California Style: The Joe Koret Story (2018)
Joseph Koret was little more than a year old when he arrived in America from Odessa, Russia. Raised in the crowded squalor of New York tenements, bitter winters, and fly-infested summers, at an early age he was exposed to a life of extreme hardship and hunger. As a result of these early experiences Joe developed an appetite for hard work and a deep compassion for the poor, the hungry, and the homeless.
He moved to San Francisco in 1917 and embarked on a series of business ventures that culminated in the founding, with his wife Stephanie, the iconic women’s sportswear firm Koret of California. Over the next 40 years he undeniably merged “style” with “California, merchandising and marketing the infamous “Trikskirt” and patenting Koratron, the world’s first permanent press system to make garments wrinkle-free.
Resolute, tenacious, determined, driven, ambitious, rich: all were adjectives used to describe Joe Koret, but most of all he was a man of strong morals and ethics who believed strongly in both “giving back” and “paying it forward.” Driven by his strong Jewish roots and his love of community, he had both an unwavering empathy for the struggling and downtrodden, and a true desire to leave the world a better place than he found it.
This is his story….
Clear Vision: The Story Of Clear Channel (2008)
From its founding in 1972 by Red McCombs and Lowry Mays, Clear Channel has grown to become the largest radio- and outdoor-advertising company in the world, although their growth has been surrounded by a fair amount of controversy over business practices, leadership decisions, acquisition strategies, and buyouts. The Clear Channel story is one about chance and circumstance, opportunity and diligence. This is the only corporate history of Clear Channel that is authorized by the company and includes exclusive interviews with top-level executives. It's a story of vision and foresight, the willingness to take a calculated risk on the unknown, of fiscal prudence, vibrant leadership, and at times, an almost breathtaking capacity to influence the dynamics of the media marketplace. Most importantly, it is the story of the entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen of the people who have helped make Clear Channel the media giant that it is today.
