At one time, customers for car stereo and home audio were considered to be quite different. Jack Doyle, however, didn’t think so. He brought high-fidelity auto sound to audiophile customers and helped establish Pioneer as a preeminent brand.
John Doyle was born in Kentucky and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. After graduating from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio with a BA, he joined the office products division of IBM, eventually moving to Southern California. In 1966, he joined Craig Corp. as sales manager of car stereo, later rising to director of marketing.
In 1971, Pioneer Electronics of Japan approached Doyle to start a U.S. subsidiary to distribute Pioneer-branded car stereo products. When Doyle started the new Pioneer of America, car stereo was a youth product, but was not sold in the many hi-fi stores and chains that had sprung up across the country. Doyle believed that hi-fi stores was where car stereo needed to be displayed and sold, and convinced an increasing number of home electronics retailers to stock his car stereo products.
To appeal to a more quality-conscious car stereo buyer, Pioneer worked with its Japanese factories to produce the Super Tuner, the first car stereo product with a superior FM tuner section. Between the wider distribution and the high-performance product, Pioneer quickly moved into the No. 1 position in the industry.
Pioneer had two American companies. Pioneer America sold car stereo and the separate U.S. Pioneer handled home audio. When the two companies merged as Pioneer Electronics of America, Doyle was named CEO and chairman.
In July 1986, Doyle took early retirement from Pioneer to become a partner with Bill Matthies and co-founded the Verity Group, a market research company. He remained active with the firm until its sale.
Doyle was active in industry affairs as well. He served on the board of directors of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), including two terms as chairman and was also on the board of governors of EIA. He has served on various boards of public and private companies, including Starsight Telecast and Inamed Corp. He presently serves on the board of the Pomona Valley Medical Center and is chairman of its foundation board. He is an active member of the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE).
Jack and his wife Anne have four children and nine grandchildren and reside in Upland, California.