Don Pierson
Donald Grey Pierson (October 11, 1925 – March 30, 1996) was an American businessman and civic leader in
during the 1970s.Brief biography
Early life
After graduating from
Business interests
In 1948, he married the former
.Don Pierson's other business ventures included a department store, a bowling facility, cable television, restaurants, oil investments, home banking, a slot car raceway, and farming and ranching operations. In 1963, he established U.S. Telephonics, the world's first computer telemarketing company and together, with a number of Abilene business leaders, he founded the Abilene National Bank (now
Mayor of Eastland
Although he was a soft-spoken individual, Pierson was also an untiring booster of his adopted hometown of Eastland. In 1957, he reopened the long-closed grass-strip Eastland airport which he renamed "Eastland International Airport." Later, in the 1970s, he became the first person to land a jet aircraft in Eastland.
He attracted world headlines when, as mayor of Eastland in 1964, he convinced his fellow council members to pass a purported ordinance banning all smoking in Eastland, with a mandatory three-year jail penalty for violators. It was intended as a humorous response to the
Soon after, Eastland again found itself in the headlines when, as president of the local
Pirate radio
In 1964, his interests took him to the
In a 1984 interview, Pierson said he was captivated by the fact that these two
The result was
Between May 3, 1966, and November 13, 1966, Pierson ran radio stations Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio from the MV Olga Patricia (later renamed MV Laissez Faire), a World War II vessel built in the US as a supply ship. The two stations shared a studio and transmitter.
In the years that followed Don Pierson attempted to launch three more offshore radio station ventures. The first was off the coast of New York using the ship that had been the former home of Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio but under the call sign of Wonderful Radio London. He then engaged in plans to use a new ship as the home of Wonderful Radio London which would broadcast from off the coast of California.
Don Pierson re-entered the world of broadcasting during 1981 when he founded radio station KVMX-FM close to his home in Eastland, Texas. One of the local programs added to the station was the Wonderful Radio London Top 40 Show which by 1983 had evolved into a new company called Wonderful Radio London International with the intention of restarting the offshore station of the 1960s from a new ship off anchored once again off the coast of England. Although this plan failed to develop, a small syndicated programming network was formed using that name over
Haitian Freeport
In 1967, during the time that Don Pierson was attempting to lease the ship which had been the former homes of Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio, he received a response from the Ambassador for Haiti in Washington, DC. Don Pierson's original plan was to lease or sell the ship to the government of Haiti for it to establish two powerful 50 kW commercial radio stations aimed at American tourists visiting the old buccaneer stronghold of Tortuga island, which is located some 10 miles off the north coast of the main Haitian island of Hispaniola which is also shared by the Dominican Republic.
This offer became a plan to develop the island itself as a freeport and he was asked to assist the government of Haiti to encourage business investment in that poverty-stricken land. After years of research and negotiation, Don Pierson's idea of a privately financed, privately managed free enterprise zone became a reality in 1971 when Haitian dictator François Duvalier (known as "Papa Doc") and the Haitian government entered into a 99-year contract with Don Pierson's company called Dupont Caribbean Inc. This contract provided for the establishment of Freeport Tortuga.
Within 18 months Don Pierson succeeded in building the island's first airport, a loading dock for seagoing vessels, a rudimentary water and sewer system, an electricity generating facility, and six miles of paved road. Of equal importance. the project created jobs for some 400 previously unemployed Haitians and resulted in the establishment of a small school to teach various job skills. During this period he also became Honorary Consul of the Republic of Haiti to Texas from 1969 through 1974.
Tragically, the free port project came to abrupt end in 1974 when, after it was announced that Gulf Oil Corporation was contemplating investing more than $300 million to build a resort on the island, the government of Jean-Claude Duvalier (known as "Baby Doc"), summarily expropriated the project, resulting in its collapse.
A similar venture on the island of Dominica which was attempted in the wake of the failed project in Haiti, also met with disaster following governmental turmoil in Dominica.
Pierson family
In his personal and private life Don Pierson was a longtime member of the First
External links
- Biography of Don Pierson
- Don Pierson and Wonderful Radio London
- Mass Media Moments in the United Kingdom, the USSR and the US, by Gilder, Eric. - "Lucian Blaga" University of Sibiu Press, Romania. 2003 ISBN 973-651-596-6