Brad on Broadcast

We were in the middle of a discussion one day and someone raised the reasonable question, “What do your readers want to know?”

“I’ll ask them,” I said.

Just what kind of special, in-depth technical information would you like to receive? Is there a series of topics you’d like covered in a more intense way that just a monthly article? Perhaps a series of tutorials that could create a solid groundwork of education from which you and your employees could build career expertise? more

Last week I witnessed what amounts to the fourth ownership change for Grass Valley since its inception. Founded in 1959 by Donald Hare in Grass Valley, CA, the company merged with Tektronix in 1974, and private investor Terry Gooding purchased the Grass Valley business in 1999. He then sold it to the French company Thomson SA in 2002.

Nothing against the French, but that ownership always seemed rocky. From my discussions with many GV personnel, the relationship between American and Technicolor’s French management was often strained. I more fully recognized one key symbol of the French style of management when GV press releases began listing the value of equipment sales in euros. I asked the Americans why a sale of equipment made in Grass Valley, CA, to a broadcast network in New York would be valued in euros. The paraphrased answer was, “Because that’s what they (the French) want.” more