Remembering Our Roots

Harry Warner appeared in a
Shure Brothers microphone ad, circa 1968

WAV company founder, Harry Warner, served in the Pacific theatre of World War II. Upon the conclusion of his service, he returned home and embarked upon a career in the growing field of electronics.

Landing a position on the stage crew of Chicago's Arie Crown Theater in 1962, Harry showed great interest in live sound. In those days, there was rarely an audio department, as sound equipment and techniques were often found in the electrical department along with lighting.

Harry eventually became the Head Audio Engineer and worked with big name, one-night headliners of the era from Frank Sinatra to Henry Mancini's Orchestra. He also had longer runs with stage plays that featured Carol Channing, Yul Brynner and Sammy Davis Jr.

Each production offered it's own unique challenges, especially with the primitive state of audio concepts such as equalization, feedback-reduction, mic placement and audience coverage. Eager to learn all he could about audio in all applications, Harry soaked in all the knowledge he could.

Harry lost his audio job due to a tragic fire that swept through the original McCormick Place and Arie Crown Theatre. The theater closed and did not re-open until 1971, when he would return briefly to his previous position.

Although he was still able to secure temporary positions on other Chicago stage crews in the interim, Harry made the decision that he had accumulated enough experience to open his own business in the growing field of live sound reinforcement. Although the names have changed over the years (early versions were Concert Sound, Audio Equipment Co and Warner Sound) the seeds of what would become Warner AV were planted.