If they were to look closely, visitors at any executive office of Bonneville International or one of its affiliated companies might notice that the same framed document can be found on all the desks - the international communications company's "mission" and "values" statement.
Each time an employee must make an important decision, the desktop statement or a wallet-sized version of the creed can be pulled out to assist.The goals and mission statement are the product of Rodney H. Brady, president and chief executive officer of BI, which this year is celebrating its 30th anniversary. BI operates 18 radio and television stations and seven additional communications divisions in various parts of the United States.
Brady's goal-oriented approach to whatever he does is left over from his high school days at Jordan High School when a debate coach told young Brady he could do whatever he wanted if he set goals. Brady took several days to list 150 goals. When he became BI's president, he sat down and wrote the creed that was distributed to the company's 1,300 employees.
The card says BI's mission is to serve and improve individuals, communities and society by providing quality entertainment, satisfying customer marketing and communications needs, building a resource base and economic strength, providing professional and personal growth opportunities to the employees and providing positive leadership in the broadcast industry.
As for achieving the mission, the flip side of the card talks about integrity, excellence, service, profitability, leadership and sensitivity.
Even though BI is officially 30 years old, its roots go back to May 7, 1922, when Heber J. Grant, then-President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke the first words over radio station KZN from a tin shack atop the Deseret News Building.
Brady said KZN was one of the first commercial radio stations in the United States and came into being when the federal government urged newspapers to enter broadcasting, which was in its infancy. The Deseret News started KZN in response to that request.
In 1924, a radio company was created to separate broadcast operations from the newspapers, and the call letters were changed in 1925 to KSL to remind listeners the station was located in Salt Lake City.
On July 15, 1919, Brady said, KSL's first broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir originated from Temple Square and is the longest-lasting continuous regular program in broadcast history - 65 years and counting.
In 1932, KSL became one of the first 50,000-watt clear channel AM radio stations and joined the Columbia Broadcasting Network, which later became the CBS Network. KSL established the first FM radio station in 1946 and in 1949 KSL-TV made its debut.
Brady said the pre-Bonneville International years were important because the goals and values were established in the formative years. "And it was not always easy. We had to develop a working relationship with the CBS Network. We had to make precedent-setting decisions about advertising and programming. We had to build ties with the audience."
In 1961, another LDS Church President, David O. McKay, asked Arch L. Madsen to return to Salt Lake City from Washington, D.C., to become general manager of KSL. Madsen had extensive experience in the broadcast industry, and by January 1964 KSL purchased the powerful KIRO television and radio stations in Seattle, Wash.
Purchase of KIRO provided the impetus to form BI in June 1964 with Madsen being named president and chief executive officer, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1985. The LDS Church is the sole stockholder of BI.
The board of directors decided to concentrate its broadcasting presence in the major markets of the country, but in those days, broadcast ownership was restricted to seven stations of each variety - television, AM radio and FM radio. BI's first acquisition was an FM radio station in New York City, now known as WMXV.
That was soon followed by purchase of KMBX-AM and KLTH-FM in Kansas City, Mo., KBIG-FM in Los Angeles and WTMX-FM in Chicago. That was followed in the 1970s by acquisition of KOIT-FM in San Francisco and KZPS-FM in Dallas.
Brady said responsibilities for worldwide broadcasts of the LDS Church's general conference, Tabernacle Choir and other programming led to formation of Bonneville Communications, a full-service advertising and creative services company, in 1975.
In the 1980s BI acquired KOIT-AM in San Francisco, organized Bonneville Satellite Co. to purchase a transponder on a satellite that orbits 23,000 miles above the equator and established two television production divisions, Video West in Salt Lake City and Third Avenue Productions in Seattle.
Brady said that in the 1990s BI has purchased KPSN-FM and KIDR-AM in Phoenix and KCMO-AM and KCMO-FM in Kansas City, four more powerful radio stations in its portfolio. Brady said BI currently is in the process of purchasing KING-AM in Seattle.
Two years ago, Brady said, Bonneville Entertainment Co. started the LDS Radio Network, a national 24-hour radio service provided by satellite, by cable and as a sideband service through FM stations in major American cities. BI is considered one of the top 10 broadcasters in the country and has millions of dollars' worth of cameras, studios, buildings, helicopters, consoles and lights.
Brady said President Gordon B. Hinckley, first counselor in the First Presidency of the LDS Church, is mainly responsible for what BI is today. He said his expertise in the broadcasting field has been valuable.
A native of the Salt Lake Valley, Brady attended the University of Utah and served a mission for the LDS Church to Great Britain in 1953-55. He returned to the U. and earned a bachelor's in accounting and soon followed that with a master's in business administration.
Brady received a doctorate in finance from Harvard University and then entered the U.S. Air Force. He was discharged in 1962 and went to Cambridge, Mass., to form a consulting firm with a Harvard professor and other colleagues.
He became an officer for an aircraft division of Hughes Tool Co. and in 1970, he became an assistant secretary for administration and management in the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare in the Nixon administration.
From 1972 to 1978 he served as vice president and chairman of the executive committee of Berger Brunswig Corp. in Southern California and from 1978 to 1985 was president of Weber State University. When Madsen retired, BI's board of directors noticed and liked Brady's goal-oriented style.