Lowry Mays
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Lester Lowry Mays (b. 24 July 1935) is the founder and current chairman of Clear Channel Communications.
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[edit] Early years
Lester Lowry Mays was born on July 24, 1935 in Harris County, Texas to Lester T. Mays and Mary Virginia Lowry. Mays attended the A&M College of Texas (now Texas A&M University), where he received a B.S. in petroleum engineering. After his 1957 graduation from Texas A&M, Mays joined the Air Force, where he served as an officer. Upon his discharge from the Air Force, Mays earned an MBA from Harvard University. He became an investment banker, rising to Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance during his ten years at Russ & Company.
[edit] Clear Channel Communications
In 1972 Mays founded the San Antonio Broadcasting Company, which became Clear Channel Communications. The company purchased its first radio station, KEEZ-FM in San Antonio in 1972. He and his business partner Red McCombs bought a second San Antonio Station, WOAI-AM in 1975. This station was considered a "clear channel" station as its signal could be heard hundreds or even thousands of miles away on a clear night. Over the next several years, the company bought ten more struggling radio stations and turned them profitable, usually by switching their formats to religious or talk programming. The company went public in 1984. In 1988, they bought their first television station.
By the mid-90s, Clear Channel Communications owned 43 radio and 16 television stations. After the Telecommunications Act of 1996 significantly deregulated the broadcast industry, Mays and Clear Channel purchased 49 radio stations and an interest in New Zealand's largest radio group. Within eight years, Clear Channel had accumulated ownership of over 1200 radio stations and 41 television stations in the United States, as well as one of the nation's leading live entertainment companies and over 750,000 outdoor advertising displays.
In 2003 Mays testified before the US Senate that the deregulation of the telecommunications industry had not hurt the public. However, in an interview that same year with Fortune Magazine, he remarked, "We're not in the business of providing news and information. We're not in the business of providing well-researched music. We're simply in the business of selling our customers products."
Mays was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2004. After suffering a stroke in 2005, Mays relinquished his position as CEO of the company to his son, Mark.
[edit] Texas A&M University
Mays served on the Texas A&M Board of Regents from 1985-1991. He was reappointed to the Board of Regents in 2001, and served as Chairman of the Board of Regents from 2003 - 2005. He was also a chair of the Presidential Library Committee and a member of the Committee on Buildings and Physical Plant, and is the Board's special liaison to the Texas A&M Foundation. His current term on the Board of Regents expired on February 1, 2007.
Mays has donated a substantial amount of money to the school to improve the business department. In 1996, A&M rewarded him by renaming their business school, now Mays Business School, in his honor.
[edit] Other tidbits
Mays has served as a Chairman of the United Way of San Antonio. He was a member of the Associates Board at Harvard Business School. He was inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame in 1999.
Mays is a close friend of and major fundraiser for both former President George H.W. Bush and current President George W. Bush. He was named to the Texas Technology Council when the younger Bush was the governor of Texas.
Mays and his wife, Peggy, have four children and sixteen grandchildren. They live in San Antonio, Texas, where they oversee the operations and giving of the Mays Family Foundation.
[edit] External links
- Lowry Mays at the Radio Hall of Fame
- Profile at Clear Channel
- "Clear Channel Rules the World"
- Texas A&M Board of Regents
- San Antonio-Express article
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