Ahead of His Time

by Dennis Green

One of my most remarkable experiences was working with entrepreneur Ron Cowan, developer of Harbor Bay and the licensed owner of KJAZ FM Radio. I met Ron in 1988, sent him a follow-up letter, and started consulting with him in 1989. Ron was always financing projects that were way ahead of their time.

I read this morning about “video chat,” coming soon to our smart cell phones, that will work with front-facing cameras and will probably be available on the next generation iPhones. Video Conferencing on a more intimate level. I can only imagine what front face the sex maniacs will feature in their videos.

But when I read about video conferencing and how it’s taken the place of many business meetings in an era of cost containment and high air fares, I always remember that huge satellite dish poised at the entrance to Harbor Bay Business Park way back in the Eighties. Ron had it installed so that he could offer a studio with video conferencing to his business tenants in the Park.

The studio languished. And various technical problems arose with his Japanese partner in the operation. In the end, video conferencing was too far ahead of its time in 1989, and only now, more than twenty years later, is catching on. But the sheer genius of it is obvious. Gather your people together in a small conference room in front of a camera, and send that video footage by satellite to a receiver anywhere on earth. Instant meeting, face-to-face in real time.

Along with my partner Diane, I produced many promotional and marketing pieces — on video and in print — detailing such innovations for prospective tenants of the Harbor Bay Business Park. The direct ferry service to San Francisco, the Harbor Bay Club, with its tennis courts, pool and hospitality amenities, and the ideal location central to so many great universities and research centers. We worked with Ron for more than seven years.

Just being around Ron was, as one collegial bio-ethicist put it, “Like being in a movie.” I had the great good fortune to be with Ron in a meeting with the Chancellor of U.C. Davis when the 1989 La Prioma Earthquake hit northern California, including the fifth floor Admin Building. there. The ride back on Ron’s private helicopter, especially over the collapsed Cypress Freeway, was positively cinematic!

The next flash forward in Idea World came when Ron’s effort to save the license for KJAZ FM Radio was failing. Diane & I raised some $1.5 million, but that was not enough, and so we returned the money to campaign donors. Ron still owned that incredible library of jazz recordings, and about a dozen DJs on contract. What to do?

Well, I was going through some old marketing materials in our archives the other day and came upon some “KJAZ FM SATELITE RADIO” biz cards. Yep, Ron took the station satellite frisky. Decades before XM, we tried to sell add-ons that would allow ordinary FM receivers to pick up the station, with a footprint that included most of North America! After six months of meager sign-ups, we called it a day. Again, too far ahead of his time.

But when I see the fate of a hide-bound General Motors and a Microsoft continually behind the curve, I’m assured that it’s much better in business to be ahead of the curve than behind it. The one time I met Steve Jobs and the Woz, back in 1980, I could see they weren’t looking in the rear view mirror!

©2010 Dennis Green