Waggener, Ron – Faces of Outdoor

The man behind the ESOAA Publications & our 1980-1994 ESOAA Director

My first experience with Eights was in 1974 when 1 first bought an Eight-Sheet showing from Ed Pils who was then GM of Martin's Topeka KS plant. I was the Kansas City regional manager for Missouri. Kansas, and Nebraska for McCann Erickson. I serviced the Coca-Cola bottlers and Bonanza Steak Houses in the region.
I became friends w ith Ed and after he bought the Kansas City plant - City Sign Company, and 1 had left McCann. Ed and I stayed in touch. I joined a Kansas City ad agency as president of their public relations branch. Close to 1977 Ed approached me about publishing their billboard association's rate guide.
In 1978 I left the PR firm to run a campaign for Missouri Labor opposing a Right-to-work law. Our campaign won. but I lost virtually all of my local corporate accounts who objected to my ties to labor unions. With a few labor union accounts, I opened up my own one man agency, working from my house.

I had continued publishing the JPOAA rate guide under their new name the ESOAA which stood for Eight Sheet Outdoor Advertising Association. Joe Radding was considering retiring from the ESOAA Executive Director position and my good friend Ed suggested I fill the position. I joined Ed at the association’s 1980 Las Vegas Convention and left as the new elected ESOAA Executive Director.

I built a small Eight-Sheet plant in Warrensburg/Knob Noster, MO. For the next ten years I learned the small operator’s prospective, doing my own sales, designs, and even pasting and posting the billboards. I later sold the business to Lloyd and Trudy Arnold, who uses the name Premiere Outdoor.

During my time with the ESOAA, I continued to publish the rate guide. I created numerous sales brochures that outdoor companies still use. Association needs were creating a Source book for suppliers, overseeing the annual design contest, and taking care of putting together the meetings.

I was particularly happy with the software I put together to make calculating outdoor audiences easier for plant operators. This Software was called, “Outdoor Math”. I made a lot of friends and saw many small companies grow. Much has changed over the years but the spirit of the association remains the same.