John Kleis, Reading. Friend To The Stars!
John recently held a simply brilliant event at his shop in Reading. I wrote about it as it was a major round of the EMMA sound off. So, he joins Car Audio & Security as one of the cool dealerships that has the space to do that stuff. he’s been in Reading for some thirty years.
Recently, in order to promote the weekender, he hooked up with Mix Bar in town all but opposite the town’s well known snooker venue, The Crucible and had their demo car hooked up wirelessly to the club’s DJ! I was doing some radio with BBC Radio Berkshire (I think because I have an effective swear filter that I have real problems activating when on a live microphone at shows but find easy to use for BBC radio and I’m cheap! That and being an opinionated grumpy type the listeners may well want to shout at!) So, I called them up and suggested it might make great radio as they start up, get the street dancing and present what is one of the loudest darn PA cars in the country. And it is also the best tuned for playing music as against merely hurting you.
Anyway, the Beeb said, ‘Well, we can’t get down there that fast but John does sound interestingwe’ll talk to him later’ and so one forgets it. But they did get him and he got to meet a childhood idol in the shape of Tony Blackburn, legendary DJ and winner of I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, which takes a nice guy to win.
He was so excited to go to the studio, he snapped through the glass with his phone
Here’s the biog John sent to the BBC I reckon he has a future as a Radio pundit for say, DAB in future as he was a total natural on the wireless, relaxed and voluble and for a few days at least, you can hear him on BBC iPlayer (UK users only, sorry to my Texan chum in particular) here:
link
Where do I start? I went to Battle School Reading
Didn’t pass any exams at all before leaving ‘I know now that I suffer from dyslexia’ that’s my excuse!
Just before leaving school I had a interview with the careers officer who asked me what I would like to do when I leave school. I replied, ‘electronics!’
He laughed in my face and told me that I had no chance and that I was stupid.
What the school didn’t know was that at lunch times I went over the road to a car radio shop next to the school and made friends with the owner who taught me to repair car radios. ‘Only LW/MW in those days’
So when I got the hard shoulder from the careers guy, I told him were to go and I would find my own job and left school early that day on a mission to find a job.
I went where the electronics companies were then – Cardiff Road, Reading. And the first company I went into was E Hillier & Son, Little me in my school uniform asking for a job! I was given a practical test, and to my surprise I got a job building air craft components. That was one in eye to the careers officer.
After working for around six months I wanted to do an apprenticeship to get some qualifications, which wasn’t possible at E Hillier & Sons.
After trying with a company just next door, J&P Engineering, building brain scanners, I secured an apprenticeship and passed with credits
I started my Car Audio Business in 1977 as C.A.R. for Car Audio Repairs – a little shop in Reading. We moved to Basingstoke Road in Reading in 1981, when I changed the name to give my business my own identity, as John Kleis Car Audio.
So from Radio Cassettes, MW/LW radio (Listening to Radio Caroline) to CDs with FM radio to iPod integration Bluetooth, apps, music streaming and 1,000w amps and speakers and sound system fabrication and now digital radio, we’ve seen it all.
We are successful because we offer service It’s a balance between ‘˜internets’ price and best possible service and expertise. That and our highly trained team, eight members of staff. We serve most of the local car dealerships in Reading and in the last twelve months have won the following awards and prizes:
Best car Audio shop in the UK
Best Branding
1st place at European Mobile Media Association sound off contest last weekend at Santa Pod with our demo car.
Looking forward to meeting Tony Blackburn! With Thanks,
John Kleis (with his hero, below)
Their website
link
Or call 01189 866 224 and tell them the Fat Man told you to call!