Yesterday while listening to a show on I think NPR around 4:45 pm
central US time- they did a blurb on a man who had died.  He was the
first person to create a business around renting videos.  I think he
was from NYC.  His original business was based on a $50 dollar
membership fee and then $10/day for each video rented.  I would like a
source(s) that documents his name, - and anything else about his
business- especially what the conventioanl wisdom was regarding videos
at the time.  The story mentioned how video producer's Like Sony- only
made 1 hour tapes because they thought hobbyists would only make home
video tapes.  The movie studios beleived that people would buy movies
on video the way they collected record albums- and so priced their
films accordingly (very high) thinking that people would collect large
video  film libraries.  I'm looking for this information so i can use
it as an example of someone who created a sucessful business/industry
using a model that  that countered all conventional wisdom.

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Clarification of Question by dancingbear-ga on 10 Mar 2005 15:27 PST

Thanks- I found what i was looking for - 
I found the acutal NPR recording of the clip on their site and
articles from NY Times and USA Today that covered the bases.

A note to my colleagues: That man's name is George Atkinson. He opened
the first video rental store, Video Station, in 1977. Mr. Atkinson
died on 3 March this year. If you feel like doing extensive research,
feel free to use that information.

Greetings,
Scriptor