00:29:15 · Charlie Lamar
[00:29:15] S1: Yeah, well, we spent a lot of my time making sure that that, well, that not only from a buyer seller point of view, but also from a legislative point of view. Vigorously defend property rights. So we very rarely had cities take our property without paying And for very few have just chosen to pay for it. So again, back to that period in the 60s when people were really nervous about it because there's a concept called amortization that is a used to be more of a threat to the industry, but it's still out there. I mean, it's a legal concept that's basically warning that municipalities want you to take the boards down over a period of time without compensation. Well, that would be obviously financially disastrous to say nothing of depriving the local businesses of the ability to advertise. But again, Kevin Sr. Had the wisdom to think, that people worry about that coming to pass, but it's not actually gonna come to pass. And it didn't.
00:30:21 · Ian Dallimore, Charlie Lamar
[00:30:21] S0: What is so kind of fast forward and Sean tells this great story about, and Keith East, our former CFO, Jay Johnson, who's our new CFO tells the story on the podcast on their own individual to be a part of when the company goes public. And I know I've fast forwarded pretty far along, but the day the company goes public, I would imagine the work that you have to do, you individually in your role is pretty significant leading up to that moment. But again, going back to it, is your bloodline, this is your grandfather's company that he started. What did that feel like emotionally? Just like, I wonder what my father would and my grandfather would have thought about this day. I know it's an emotional moment that may not mean a lot to most people like, yeah, companies go public all the time, big deal. But this one was a long time coming. It was a lot of family and even other families that were built into this. What did that moment feel like? And how did that feel just being a part of the bloodline of it specifically? [00:31:23] S1: Well, to step back from that day, that day was extremely exciting. The IPO went well. And so just all our family members became millionaires that day. So that was a wonderful day. [00:31:43] S0: Year is 1996 is when Lamar made its initial public offering.
00:31:43 · Ian Dallimore, Charlie Lamar
[00:31:43] S0: Year is 1996 is when Lamar made its initial public offering. [00:31:48] S1: But to get to that day and what happened before that day, we actually pretty much backed into going public. It was not back in 1991, it wasn't even a thought because it was our family business. Why would we sell it to the public? I mean, why would we sell it to other people? It's like selling it to somebody, some other billboard company. We wouldn't do that. And we really didn't think in terms of the sophisticated way it has turned out now. But we got basically forced into it by the financial crises of the early 90s where we had built over time, we built up buying more and more companies. Our our bank debt, debt got larger and larger. And strangely enough, these banks decided they want us to pay off the loan. Well, there's no way we're gonna pay off. I mean, we couldn't pay off the loan. Who had that kind of money? We would refinance every three, four years. And so that was a great operating model, a financial model for a while. But anyway, so we were told various avenues for saving the company. [00:33:00] S0: And [00:33:03] S1: eventually, well, first thing we did was back in 1991, I think we issued a bond. That really saved us. And so the whole idea that you could borrow money for ten years and all you had to do is pay interest on it was just like, wow, this is a great... [00:33:21] S0: I'll take one of those bonds today, by the way. [00:33:26] S1: Interest rate was a little high [00:33:27] S0: back in
00:33:27 · Ian Dallimore, Charlie Lamar
[00:33:27] S0: back in [00:33:27] S1: those days, it was a lot high. But it's still relieving us of principal payments just changed the whole thing. So from 1991 to 1996, it just became more and more apparent on the one hand that this was a great device. And on the other hand, the financial markets became more and more amenable or receptive to the outdoor advertising companies. And so another company did an IPO, I guess in 1994 or 1995. And so we looked at it and said, well, is a great way to raise capital and really get big. So it's very exciting. It's a little in ways bittersweet because we were no longer our because of the stock structure that the family still maintains control or specifically the Riley branch of the family still maintains control, which is basically in the best of both worlds from both our point of view but apparently from the investors' point of view too because there's this solid line leadership that you don't have to worry about raters or But stuff like in any event, brought us to that day. And it's worked out fantastic when we really made the big leaps. [00:35:02] S0: So you retire in 'ninety eight, which is funny because you're still here every day, most every day. [00:35:09] S1: Well, when I'm here in Baton Rouge, I'm here. [00:35:11] S0: Yeah, you're here. And it's, which is one of the, again, going back to when I first met you and first met Kevin Riley senior, I was like, wow, here's the family that still comes to work every day. You retire in 'ninety eight, you become a part of the board in what year?
00:35:11 · Ian Dallimore, Charlie Lamar
[00:35:11] S0: Yeah, you're here. And it's, which is one of the, again, going back to when I first met you and first met Kevin Riley senior, I was like, wow, here's the family that still comes to work every day. You retire in 'ninety eight, you become a part of the board in what year? [00:35:29] S1: Oh, I became a member of the board when it was formed in 1974 or 'seventy two. [00:35:34] S0: So the next question is really around, you've seen some massive changes, the industry has changed, which I love telling a lot of our digital friends, newer friends in the space and the advertisers in the space, the younger people, even our producer faith, we talk about all the time. It's like, even during my time at Lamar eighteen years ago, we had 94 billboards, digital billboards. Now we have over almost 4,500, 5,000 if you include our transit, the space has evolved significantly from hand paint to hand posting to recycling to digital comes out twenty one years ago for Lamar, and it's just this constant evolution. And then now the acceptance of programmatic and how we automate things and just how, just in general, how we do business is significantly different to your point back in the day, where it was just kinda like, here's a handful of little small companies. What are, if you had to pick two or three pivotal moments that you've seen in your lifetime at this company, what would those be besides Lamar going public?
00:36:36 · Charlie Lamar, Ian Dallimore
[00:36:36] S1: Yeah, I would say the financial side was the big turning points and opportunity that those changes afforded to us when we had bank financing and then when we got an IPO, gave us the capital to make really big transactions, which transformed the business, which transformed corporate because of all that. But in meanwhile, I would say technologically, there were some markers along the way that I always remember that the more recent digital is by far the biggest change in the industry ever. But when I was a kid, all the billboards had trim around [00:37:15] S0: them.