As the old saying goes, how quickly time flies when you are having fun. I still have fond memories of my first job as a real estate rep with White Advertising in Dallas, TX in 1970. My territory was Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Dallas Metro. It was a much different business back then. Our sales team would contract with the major oil companies, motels and fast food, and then real estate would go lease the sites to build the billboards accordingly. It was all about directional advertising. Almost no permitting was required outside of city limits. It was truly the wild west and I got hooked on outdoor advertising forever.

I witnessed the evolvement of the industry from hand painting billboards and 8-sheet posters being applied with glue to vinyl printing and digital displays being changed with remote computers. Technology changed the OOH industry far beyond what most of us old timers ever believed would happen to the world’s oldest medium. Change is always necessary to stay competitive for the advertising dollar and the OOH industry has always done what it takes to be viable.

My career took me to many different places after Dallas.  Orlando, Brussels, Belgium, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Daytona Beach, Ocala, Orlando (2), Denver, Orlando (3), Atlanta (2).  I worked for several companies after 10 years with Whiteco. Melweb Signs, POA, Universal Outdoor, Clear Channel, Chancellor Media, Olympus Media and Signal Outdoor/InSite Street Media to name a few. I worked with so many terrific people in this business and made lifelong friendships. I learned from some of the best in the industry. Too many to name, but my mentor was Jim McLaughlin. We worked together for almost 30 years with five different companies. He was a superb leader and someone who truly cared for his employees. The success that POA had in the 1990’s was a defining time of my career.  Jim assembled a team of outdoor professionals and brought a culture of work hard, play hard that we all bought into.

I was fortunate to travel the U.S and Europe extensively with my various jobs and met some outstanding people in the OOH industry. From the small independent operators to the vendors who supplied the industry with products and technology, all were passionate about outdoor advertising. Once it gets into your blood, you can no longer drive the highways without looking at billboards and thinking of how awesome the media is. However, there were some who did not want us to succeed. We had to constantly fight beautification groups like Scenic America to keep growing. The Garden Club of Georgia was one of them. I was fortunate to be president of the Georgia Outdoor Advertising Association from 2008 – 2012 when we finally got a bill passed to cut trees on the ROW after 30 years of trying. It was a sweet victory because they were extremely determined to obstruct our billboards with tree growth.

I feel blessed to have worked 50 years in OOH. I have had a rewarding career that included the honor of serving on the OAAA Board of Directors for the past few years. The OAAA has always had terrific leadership and works tirelessly to promote and protect the OOH industry. Outdoor advertising provided me and my family with far more than I ever dreamed of after getting out of the Navy in 1970 and looking for a job. The opportunity at Whiteco opened the door. Now it is time to work on my bucket list and enjoy my golden years. A heartfelt “Thank You” to all of you who helped me along the way.

Ray tells Billboard Insider that he’s going to spend time in retirement revovating his house, working for the Forsyth County GOP as a precinct chairman and doing volunteer work at his church.  He’s also open to consulting.  You can reach Ray at RMoyers@insitesm.com.

[wpforms id=”9787″]

Paid Advertisement