force and little head of -- forstmann little had a very powerful advisory board, and on bob strauss had been the chairman of the democratic party, and they were quite friendly, and it was him who recommended they bring in donald rumsfeld on the forstmann advisory board. later when they wanted a ceo, he had previously been the ceo of merck, a pharmaceutical giant -- no, not merck. he also had quite a reputation as a ceo in the private sector, even though he had been the youngest secretary of defense before that. he has this unique public and private sector background. he had been on the cover of "fortune" magazine, ranked the most feared boss in america. 1990, hesudden, in stepped in as our new ceo. mr. slen: and he had something to do with the first hdtv broadcast at the u.s. capitol, correct? mr. tayer: that's true. when we finished testing our digital hdtv prototype in the b indcaster's lavi d.c., we passed with flying colors and the word was getting out that digital worked. our competitors were going into those labs and they also were following us in developing digital systems, but w

and he and rumsfeld were, apparently, quite friendly, and it was bob strauss who actually recommended they bring in don rumsfeld to be on forceman little's advisory board. and then later when they wanted a ceo, he had previously been the ceo of merck, a pharmaceutical giant -- no, not merck, it was gdsearle, so he also had quite a reputation in the private sector even though he had been the youngest secretary of defense before that. so he had this unique public and private sector background. he had been on the cover of fortune magazine or was ranked the most feared boss in america by "fortune." so all of a sudden in 1990, he stepped in as our new ceo. >> host: and, in fact, he had something to do with the first hd-tv broadcast at the u.s. capitol, correct? >> guest: that's true. when we finished testing our digital hd-tv prototype in the broadcasters' labs in d.c., we passed with flying colors, and the word was getting out that digital actually worked. this was digital hd-tv. and then our competitors were going into those labs next to test, and they also were following us and developi