Company: Ashby St Outdoor

Markets: Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma

Headquarters: 1855 Shelby Lane, Fayetteville, AR  72704

Phone:  479-442-0300

Ashby Street Outdoor was founded in April 2011 with the purchase of approximately 400 billboards in Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma from Fowler Media.  In January 2016 the company purchased Clear Channel’s Fort Smith Arkansas and Witchita Kansas plants.  The company operates a billboard plant with approximately 2,000 faces covering over 40 counties in Arkansas, Eastern Oklahoma and Wichita, Kansas including 75 digital faces.  About 1,300 faces are in Arkansas.   Jim Matalone is the company’s founder.  Prior to starting Ashby Street, Matalone was the President and CEO of NextMedia Outdoor for 9 years.  Jim has served as Vice Chair of Marketing and as a member of the Board of Directors of OAAA and has over 25 years experience in the outdoor business.  One of Ashby Street’s outside investors is Tinicum, Inc., an investment fund manager.   Tinicum also has an investment in Skyway Towers which has partnered with the Independent Billboard Operators to represent billboards to mobile carriers as potential cellular antenna sites.  Insider talked with Jim Matalone.

Jim, how did you originally get involved in the out of home business?

I was working my way through college in Atlanta managing a patio furniture store that had a Turner billboard on the property.   I was in my last semester when Jim McLaughlin (then managing partner at Turner Outdoor) came into the store to buy furniture.  We started talking and he suggested I set up an interview for a sales position.  I started a few months later at Turner Outdoor (which was located on “Ashby Street” in Atlanta).

What’s it like having an investment fund as a partner? 

The key to any good partnership is having common goals and good communication.   My experience with Tinicum over the last 6 years has been nothing but positive and I feel it’s because we have both of those key elements.

Insider has noticed that companies like Ashby St which use Apparatix to manage their billboard data have a terrific map interface which integrates their signs to their website.  Talk about some of the benefits of the Apparatix system.  

At the risk of giving John James of Apparatix a big head, the Apparatix system is simply the best software for managing outdoor advertising assets from A-Z.    APX helps both small and large operators run as efficiently as possible by providing up-to-date information on all facets of the business and automating all administrative functions to keep the business streamlined. 

What steps have you taken to cut lighting costs?

We have converted 100% of our lights to LED bulbs and added Smartlink units to all structures.   This has cut our power consumption by roughly 80% and power bills by approximately 60%.   Obviously another benefit to the Smartlink addition is better customer service on lights through up-to-date monitoring.

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