From Broadway to Boardroom, Wireworks Turns 35
Mar 26, 2009 8:00 AM,
By Linda Seid Frembes
Earlier this decade, Wireworks introduced AV2000 all-in-one cables that include audio, video, data, and control signal cables in one hybrid connector. Krulewicz points out that AV2000 is one example of how AV cables can make the use of technology in a corporate environment much simpler.
Wireworks of Hillside, N.J., is one of those companies that have managed to provide AV cables to events and installs such as the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, the X Games, Metropolitan Opera, and XM Radio’s studio headquarters in Washington, D.C., without much fuss or fanfare. Now celebrating its 35th anniversary, the company that began its life serving the Broadway market in 1974 continues to innovate cabling for the corporate, education, government, house of worship, and broadcast markets (and many others).
Company co-founder Gerald “Jerry” Krulewicz says that the transition from Broadway to the boardroom was a natural progression. “The overlap of Broadway and the professional stage at corporate events (also known as ‘industrials’) have been present for years. As the capabilities of live performance grew, it was a natural extension to bring that technology to events and presentations as well as to the broadcasting market,” he says. “People saw the level of advanced lighting and sound that was possible on Broadway and wanted it for industrial shows,” he explains. “The move from live stage to the boardroom was easy because are both a presentation format with the same needs.”
Krulewicz adds that corporate clients would hire the same sound and staging companies that worked on Broadway shows as well. As the AV technology advanced on Broadway, the contractors and sound companies applied their knowledge in the corporate world too. “Technology was getting so good that a performance sounded better at home than in the theater,” he says. “That’s why theatrical sound is so over the top. It has to be better than anything you can experience at home.”
A Brief History
Krulewicz, along with co-founder Larry Williams, worked on sound and lighting for Broadway shows during the 1970’s. Because of their hands-on experience, they recognized the need for professional multichannel audio products. During that decade, they founded Wireworks and introduced a series of ground-breaking products such as large-scale multipin disconnects and the first colored microphone cables. The company also introduced a line of AV cable assemblies.
Wireworks continued its market expansion in the 1980’s with the first combined audio/video multicables for broadcast and introduced a DIY configuration tool for its modular multichannel system called the Microphone Multicable Components Group. It was during the 80’s that the company’s reach also expanded to high-profile AV installs such as Walt Disney’s Epcot Center. A decade later, the list of Wireworks clients grew to include cabling systems at the White House, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Euro Disney.
In 2000, Wireworks debuted a line of flexible premium audio cables called WireLUX that offered microphone, loudspeaker, and interconnect quick termination cables.
From Broadway to Boardroom, Wireworks Turns 35
Mar 26, 2009 8:00 AM,
By Linda Seid Frembes
“We’re Not Supposed to Be the Star”
Any company that, whether they are in the AV industry or not, can last 35 years in a competitive environment and remain as successful and viable as Wireworks must have a great secret, right? “It’s remembering that we’re not supposed to be the star; it’s about the show or the presentation,” Krulewicz says. “We’re all in entertainment, no matter if you’re a CEO giving a presentation or a singer on Broadway.”
One trend he has noticed in the corporate market is that presentations are striving to not be so boring. “Everyone wants to be entertaining and to have big entertainment value,” he says.
The biggest difference that Krulewicz sees between Broadway and the boardroom is that a large Broadway venue has stage hands, and not performers, who handle the technology.
“But there are rarely people to help set up and run a presentation in a corporate boardroom. Therefore, AV technology and control systems have become more sophisticated so that it becomes easy for the nontechnical presenter to ‘raise the curtain’ so to speak,” he says.
Earlier this decade, Wireworks introduced AV2000 all-in-one cables that include audio, video, data, and control signal cables in one hybrid connector. Krulewicz points out that AV2000 is one example of how AV cables can make the use of technology in a corporate environment much simpler. “The two goals of our products are to interconnect AV equipment and to do that with ease of use,” he says. “Our customers rely on us to make durable products with the right connections that are road ready.”
Wireworks is a privately-owned company with both founders still active in day-to-day operations. All Wireworks products are manufactured in the United States. As for his company turning 35, Krulewicz concludes, “It’s about doing it right and not letting the customer down. People come back when they know they can rely on you. No one wants to have to think about the cable; it just has to work.”
