LOCAL FIRM SELLS EQUIPMENT TO BIG-NAME ENTERTAINERS

Wires were soldered to a connector on a microphone cable.

JACKSON -- Eighteen years ago, Ron and Phyllis Lorenz started selling music cable over the phone, then a novel idea because other companies used road reps. Rapco did about $10,000 in business that year.

Last year, Rapco International and its six divisions sold $16 million in wholesale music products and became part of a larger company that has cornered a major share of the audio cable business.

Rapco provides cable and audio snakes for big music tours, including the current forays of Bruce Springsteen and the Backstreet Boys. Some of the company's other clients include The Who, Amy Grant, Britney Spears and Jonny Lang.

"It's pretty impressive that we're in Jackson and doing business with people who are as well known as they are," says the company's president, Lisa Williams.

The ZZ Top/Lynyrd Skynyrd tour coming to the Show Me Center next month uses Rapco gear. Rapco provides equipment for the Claire Brothers, one of the major sound companies catering to touring acts.

Located in three low-slung corrugated buildings a few miles north of the I-55 Fruitland exit, Rapco employs 150 workers at its Jackson and Canadian plants.

The company is an example of the strange alliances that sometimes make business sense. A number of years ago, some employees left Rapco to start a competitive venture called Horizon Music. Last year, Horizon Music bought Rapco and they joined with Horizon's fiber optics offshoot Major Custom Cable to form VTG, which has its headquarters at 272 Mount Auburn Road.

The goal was synergy, but some bad feelings had to be overcome first.

"When they walked out they had every intention of shutting Rapco down," says Williams. She has been Rapco's president for the past six months and was with the company when the split occurred.

"For those owners to buy us was a bitter bill," she says, "but it's been good for both Rapco and Horizon." VTG had about $50 million in sales last year.

"VTG" is the cable capital of the world," Williams says.

Rapco and Horizon Music each has about 20 percent of the music cable market. She said VTG is like Procter & Gamble in the sense that some of its divisions compete against each other.

Rapco also distributes cable to 16 foreign countries, from Argentina to Ireland, Sweden to Australia. Its other divisions include Stagecraft Lighting, Access One Accessories, Rapco Pro USA, Rimshot Drumsticks and Rapco Professional Canada.

An expansion last year gave Rapco more production and office space at the plant here. A visit to the offices leaves the impression that Rapco expects the many musicians it hires to still be musicians. Longish hair, jeans and guitars are common in the cubicles.

In the Rapco lobby hangs a painting of the Rapco Band by company artist Stephanie Koehler. The band is composed of employees who play for company functions and also performed at last year's City of Roses Music Festival. The company's catalog contains Koehler's caricatures of the sales people along with personal stories about bands they played with and some of their musical experiences. "Musicians Serving Musicians" is the company slogan.

Rapco is a supporter of the National Association of Music Merchants' efforts to protect and expand music programs in the schools. Musicians are an important part of Rapco's employee base.

"When people hear someone works for Rapco, the first question they often ask is, "What instrument do you play?" Williams says.

Brad Graham, VTG's vice president for advertising, also plays bass in the Rapco band and is one of the organizers of the City of Roses Music Festival.

Another impression is that people have fun working for the company.

"They're not just production workers," Williams says. "They say, I got to work on that for Jonny Lang. How could it not be fun?"

The company's Pro USA division concentrates on manufacturing products for industrial contractors. It's laser- and direct-engraved metal panels have been installed in many Branson theaters and the Palace Theatre in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Rapco provided the control panel connectors for the TWA Dome in St. Louis.