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The Early Years OAP Goes On Tour Growth Of OAP Products Expansion And Division The Here And Now
The Early Years
OAP Goes On Tour
Growth Of OAP Products
Expansion And Division
The Here And Now
A Brief History of Peachstate Audio by Scott Carter THE EARLY YEARS
A Brief History of Peachstate Audio
by Scott Carter
THE EARLY YEARS
You can’t tell the Peachstate Audio story without tying it to the early years of OAP Audio. OAP Audio got its start in a 1500 sq ft. cinder block building that was rented for $100/month. It was June of 1976 after company founder and president, Mike O'Rouke, had graduated from North Georgia College. The love of pro audio grew from Mike’s involvement with several local bands during his high school years and evolved into a small sound rental company during his college years. The main business was designing and building speaker cabinets for regional music groups. “When I graduated from college the company didn’t have many assets. Nine sheets of plywood, a gallon of paint, some glue, a hammer, nails, a table saw, and a 1967 Ford Fairlane station wagon,” O’Rouke states. “I did have a customer who owed me $550.00 dollars…so that was a start.” “Moving into a run down building was actually a good thing. Even though my degree was in business I had to learn how to be an electrician to run power to the table saw and air compressor. This came in handy when we started building power distributions later,” Mike states. The first year sales were sparse to say the least. Most sales were made by bartering empty speaker enclosures for other sound equipment, then selling the equipment to raise capital.
You can’t tell the Peachstate Audio story without tying it to the early years of OAP Audio. OAP Audio got its start in a 1500 sq ft. cinder block building that was rented for $100/month. It was June of 1976 after company founder and president, Mike O'Rouke, had graduated from North Georgia College. The love of pro audio grew from Mike’s involvement with several local bands during his high school years and evolved into a small sound rental company during his college years. The main business was designing and building speaker cabinets for regional music groups. “When I graduated from college the company didn’t have many assets. Nine sheets of plywood, a gallon of paint, some glue, a hammer, nails, a table saw, and a 1967 Ford Fairlane station wagon,” O’Rouke states. “I did have a customer who owed me $550.00 dollars…so that was a start.”
“Moving into a run down building was actually a good thing. Even though my degree was in business I had to learn how to be an electrician to run power to the table saw and air compressor. This came in handy when we started building power distributions later,” Mike states.
The first year sales were sparse to say the least. Most sales were made by bartering empty speaker enclosures for other sound equipment, then selling the equipment to raise capital.