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To help keep General's wide-angle picture in focus, the O'Neils make tape recordings of important meetings, send them to one another and to the company's divisional executives. This easygoing approach has resulted in surprisingly few errors. The most notable one was General's two-year attempt at moviemaking before it sold off the RKO studios in the mid-'50s. "The only thing you could say about our pictures," sighs Tom O'Neil, "was that no one ever got a disease from them."
Few industries are safe from the General Tire tread. When an RKO General deal to acquire a Philadelphia TV station fell through last year, Tom O'Neil was left holding some ready cash. He elevated his sights and bought 55.5% of Denver-based Frontier Airlines.