Entrepreneurial Think

I love talking to entrepreneurs. They have an inquisitiveness and sparkle that makes them interesting to interview. I never tire to hearing their stories. Here is one I met in Sheridan, WY.

Kim Love was born and raised in St. Louis, but he often spent summers in Sheridan where his family had a ranch. In the 1970s shortly after graduating from college he moved to Sheridan. He bought the local radio station and has grown his media company into four stations today.

At the time he purchased his first station Sheridan was a major BN Railroad crew center. Kim learned that the crews had to stay close to their phones to await a call from BN dispatching informing them of who would be manning trains for the following day. Kim approached the BN and asked if he could broadcast the crew assignments over his radio station, so that the workers wouldn’t be tethered to their house phones (this was in the days prior to cellular phones). The BN thought it was a great idea.

Yes it was a great community service, but Kim’s rational for pursuing it was the following, “I asked how many workers were affected and about how much they earned each year. When they told me 400 workers, earning $35,000/year it didn’t take me long to see the advantages of having a payroll of $12 million tuned into my radio station everyday.”

It’s no wonder he has been so successful. And at the same time he has given back to his adopted hometown. He led efforts to set up a sculpture center in the downtown, serves on the school, local foundation and economic development boards in addition to many other community activities. Entrepreneurs are wonderful for towns like Sheridan.