Hitting the 40 Year Milestone
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On June 19th 2001 Teltronic celebrated its 40th year in a business. Begun in 1961, the seeds of its founding were planted 5 years prior, in February of 1956. The 1956 issue of Motorola's newsletter, The Discriminator, contained an article titled 1961! What Does It Hold For You? In the article the author asks "What will you be doing five years from now. He goes on to say that if you "act the part of a progressive and aggressive businessman" you can have a successful Motorola Service Station (MSS).
The point was not lost on two young technicians, Byll Graham and John Cristea, who at that time were working at a Motorola Service Station (MSS) in Washington D.C. named Radio Communications Service. Ironically, that same February, 1956, issue featured an article on Radio Communications Service. Both articles from that 1956 issue of The Discriminator are shown below.
Byll and Cris (as John Cristea was nicknamed) began thinking about starting their own radio service business. In 1961, the Civil Defense service contract that Radio Communications Service had was expiring. An invitation to bid on service for the following years had been advertised. Byll and Cris saw this major service contract bid as an opportunity to launch the business they had been talking about and planning. Cris describes that start in his own words below:
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Happy Birthday Teltronic
By Cris
Yep, forty years ago, on June 19,1961 two young radio technicians, with a few years experience in two-way radio quit their jobs at a Washington, D.C., MSS to bid on a contract to maintain Civil Defense radios in the metropolitan area. Having done work on this system for a couple of years, confidence as 'technicians that could repair anything electronic' was at an all time high. We couldn't lose!
Teltronic was born that day!
Except that when the bids were opened, a company in Paramus, N.J., was the low bidder on the contract. Teltronic was sunk before it ever got started and the new founders, John Cristea and Byll Graham, had to start scratching for new business to support their growing young families.
That level of confidence (and a big dip in our savings accounts) kept the partnership alive. We were able to get a sub-contract on the Civil Defense System from the local contractor and gradually started building up the business from 'Teltronic Industrial Maintenance' on Missouri Avenue, N.W. in Washington to Philadelphia Avenue in Silver Spring to Garfield Avenue in Silver Spring to Teltronic, Inc., in Kensington. Selecting good, loyal partners and good, loyal employees in the future made the company very strong and very successful.
Thank you all very much.
John Cristea - Cris,
T-1Surviving founder
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In late 1961 Peter Sakellaris, who had been a technician at Radio Communications Service, joined Byll and Cris as a third shareholder. Peter served as President of Teltronic from 1976 (the year Byll Graham retired as President) until 1994.
In 1968, George Economos who had also been a service manager with Byll, Cris, and Pete at Radio Communications Service joined Teltronic.
The name Teltronic is a combination of 'Tel' in Telecommunication with 'tronic' in Electronic.
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1956 issue of Motorola's Newsletter, The Discriminator
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