, where we talked to every rightsholder in Major League Baseball. This started about 10 years ago and we've gone to that meeting every year since.

Can this work for all sports, including soccer?

Soccer is one of the tougher sports for radio advertising. Other sports all have a very structured format; commercial minutes are guaranteed in a hockey or basketball game. You have to rely heavily on live reads with soccer; execution should be quick, and have a clear, easy-to-understand purpose. The greatest live reads I've ever heard were done by Al McCoy during Phoenix Suns home games doing What-A-Shot, Whataburger, for the hamburger franchise in Arizona.

Where do you plan on focusing future growth - on getting new clients and fields, or more and improved services for your existing ones?

I see us constantly looking at how we can better support our existing clients. We just launched a new product in San Diego with the Padres called SkyCap.

SkyCap has six cameras installed in the stadium that will activate a half-hour before the first pitch and run a half-hour after the last pitch. The night before we run a routine, we essentially tell the cameras what they need to capture for a Papa John's campaign. We then download the data into a video game-day file folder. It gives advertisers the opportunity see their campaign aired in the stadium and its impact, providing them the highest level of ROI. The experience is called, Moment of Domination.

We're always looking to innovate, push the envelope and create new products to better serve clients. It can take days to learn how to use them and develop opportunities for advertisers in play-by-play sports. Whatever we're doing today for the 2017 season will be increased for 2018. We're always looking for ways to better monetize a client's broadcast, as well as let people with national syndicated shows know there's an alternative broadcast partner out there -- a one-stop shop that can power your distribution, sales, compliance and fulfillment. Skyview is here to create new pathways to maximize revenue for broadcasters.

Do you see international growth in Skyview's future?

I definitely feel there will be opportunities for us internationally, but for now, we still see so much opportunity for Skyview to monetize in the U.S.

For instance, one big change in course direction for us came when we partnered with ABC Radio. Currently we're handling distribution of programming, network sales, and back office work. We're rolling into our third year with them. We have enormous respect for Steve Jones and his staff at ABC -- it's been a meaningful opportunity to work with these seasoned, creative professionals.

We were vetted successfully against much larger companies, and earned the business because of our capabilities. In the future, we look forward to more opportunities from companies of all sizes who need our services.