You knew the company, but did you know the Saskatchewan man behind K-TEL International?
Philip Kives was born in Oungre, Sask. on Feb. 12, 1929. He was an entrepreneur and businessman who launched K-TEL in the 60s. "Hit machines, the music never stops, with the fantastic Bellamy Brothers. The super group of 76 KC and the Sunshine Band."
K-TEL was more than compilation albums. The company sold all kinds of gadgets, from the record selector to store your LP records. It also sold the Pocket Fisherman, Miracle Brush, and Vegematic, to name a few.
Kives started K-TEL in the 60s, first with household products, then venturing into the music scene. He would create two-and-a-half-minute-long commercials, the birth of what we know today as the infomercial. Kives died in Winnipeg in 2016.
100 Years of Saskatchewan History
This article is part of a series that celebrates both the history of Saskatchewan and the 100th anniversary of one of Saskatchewan's most storied radio stations. For more key moments from the last 100 years, visit the CKRM timeline.
