About Tony Thomas

 

 

Tony Thomas is a native of Cleveland, OH where he attended the nationally-renowned Shaker Heights schools. At age fourteen, he formed TBG Enterprises with several friends and was Executive Producer of the film "Too Young", which won an award in the Eastman Kodak amateur film competition. While still in his teens, Tony formed Media Concepts and Synergy Productions, an advertising agency and production company, respectively. He combined them into Mediatronics Advertising and Production Services, a full-service advertising agency and production company. There, he designed a brochure (for which he was copywriter) for client Teej Electronics, a speaker and electronic component manufacturer.

Shortly thereafter, he co-founded and served as Vice-President/Account Services and chief copywriter of Rogers, Thomas, Cross and Long Advertising. There, he served clients which included Grumman-Flxible, The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority and McDonald's. He was the copywriter for a national Grumman campaign and his ads appeared in Ebony, Essence, Black Enterprise, Black Collegian and numerous newspapers nationwide. Tony also began his career in publishing during this period as a staff  writer and Audio Editor for SCENE Magazine , Ohio's largest entertainment weekly.

After relocating to Los Angeles, Tony co-founded and served as Vice President/Marketing Services and Creative Director of Media One Advertising. While there, he served as copywriter and art director for the "Plantronics People Make It Happen" campaign for client Plantronics. That campaign landed the account and appeared in several newspapers. Other Media One clients included SP Communications (US Sprint) and World Airways.  Tony then formed Target Communications International, an advertising agency, production company, communications consultancy, PR firm and recording studio. There, he worked for many clients and ad agencies including Group IV Recording Studios, MFSB Shoes, FE Davis and Sons, the Exchange Club of Los Angeles, International Communications and Advertising Network, Roland Corporation, Kawai America Corporation, Stackhouse-Roseburr Advertising and The Ware Association.

Tony is an accomplished broadcaster with over 30 years of radio experience. He has worked at Cleveland stations WDOK-FM, WQAL-FM WJMO-AM, WERE-AM, WMMS-FM, WNCR-FM, WIXY-AM and WRUW-FM. He was also employed by KBRT-AM and KTYM-AM in Los Angeles and Internet Radio DAER. He still freelances as a voice-over artist and announcer.

While in LA, Tony began writing for Mix Magazine, one of the most authoritative publications in the recording, audio and video fields. Shortly thereafter, he was given the prestigious Contributing Editor moniker, a post which he held for over half a decade. Tony also contributed to several other publications over the years, including Electronic Musician, AV/Video, Roland Users Group, Recording Engineer/Producer, MCS, Kawai News and Millimeter.

Tony returned to Cleveland in 1989 and formed The Thomas Group, a marketing/communications and multimedia production firm. He has written for clients which include Norstan Corporation and Winston & Winston, Inc., a high tech public relations firm. He served briefly as Assistant Head Writer at Winston and Winston and assisted with their relocation to the Greater Cleveland area from Fort Worth, TX.

Tony is a cum laude graduate of the Cleveland Advertising Club's "Fundamentals of Advertising" program. He also graduated from the CAC Broadcast Industry and Public Relations and Communications programs. He is also a graduate of the Ohio School of Broadcast Technique and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1989. He also attended Compton College in California.

Currently, as CEO of Tony Thomas Enterprises, Tony continues to work on various projects and occasionally freelances for various publications. Tony also edits an Internet E-Zine called Tony Thomas' Techtrends.  He works full-time in sales for a major multi-national corporation.  During his spare time, he enjoys designing, building and playing guitars.


Contact Tony at : tonythomas-at-tonythomas.net

 

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The memorial site for my Dad, the late William G. Thomas, here.