2006 Minnesota Business Hall of Fame

During the dozen years it took to get USSB off the ground, Hubbard, along with his son, Stanley E. Hubbard II, and their associates, created satellite newsgathering in 1984. “In order to do so, we had to build the trucks and put all the infrastructure together,” Hubbard recalls. Hubbard Broadcasting demonstrated the vehicles at the National Association of Broadcasters annual convention, during which TV stations signed up for satellite newsgathering service through another Hubbard property, CONUS Communications.

The association eventually included 125 stations and operated for 18 years. “We were just very happy to start something that did something very important: It made it possible for a local television station—and this is my son Stan I’m quoting—to ‘write its own headlines.’ Every TV station that had a satellite truck could go out and get their own news, from the other side of the city, the other side of the mountain, or the other side of the world.”

In 1993, together with DirecTV, Hubbard Broadcasting launched its satellite. “Everyone said it wouldn’t work. ‘Who’s gonna buy a dish?’ That was their theory,” Hubbard recalls. “Now it’s in 25 percent of the homes in the U.S. If you have an idea, you’ve gotta be able to sell it. If you have a bad idea, you’ve gotta know when to quit. But if you have a good idea, you’ve gotta persevere.” (USSB merged with DirecTV in 1999.)

Hubbard says one of the things he’s best at is getting along with others—when he’s given the chance. “I try to be nice to people,” he says. “But for some reason, a lot of people are intimidated by me. And I don’t know why that is.”

“I think everyone who works for him probably goes through a period of being intimidated by him,” says KSTP-AM host Joe Soucheray, who has worked for Hubbard for 25 years. “He’s a very proper and civil gentleman. He doesn’t come to work in his blue jeans. But when you get to know him, he’s just a wonderful, warm guy.”

Today, Hubbard calls himself “chief cheerleader” of Hubbard Broadcasting. He’s especially proud of the way his five children have taken charge of the business. “The business is in good hands,” he says. “But I’m still working all the time. I love it.”