Play Meter

©inmon of the month
MOA president
tells operators
Alter attitudes,
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A Play Meter interview
with Fred Collins Jr.,
MOA president
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"One of MOA 's biggr51 accomplishm enls is ils Irade .hou' ,
Olle of Ih e larg,'s l of an y indu Iry ... Anolhu succeHful
arrQmpli .• hmelll Ihi .• year was Ih e mid -year seminar 01 Noire
Dame . . ,
From changing records on hi dad ' route in 1947 to
owning an op ration that covers a large portion of South
Carolina, il was a long haul for Fred Collins Jr. of
Greenville, . C.
But today Collins is one of the more progres ive
operators in hi tate and for the pa t year he has
se rved as presidenl of the Music Operators of A merica,
th e inlenwtional organizaton that help thi scattered
industry protect it interests and keep in touch with
changing technology and economic practices.
Collin began his coin machine career at age 12 on
his dad 's small jukebox roule, laking care of the 40 or
o machines and changing records eventually running
il for his father and h lping him run the household, too,
after his mother died . When he was 16, Collin dropped
out of high school to help oul with family problem .
Later Ihat year he married the woman to whom he is
still married, Shirley, who is the mother of hi four
children, Fred Ill, Cathy, Felcia and Cindy .
Collins adds, th e parlne rship dissolve d and Collins
tea m d up with aI/oth e r operator.
That lat e r} It through , al 'o, and at the age of 19,
Cot/ins went to work for South e rn Amuse m ent Co . for
th e It xt ix and a half year . When Collin s decided to
start his OWI/ rout ill 1961, oUlhem's owner, Pete
asso, help ed him out by selling him machine on
credit and fronting him money so that he co uld afford
records for th e m . il/ce th eil, th e two have never
co mp eted for accounts.
From that humble beginn ing when Collin operat d
old equipme nt 01/ a sho tril1g, th e Collin s Mu sic: Co .
Ita growl/ to about 50 e mployes in two localities and an
addiliol1al cigarett e rout e .
Because he Ita s spe nt th e past year sharing th e
lessons h ' learn d with operators all around th e
co untry in his capacity as MOA president , we f ell we'd
begin by aslting him about his preside ncy.
PLAY METER: Wh a t i it lik bing president of
Fred Ill, 2 1, and Cathy, 19, have even helped Collins
with his present route, Collins Mu sic Co ., in recent
summers, although th e MOA president says he does
not try to influence either one to join the bu iness. " I
waJl-t them to make up their own minds, " he sa)ls.
But Collins didn 'I inherit his route from hi father,
ith r. " Myfather sold the business in ] 950 becau e he
didn 't lilte to work nights and weekend any more, ..
Collins notes. " After he pha ed out his bu ines , I had
an acquaintance who had a few machine and he a ke d
m e if I could fix them . " Collin agreed to maintain the
machines for his friend for 50 per cent of th profit .
Eventually th e two men put their money back into the
bu iness and buill a good·sized route . Unfortunately,
COLLINS: The pre ident is th e chief elected officer and
presides over th e board meetings a nd appoil!ts th e
diff rent committee that carr out th function of the
organization. Fred ranger is th hired professional
administra tor of th ass ciation. He do s a fine job .
PLA Y METER : What were some of MO ' greatest
accomp li hment this yea r ?
COLLIN : We had satisfa tory hearing on the
cop right issue . but we have not yet made any
determination regarding a finaliz d cop right re o
ision . One of MO ' biggest accomp lis hment i it
trade how , one of the larges t of any industr . There
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