White Plains, NY -- With the addition of Lake Technology, EM Acoustics and the most recent affiliation with Powersoft (see full story) to the technology arsenal assembled under his importing and distribution, manufacturer's representative and product manufacturing businesses, Tom Bensen is watching RF Productions take off.
"It's tying many things together," said Bensen, who left his national sales manager post at Group One late last year to launch RF Pro. "I've been trying to identify where the industry's going and where the trends are. I may have been a little bit ahead of the curve on some things, but it's really come to fruition."
In the eight months it has been in existence, RF Pro has evolved into a complex structure with a firm foundation in the high-end theater, broadcast, production and installation markets. First, RF Pro's importing and distribution company handles Trantec and EM Acoustics. Through Bensen, it also provides management services for companies who are importing to the U.S. directly, which includes Optocore and now, Powersoft. Next is RF Pro's role as a rep firm that handles Lake, Digigram, Earthworks and APB Dynasonics.
Bensen was thrilled to see Optocore specified for New York's Times Square New Year's Eve celebration and the Presidential Inauguration within a few weeks of opening the doors to his new business. "It was like pushing a button," Bensen recalled. "Both of those events were through Maryland Sound.
Just a few months later and now we've got several huge installations already completed, and we're being specified by consultants. There's not a day that goes by that I'm not on the phone talking to someone about Optocore."
Bensen is also president and co-owner of PRAM Technologies, the flagship product of which, is the WSL-2E wireless data and control device, is now being distributed worldwide by Lake Technology.
"The WSL-2E gives the opportunity to take a serial controlled network and marry it to an Ethernet-controlled network and on one PC look at your total production environment. That was attractive to Lake, so Lake has become the worldwide distributor for PRAM. This was a marriage made in heaven," Bensen said.
The joint marketing venture between Lake and PRAM was established at NSCA Expo in March 2005, where Bensen was also appointed mid-Atlantic and Northeast regional rep for Lake.
Bensen co-owns PRAM with Henry Cohen, who also owns Production Radio Rentals. Tom Caspar is chief engineer for both PRAM and Production Radio Rentals. "We're the triumvirate that makes it all happen," Bensen said. And a gang of four is formed when the "RF" in RF Pro is revealed. "My wife, Roberta Facinelli, manages the Professional Production Services Division," Bensen explained.
