The story of Bill McGowan, who took on the most powerful monopoly of his time - AT&T, and its Bell System of local phone companies - and won against all odds.
I had two aunts that worked for the regional unit of AT&T, Southern Bell. Both aunts went to work for Southern Bell in 1948. In the 60's one aunt had risen through the ranks and wound up in a high management position with AT&T Long Lines. She always told us she couldn't talk about her job. We figured her job involved some type of government contract. The other aunt rose through the ranks with Southern Bell and became a middle manager for the company's logistics department. The aunt that worked for Long Lines was gung ho AT&T. The other aunt wasn't. She had to go back to work three days after each of my two cousins were born, or lose her job. She never forgot that. When the breakup of AT&T occurred, both aunts had 36 years of service and were offered a huge bonus, plus their monthly pension, plus either AT&T or any former regional Bell stock if they retired. The Long Lines employed aunt didn't immediately take the offer, but after her boss told her that it was likely a lot of Long Lines employees would lose their jobs, so she took the retirement package begrudgingly and took AT&T stock. The other aunt went to HR immediately after getting the offer and took the retirement package gleefully and took South Central Bell stock, which turned out to be a great financial move. The Long Lines aunt went to work for MCI two weeks after her last day at AT&T. She received a big signing bonus, an upper management position in the company's long distance division, excellent salary, and great benefits. She would talk about her job at MCI and would often say working there was 100 percent better than working for AT&T. She worked for MCI for eight years and took early retirement, after my uncle suddenly passed away. Two nice fat pension checks. The other aunt enjoyed her retirement and she and my uncle traveled a great deal for many years. Both aunts sadly passed away over 20 years ago. It was always interesting to hear the vast difference in viewpoints over many years with the debate over AT&T and how glowingly my MCI employed aunt would talk about how great working for MCI was.
I was an employee of MCI for a little over 2 years in the late 80's in Phoenix. I was one of the top sales people for residential sales in the western region. I wasn't paid a lot because I was part time but I did participate in the stock purchase program. I held onto my shares for a few years and when I sold I ended up making way more on the profits than I ever did in salary. I enjoyed working for the company. I was very sad when the whole WorldCom disaster hit, glad I sold my shares before this happened.
Totally agree. Working under McGowan was a honor. He created a climate that made you want the company to do well. He respected the workers, treated them fantastic so pay and benefits were not only as good as union workers but even better and unlike most companies he wanted worker input and actually made changes based on that. Other companies say they do but suggestions are never acted upon. I saw him speak once at the Northeast employee meeting and I have never been so impressed with any CEO more and that goes right up until today. He was friendly, witty, humble, so intelligent and really cared about us. So unlike any CEO I have worked for since. Most today are so detached from the average worker and are 100% in it for themselves. Years after I left the company I found out that he had serious heart problems and had to step down and the future CEO's were nowhere in his league which led to the sale to Worldcom and the destruction of the company.
@@evilborg I couldn't agree more. They layoff hundreds of employees who were hard working and loyal just to hit their numbers and get the multi-million dollar bonuses. No regard for those workers who's sweat build the company.
Just came here after watching AT&T: One Day After The Break-up which was pro Ma-Bell, it's good to watch something that is an opposing rebuttal and showed the negatives of a Bell systems monopoly
I worked for them in the mid 80s. When everyone in the nation who had a phone was asked to make a choice as to who their long distance carrier would be. My very first sales job. You worked hard but they paid great and had good bonuses as well. Management was accessible and the company culture was awesome. Knew I was at the right company when AT&T, ITT and Sprint reps would come over to work for us. In truth, I was spoiled in that first real job. But it's where I fell in love with sales. And I still cringe at those rates people used to pay. It was insanity.
I joined MCI Airsignal - pagers (and Voicemail! as a Service) from 1984-85, then selling on the streets of Fort Worth, TX. Then, I was made a Long Distance rep from 1985-87 working out of the I75/635 Park Central office in Dallas. I never met Mr. McGowan, but I’m truly grateful that the company he was still building gave this music major great start in telecom! Still loving it 35 years later, and still in awe of the changes he instigated!
My great grandpa worked for M.B.T from 1941- 1981, he was line man for them. This was inspiring. I'm as proud as than ever of my great grandpa. Priceless documentary.
I started with MCI in May of 1981. The early Bill McGowan years were the best. It was a great ride. I felt like I was part of something big. After Bill died Burt Roberts took over. Things changed... we started spending money on things that did not pan out. We added on more and more layers of upper level management. Directors over small organizations that would fight each other over dominance. Workers were often used as cannon fodder. I remember when they put this sales and marketing guy in charge of Engineering and Operations. Talk about out-of-touch... When Burt took over MCI had four billion dollars in its war chest. By the time Burt ran us into the dirt we were prime targets for a Bernie Ebbers take over. After Bernie took over all of a sudden there was this mass exodus of prior senior MCI management heading out the door. Bernie lied to the government, the investors, his employees, and to the public on a never seen before scale and we went under. Finally Verizon came along and brought us into the fold which has turned out to be a good thing.
I'm a pre-worldcom MCI employee and have worked in the corporate world for many companies since and Bill McGowan was hands down the absolute BEST CEO I have ever worked under. A brilliant, humble man who treated all of his workers well. I miss those days. Most CEO's these days are greedy egomaniacs.
@@oakpkdude "treated all his workers well" - I notice "customers" is missing from your statement. And they wonder why we went the wrong way after the 1980s...
@@Steveos312 --Well my friend CEO's rarely interact with customer's but given the fact that you pay less today for a long distance call then you did pre-divestiture it's clear he did every American a favor. MCI was a fantastic company when McGowan was at the helm and actually remained a great company until they were bought by Worldcom and their unscrupulous executive team.
@@oakpkdude I did not say a CEO should be "interact[ing]" with customers, but at least have the customer in mind. AT&T always went for quality. Like someone else said MCI, and post Divestiture it brought us the "Can You Hear Me Now?" era. I just think people hated AT&T and used the poor and innocent black 500 rotary as the scapegoat to the anger against Ma Bell. I prefer the "cradle to grave" service and support by any tech company thank you.
@@Steveos312 ---Apples and oranges. "Can you hear me now?" came about in the cell phone era. You were a toddler during that time but I lived through it. What upset the people was not the black rotary phone. It was the outrageous amounts AT&T was charging for their service and their crappy customer service. Had the bell system never been opened up to competition we would all still be paying a fortune to communicate.
Divestiture sped up the modernization of the Bell System network and technology. As late as 1974 some major cities were still being served in the switching systems by 1920’s technology. IE. Step x Step and Panel ( for research by technology geeks).
AT&T is responsible for the technology that's used throughout the world today starting with the transistor, first electronic switching systems, first Digital Electronics switching systems and the first digital fiber optic communication systems number 5ss. Some of these comments we would still be using black phones lie that's not true, the internet is all controlled by Bell System today. Breaking up the Bell System in 1984 in my opinion was a major mistake. It's the government butting in trying to destroy our country hate to say it. All communication systems that are used today are all being used on the bill system switching Network throughout the country and the world, yes there are several other countries but nowhere near, the Bell System. Former employee with 36 years service. Today is August 27th 2022.
Fascinating! A truly American story. It's another example of why its mostly men in these positions. You literally need to work every hour of every day to be good at the job. Not saying its fair...or even unfair to women. It's just a reality. Very few women and.., men actually, willing to dedicate their entire life to work. Too bad more of both sexes aren't like that. I forgot what happened to MCI with the WorldCom debacle. I was in the long distance biz, on the tech side, back in the mid 90s. This man and his team changed the way we do things in America. I think he made it better.
"It's another example of why its mostly men in these positions." His arrogance and self greed cost him his life not too long after. But you know people worked their asses off at AT&T too, but since they are evil, they shall be punished by the Mr. McGowan types.
@@Steveos312 his greed? Dunno where you got that from. From all accounts he seemed to live pretty modestly considering his resources. The man built a company of 30k people. He had secretaries that started out with the company becoming millionaires. Not sure about the arrogance either. He took on a very powerful near monopoly in AT&T, risked financial destruction and persevered in the courts. The right way to do it. Not the shady and underhanded tactics that AT&T employed. I can't blame that either for trying to protect their business but it appears (I don't know for certain since I wasn't there...neither were you) they did potentially illegal things to try and destroy competition. I don't know if you're old enough to remember Ma Bell but...they weren't well know for their customer service. And... Long distance calling was outrageously expensive. In the end, AT&T is doing just fine. Large corp with profits. Damn shame what those crooks at WorldCom did to MCI. regardless, this is a truly American story. Hard work, determination and the respect of law created opportunity and this man with the help of others built something from nothing, changed the way business is done and reminded us that we aren't ruled by the powerful and wealthy. Not many other counties, if any, where something like this could happen.
@@Sabotage_Labs > From all accounts he seemed to live pretty modestly considering his resources. Because he was working all the time. Workoholics are just as sinful as someone whose addicted to sex, drugs or alcohol. >The man built a company of 30k people. He had secretaries that started out with the company becoming millionaires. Hello to the idea of the 1%. Why do assistants need to feel they are worth millions? >I don't know if you're old enough to remember Ma Bell but...they weren't well know for their customer service. And... Long distance calling was outrageously expensive. Read previous comments, I was not around, and no enterprise is perfect, and a few bad apples shouldn't be painted in the broadest brush >"Hard work, determination and the respect of law created opportunity and this man with the help of others built something from nothing, changed the way business is done and reminded us that we aren't ruled by the powerful and wealthy. " I don't diss "hard work" but if you are doing it at the price of family, and others involved for your own agenda, then I'm sorry we have to disagree. His uber work ethic must be something of the Midwest culture I still can't understand.
The US Justice Department forced AT&T to provide local phone service at rates that people can afford and AT&T complied with Uncle Sams wishes and had to raise the price of long distance to subsidize local phone service so in short the so called Bell System monopoly was established at the hands of the US Department of Justice back around 1914 and the corporate logo of AT&T reflected it when they included Local and Long Distance Telephone ,the name of the associated company or companies. The Justice Department helped create the Bell System monopoly in 1914 and then had complete amnesia when the anti trust case was filed on November 19,1974 against the Bell System.
MCI wanted to use the Bell Systems equipment and engineering to establish their own system at Ma Bells expense. The funny thing is MCI no longer exists and yet AT&T and the local Bells still exist!
Rate-of-return regulation, and thus price regulation, dictated the US telecommunications system. AT&T just lived within the rules, state and federal, while MCI found ways to cherry-pick, including gaining a 55% discount on local access. The two cannot coexist very long, and local companies ultimately won out (regions prevail over federal), relegating AT&T Long Distance and MCI to second-tier players, who get bought out.
Actually, the current AT&T started out as Southwestern Bell (SBC), who bought numerous former RBOCs including Pacific Telesis, Ameritech, AT&T and Bellsouth (Cingular). They even entered Mexico for the first time with the buyout of Iusacell and Nextel Mexico.
This is a good documentary and a very interesting story. My beef with it is that there is never mention of dates or time lengths between any of the events that it talks about. It's weird because documentaries always mentions the dates but in this documentary it's almost like they deliberately avoid mentioning the timing of any of these events. I was trying to figure out when these events were occurring and I could only judge by the fashion and photo quality that it was either the 70s, 80s, or 90s. Using actual dates, even if it's just the year - is a pretty important detail when you are giving a history. Why would you make a history documentary and never mention any dates or timing of the history you're describing? That is important info, not just a detail. Most documentaries will put it on the screen or mention it in narration. Anyways, I remember switching to MCI in the 90s, and those commercials never stopped.
yeah some of the cameras shots were so clear they looked newer. i'm pretty sure i saw clip form the lates 70s but ,the clarity looked lie the 80s till i saw what they were wearing. HOWEVER then entire story unfolds from the 60s to 90s so about 30 years.
I remember the WorldCom debacle. It dominated the news for a long time on the business end. Every day CNBC would cover it and they must have said the name Bernie Ebbers a million times.
One big fact that this documentary touches on but does not get into great detail. One of the reasons AT&T charged as much as it did for Long Distance calls was because it used that revenue to subsidize local service. My first phone service in the 1970's was $6 per month. And I would have paid that same $6 whether I was located in suburban New Jersey or all the way in a very rural area where it would require MILES of wire and dozens of telephone poles to reach me. It was AT&T's belief that all Americans should have access to inexpensive local telephone service (but, heaven forbid we have a SOCIALIST telephone network ......). Folks like MCI just wanted to service the Long Distance Market, and perhaps the Local Phone Service to city areas and large corporations - they had NO interest is serving the rural customer. While the break-up hugely brought down what it cost to make a long distance call, it greatly increased what folks had to pay for Local phone service. The broken up 'baby-bells' no longer had that subsidy from Long Distance.
@@Steveos312 More like "Think outside the box" instead of same old, same old. When AT&T wanted to increase revenue they just kept raising their prices. Kinda like the cable companies do now.
Originally the new arena in Downtown DC, Abe Pollin sold the naming rights to MCI in 1995 year before it opened, when Verizon took over, they renamed the Verizon Center and 2015, Verizon pulled out and Capital One took over the rights, now known as Capital One Arena. Verizon is the new MaBell without regulations.
Many companies had merged to create both Bell Atlantic and Verizon before that even happened. Had McGowan lived the merger with Worldcom NEVER would have happened because he was not a cheat like so many other CEO's.
I remember myself and others leaving Bell Atlantic Yellow Pages in the 90s. We all remembered how the old ITT used to operate. Their reps used to come over to us at MCI in the mid 80s all the time. And not long after I left, commissions were cut and so was everything else. If you ask me, Verizon sucks.
If the original AT&T still existed would the internet as we know it today have existed or would they have tried to do every thing possible to prevent it from being available to consumers?
@@Madness832 I heavily disagree, Bell had invented fiber optics, the cellular network. They Invented digital switching of calls, They talked of advanced services and data rates that make sense today. The rates everyone paid before and after divestiture were roughly the same, local rates went up and and long distance down. A whole 20 years in technological growth was lost because where the Bell System had planned massive deployment of fiber optics to be installed in the 1990s, all the companies wasted time and resources building competing long distance networks.
AT&T's DNA was in telephony. They had data, if anything they built the first gen data network using the 5ESS switching system. Obviously very antiquated today for data.
@@ssbohio I would say not because the people behind DARANET was very against the telephony metaphor. And because of that, people whine that they can't get their Netflix to work or Instagram is slow...wonder if they have buyers remorse 50 years later.
I was a contractor towards the end of MCIWorldcomm period. Sleaziest bunch of people I've ever worked around. Yes, their billing was completely FUBAR. Their marketing was always ahead of the game, so they'd run commercials advertising some new plan or product, but the technical end to bill for it correctly wasn't set up. They'd just bill you at the highest rates and hope you wouldn't notice or call to complain, or as always, blame it on AT&T or the baby bells.
@@aca2983 This is AFTER MCGowan. Worldcom destroyed what McGowan built however divestiture was the best thing that could have ever happened. One reasonable price for unlimitted local and long distance was unheard of. Free email. That wasn't worldcom.
02:12 "If McGowan hadn't come along we'd probably still have black phones and we'd be renting them from AT&T". Misleading. Phones of various colors became available in the 50's and because you rented them you never had to worry about having your phone set repaired or replaced. Look at the crap phones manufactured today. These statments made about AT&T long distance being so expensive is midleading also. Yes, in the beginning as with anything else, long distance service was expensive. AT&T had to recoup the money it spent on making that service possible. Long distance also helped subsidize local service, making it affordable to most people.
Thanks to MCI, we have the transistor, lasers, the solar cell, information theory, and the Unix operating system that forms the underpinnings of modern computing. Oh wait, wrong company. This is a nauseating fluff piece for MCI.
Sprint was just as old as AT&T. They had the rights of way from the rail lines to string cable. But they never challenged AT&T. Once MCI busted the gates open , a gazillion LD aggregators flooded through. Prices kept on plummeting , AT&T and anyone else with long distance routes and switches ( tandem ) would concede and start selling wholesale traffic. You bought a million minutes a month from AT&T you pretty much had a phone company. No network. Just your billing and your sales force. On switching residehtial LD service, or ordering a new dial tone line , the phone operator would ask.....what Phone company you want to bill your lng distance lines ? If you said "I don't know " there was a I don't know know " company listed. You unwillingly got swindled.
nccrawford---No, they were talking about employees and if you gave notice and left on good terms you would be rehired because it was a smart thing to do. Better to rehire someone with experience. AT&T was very arrogant about everything and MCI taught them how to compete.
@@Steveos312 If you were paying attention the doc said he was always cracking jokes, even at funerals. Doesn't sound to me like the guy you "see" at all.
