At this location, Medford brothers Bill and Tony Hanley established a pioneering sound company where innovations in speaker, amplification, microphone, and sound system design were born. Powerful, high-quality sound reinforcement systems for countless outdoor music festivals, national antiwar demonstrations, and political events were dispatched from this building, including Bill Hanley's creation, the "Magic Stage." The company's work reached historic events, venues, and artists including The Kingston Trio, the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals, President Lyndon B. Johnson's inauguration, the Beach Boys and Beatles tours of 1966, the Cafe Au Go Go, the Fillmore East, Madison Square Garden, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendy's, Janis Joplin, the 1969 Blind Faith Tour, the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair, Fenway Park, and Pope John Fan 11's 1979 arrival in the United States. Through the creative engineering of Bill Bankey, called "The Father of Festival Sound," and his highly skilled and loyal staff, "concert sound" gave audiences the ability to hear and understand with clarity all the way to the last seat in the house.
