K-Tel stood for ‘Kives Televison’, and the man behind the empire, Phil Kives died on Wednesday in Wiinnipeg. Many Canadians of “a certain age” will remember the aggressive K-Tel TV commercials from the late 1960’s and ’70’s hawking everything from vegetable slicers to compilation records to the ubiquitous mood ring!
The company was the brainchild of master salesman, Phil Kives, a “proud Winnipegger” who was happy to run his international business from the province of Manitoba’s capital city.
He started as a door-to-door salesman, but when he realized what the power of television offered, the sky was the limit. Kives’ “Miracle Brush” was sold in over 100 countries by the 1980’s
Kives “Miracle Brush” was sold in over 100 countries by the early 1980’s. Later in that decade, however, he ran into problems following major expansions and bad investments that led to bankruptcy. Eventually, he was back in action, selling more gadgets, and moving the music licensing into the digital age, while contining to receive royalties.
But wait, there’s more!
Phil Kives other great passion was horses. He will be missed at Winnipeg’s racetrack, Assiniboia Downs, where he was said to be a “fixture” for over 35 years.
“He was year in and year out the top breeder, one of the top owners — won an enormous amount of races, enormous amount of purse money, too many awards to probably even begin to imagine,” Darren Dunn, CEO of Assiniboia Downs, told CBC News. “Had some of the best horses Assiniboia Downs had probably ever seen.”
“He was year in and year out the top breeder, one of the top owners — won an enormous amount of races, enormous amount of purse money, too many awards to probably even begin to imagine,” Dunn said. “Had some of the best horses Assiniboia Downs had probably ever seen.”
“I honestly believe that if you’re ambitious, if you’ve got willpower and you think positive — and I’ve said this so many times — then you can accomplish impossible things in life,” Kives told Adrienne Clarkson on CBC’s the fifth estate in 1977.
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