Clear-Com celebrates 50th anniversary year with award recognition, industry reflections

Communications technology specialist Clear-Com is continuing to mark its half-century with reflections upon five decades of sustained progress in broadcast, pro-audio and other key markets. Established by Bob Cohen and Charlie Button, Clear-Com is today led by CEO Mitzi Dominguez and president Bob Boster, who will be the subject of a major new SVG Europe interview later in February.

Founded on April 18, 1968, Clear-Com began with a compact, two-person team in San Francisco at a time of phenomenal dynamism in the live music scene. Creatung the RS-100 distributed amplifier analogue beltpack system, Cohen and Button rapidly established a reputation for production communications technology that saw their systems being picked up bands such as Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead.

Since then, Clear-Com has stayed true to its roots with analogue-based intercom systems for the live performance market, whilst also expanding into broadcast, military, aerospace and government, sports operations, houses of worship, theme parks and offshore-marine markets.  This diverse range of markets is now served by a mixed communications and connectivity portfolio comprised of IP, digital, wireless, fiber and mobile applications for group and point-to-point communications on multiple private channels.

Throughout 2018 Clear-Com is welcoming its employees, partners, users, and the wider pro-audio community to commemorate the Clear-Com brand and its history of innovation.

“Over the past 50 years, Clear-Com has grown to become one of the most recognized and highly sought-after communications brands in the Pro-Audio industry,” said Mitzi Dominguez, CEO of Clear-Com. “While our brand has become synonymous with various intercom products which allow professionals to work together at critical times, ultimately Clear-Com’s journey is a story about people who were pivotal within this business – visionary leaders of the past and present, alumni and current staff, committed partners, loyal users and industry influencers. This year we will look back on milestone moments of innovation and ingenuity, as well as looking forward to future possibilities for better communication.”

“We have accomplished a lot along the way and throughout this celebration you will see that this is more than just a trip down memory lane – the Clear-Com of 2018 is in many ways unrecognizable to the company that started in the crucible of the Summer of Love in San Francisco,” said Bob Boster, president of Clear-Com. “Our technology platforms, our global scope, our diverse range of markets and applications are all way beyond the imaginations of Clear-Com’s founders. This is our collective expression of appreciation for each other and what we have accomplished together over the years – we invite you to stand up and be counted as part of the community! Let us toast to the past, shape the present, and inspire the future.”

The company is celebrating in different ways in various parts of the world – at trade shows, in local events with partners and customers, on social media channels, and on its dedicated 50-Year Anniversary website at www.clearcom50.com.

Meanwhile, there has already been one very specific example of recognition with the recent presentation of the 2018 NAMM Show Milestone Award to Clear-Com for 50 years of service in the music products industry. The award was handed over by NAMM president and CEO Joe Lamond, who remarked that NAMM is “honoured to recognise Clear-Com for their 50 years in business and in service to both the music products industry and to their community. Clear-Com has demonstrated the perseverance and passion to stand the test of time, inspire countless others and create a more musical world for the benefit of all.”

A new interview with Boster reflecting on the award and other milestones of the company’s five-decade history will be included in the March issue of SVG Europe’s monthly Audio Insider newsletter. To sign up for the Audio Insider please visit https://sferainteractive.wufoo.com/forms/rafdhyj00ghjpx/.