Skip to content
‹ Back to IndustriesProfessional AV

Looking Back at Neon Days Past

Neon signs conjure images of days past at illuminated drive-in restaurants glowing orange, red, and blue, but many people don’t realize most all modern signage uses neon. On this episode of the MarketScale Pro AV Podcast, host Chris Reeves sat down with Rob Fehlman, Director of National Service of Kieffer | Starlite to discuss…

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Professional AV teams put it to work with Customer Stories & Case Studies.

·
Share
Looking Back at Neon Days Past

Free workspace

Turn your Professional AV expertise into content.

Record interviews, organize footage, and write with AI on a free trial of the MarketScale platform for qualifying companies. No demo required, no credit card.

Try it Free

Neon signs conjure images of days past at illuminated drive-in restaurants glowing orange, red, and blue, but many people don’t realize most all modern signage uses neon.

On this episode of the MarketScale Pro AV Podcast, host Chris Reeves sat down with Rob Fehlman, Director of National Service of Kieffer | Starlite to discuss changes he’s seen in his 15 years in the industry and what’s next for signage.

Kieffer | Starlite is a national sign company that specializes in manufacturing, service, and installation since 1956. In addition to sign installation and repairs for retail and hospitality industries, they do building and parking lot lighting, an essential function for public safety. Today, the Texas-based company has evolved to include LED reader boards.

“When I started here, it was neon exclusively,” Fehlman said. “The industry has made a lot of leaps and changes from there, using incandescent bulbs to doing chasing signs… From neon to LED lighting. from incandescent to full color HD displays. It’s incredible what you can do with LED technology.”

But technology extends beyond the signs themselves. Kieffer | Starlite uses GPS location to help track sign vendors or installers and equips them with iPads and smart tablets in the field so they can upload photos and have manager signoffs.

“There have been huge changes just over the past 12 to 15 years,” Fehlman said.

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Pro AV Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication. A new episode of the Pro AV Show drops every Thursday.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @ProAVMKSL

Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale

LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Professional AV starts with a company putting its integrators, design engineers, and product specialists on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

When a spec writer or facilities lead searches this category, your integrators are what they find instead of a competitor.

Book DemoSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.
B2B Weekly

The week in Professional AV, and sixteen other industries, every Monday.

Ten stories, one-line takes, five minutes. Free.

Professional AV: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Professional AV buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free Trial

You just read one Professional AV expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your integrators, design engineers, and product specialists into the articles, video, and social content Professional AV buyers are searching for. Start a free trial and see it with your own people. For qualifying companies, no credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What your free trial includes

Hands-on access to the MarketScale platform
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
No demo required. No credit card.
For qualifying companies. Company confirmation required.

More Professional AV Insights

Clear-Com Arcadia is the intercom hub at a Łódź skills centre running Dante and NETGEAR

Clear-Com Arcadia is the intercom hub at a Łódź skills centre running Dante and NETGEAR

Clear-Com's Arcadia Central Station is the central production communications hub at Łódź's Sectoral Skills Centre for Recording and Sound Reinforcement, connecting studios, control rooms, lecture rooms and other areas. The building's infrastructure is based on NETGEAR AV Series switches and a Dante Audio-over-IP network. Students get hands-on experience with wired, wireless and IP-based intercom workflows.

  • 01The Łódź centre's network runs on NETGEAR AV Series switches with Dante audio-over-IP, which Commercial Audio's CTO said made Clear-Com an ideal fit.

Oct 6, 2026

Telefónica fits its new Madrid broadcast monitoring room with an 11.4-meter Alfalite LED wall

Telefónica fits its new Madrid broadcast monitoring room with an 11.4-meter Alfalite LED wall

Telefónica Servicios Audiovisuales has commissioned an 11.4-meter Alfalite UHD Finepix 1.2 LED wall for a new TSAmediaHUB monitoring room in Aravaca, Madrid. Servers feed it over NDI, so sources can be distributed centrally and layouts adapted to the needs of each operation.

  • 01Fed over NDI video-over-IP, Telefónica's Aravaca wall makes the arrangement of broadcast feeds a server setting that can be adapted for each operation.

Oct 3, 2026

Transcoding moves to the cloud. Intercom, tally and shading stay at the venue

Transcoding moves to the cloud. Intercom, tally and shading stay at the venue

Vendors draw the same line: transcoding and graphics move to the cloud, while intercom, tally and camera shading stay on site. Riedel says the connection back to on-site talent, cameras, tally and IFB can still undermine the production or the business case. Hybrid looks like where things settle.

  • 01Dillon’s analysis suggests hybrid cloud-plus-venue production is where things settle, making on-site hardware for latency-bound work a long-term facility plan item.
  • 02Interoperability standards such as SMPTE ST 2110 and NMOS handle the plumbing. The question to put to vendors now is how their systems provision, configure, tear down and monitor services alongside other vendors' gear.

Oct 1, 2026

Explore More Professional AV Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Professional AV.

Browse Professional AV Hub

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Professional AV and beyond.

Book a Demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512