[BC] Kahn and Greene

[James B. Potter]

 "I never understood why people would be critical of Leonard for defending
his patents...."  

It was a little more than that. It was a negative emotional response to a
domineering character. 

As I vaguely remember, at the time there were at least three competing AM
stereo systems, the Kahn, Motorola's, and somebody else.  Motorola made a
chip which would decode all three selectively in one radio. I remember from
the literature and hubbub that Mr. Kahn was suing everybody in sight for
alleged infringement, and came across as domineering and greedy.  I thought
it was cool that there were 3 competing systems, and thought the marketplace
would eventually sort it, ala VHS vs. Betamax.  But, no, Leonard had to own
it all. So some station owners I knew followed the circus and said a pox on
his house and wouldn't even consider it stereo if it had to be the Kahn
unit.  Besides, stereo wasn't really catching on anyway, as music was
migrating to FM and sports and news talk were taking over AM.  I remember
when KYW 1060 Philly started promoting stereo. I thought to myself: news in
stereo? Who cares?  And that's where it rested.

Armstrong felt so bad he jumped to his death over his patents.  Leonard
seemed to jump all over everyone else about his patents and alleged
infringement.  Not a sympathetic character, regardless of the brilliance
attributed to him.  Lee DeForest was such a man also. Called himself The
Father of Radio. Everyone shunned him for his arrogance.  

Regards/Jim