Karl Eller

Karl Eller's interest and involvement in the communications field has motivated many students to explore the related courses at Arizona State University, right.-GENE FRANK Karl Eller, as President and Chief Executive Officer, is the driving force behind Phoenix-based Combined Communications Corporation. A young giant in the fields of communication, the corporation is comprised of twelve outdoor advertising companies, nationwide; seven television stations; six radio stations; the Muzak franchise for Arizona; a company for the production of TV commercials, industrial and documentary films and Claude Neon Industries, Ltd., headquartered in Toronto and Montreal, with additional plants in Winnipeg and Quebec City. In five short years, Karl Eller has guided Combined Communications into the position of being one of the five top communications, media and broadcast companies in the nation. In 1974 the corporation had assets of over two-hundred million dollars, a revenue of onehundred and twenty million, and net earnings after taxes of six million, onehundred thousand dollars. Combined Communications has agreed in principle to acquire seven more radio stations and The Harlem Globetrotters. When asked how the Globetrotters fit into the communication business, Eller replied, "I feel they are one of the greatest family entertainment units of all times. They have become an 'American Tradition' and every five to seven years an entire new generation wants to see them."

Eller, who looks more like a young football coach than a top executive, was raised in Tucson. He had to work to help support himself through both high school and college. He recalls his high school days as being "the greatest!" "In those days, Tucson High School was the only high school in town. We had a fantastic athletic program. Rollin P. Gridley was our coach, and he really founded an athletic dynasty," Karl recalls, "We won fourteen out of fifteen State Championships while I was in school. Then, as now, the entire town suported the high school and college teams."

At the University of Arizona, at Tucson, Karl was as active and energetic as he is today. In addition to washing dishes at one of the sororities, he played football, handled the advertising for the Arizona Wildcats, the University Handbook, and sports programs, and maintained better than average grades.

Outside of his family, sports and advertising have been the loves of his life. and he has enjoyed better than average success in both fields.

Shortly after graduation from the U. of A. Eller moved to Chicago to work for an advertising agency. The cold winter winds and vast canyons of skyscrapers were a long way from his dream of the promised land, and after five years he returned to Arizona. "I grew up in the state, and I want my children to grow up here," explains Karl, "The atmosphere and climate are healthy and the country is clean and refreshing." He settled in Phoenix, the capital of the state and the center for advertising, business and banking. It was also a great place to get involved in community activities. "Some people think that my billboards clutter the landscape, I don't think so. I think billboards are an environmentally-clean business. In Arizona we support two-hundred and fifty families with outdoor advertising, and nationwide we have over three thousand employees that depend on us. Billboards provide an economic infusion, an economic link, between buyer and seller," says Eller, "We think we get the job done in a tasteful and artistic way. We also contribute greatly to the economy of the state and the nation." Karl predicts that within the next fifteen years Arizona will have the population base to support every major professional sport in the nation and become a sports mecca. "I think that we will Cool Arizonan works in quiet ways to burn his brand into the wall of fame.

have a professional football team in this area within a very short time. It will take a domed-stadium, with air-conditioning, before we have a pro baseball team that can play its home games here during the summers. That's a few years off." "The beautiful thing about the growth of the area, is that I feel with a wellplanned growth, Phoenix will have all the things to give it the aspects of a well rounded community . . . culturally, educationally, sports-wise as well as business-wise." "Business, at least in the field of communications, is just beginning to come into its own. In the future we will have picture-telephones. Women will be able to dial different departments in a store and see a fashion show from which she can order her clothes; there will be direct lines to grocery stores and banks. In the future people probably won't even have to leave their homes to do their shopping and business. I think people will always enjoy the crowds at the sports arenas. Based on the foundation of the dynamic past and present, my family and I look forward to the promise of the future in Arizona.