Free 03.She.Wanted.It.All.2005 by Kathryn Casey Page A

threw around money. “Steve remembered the Great Depression,” says one old friend. “He didn’t much care for people who bought just to buy. He wasn’t cheap, but he expected to get something for his dollar.”
    At work, Steve’s employees called him Mr. Beard, but he didn’t treat them as underlings. Instead, he had a deep interest in people and worked hard to bring along those who showed promise. When Blair purchased KOKH-TV in Oklahoma City, Steve was appointed to the board of directors and helped plan programming. He did well at Blair, but then, with the children grown and gone, he eyed a new challenge. In 1982, Steve heard that the FCC was offering a license for a new Austin television station. Steve called Darrold Cannan, a wealthy friend and a customer throughout his years at Blair, and asked him to be his partner in the deal.
    Until the late seventies, the three networks—NBC, ABC, and CBS—ruled the marketplace, and independent stations weren’t considered viable. The availability of sitcom reruns changed that, making independents suddenly attractive investments. Cannan readily agreed that the new Austin station appeared to be a good opportunity. With his own money and Cannan’s to back him, Steve spearheaded a bid to win the FCC license. Out of five applications, three made it to the final stages: Steve’s and two others. To win the license,Steve negotiated an alliance, bringing one of the competing applicants in as a third partner. The strategy worked, and in 1982 he won his bid to found Austin’s new, independent television station. When Steve left Blair and Dallas, his staff threw him a party. As a parting gift, they commissioned a caricature of him as a cowboy in chaps and spurs heading toward Austin.
    The owner of fifteen percent of the stock in the new station, Steve moved quickly. He and Elise rented an Austin apartment, and he took on the formidable job of general manager. In a smart marketing move, he named Channel 42 KBVO after the University of Texas football team’s beloved mascot, Bevo, a Texas longhorn steer. Running the operation on a shoestring, he opened a small office and hired a skeleton staff. At the opening party, Steve was an enthusiastic host, introducing KBVO to the city and potential advertisers.
    “Steve was nearing sixty when he came to Austin, and he was older in body but had a young mind and a young heart,” says Ray McEachern, KBVO-TV’s financial officer, and later its station manager. “Lots of the television stations ran ads in the little towns in the viewing area. Steve hired the local high school bands and put on parades. People loved it. He drove his BMW in the parades and waved at people, with a big smile on his face.”
    Yet Steve wasn’t all sunshine and smiles. If someone crossed him, he stood his ground. One afternoon McEachern came to him about a client who owed the station more than $100,000. Steve was furious. It was in the first months of the station, when ratings weren’t commanding big ad dollars and drawing in ads wasn’t easy. McEachern feared alienating the customer, a media buyer for a large soap company. Steve had no such qualms. He picked up the phone and called the man. “I have to pay when I buy at the store. You’vegot to pay here,” he said. He then told the man that in the future he’d have to pay cash to advertise on KBVO.
    McEachern thought that Steve had lost a big client, but the following day a check for the client’s arrears arrived plus another $20,000 for future ads. When Ray showed him the check, Steve wasn’t surprised. “Never, ever let anyone mess with you,” he said.
    Over the years, the one blind spot McEachern noticed in Steve involved women. “They seemed to be able to hoodwink him,” he says, saying Steve made exceptions for women that he wouldn’t for the men, such as not questioning when they needed time off. “Steve never thought badly of a woman. He respected them.”
    At KBVO, Steve’s acumen quickly